One in five journalists has had a credential request denied

A Harvard study “Who Gets a Press Pass? Media Credentialing Practices in the United States,” released by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy is the first of its kind to perform a quantitative analysis of credentialing in the US, the study captures the experience of journalists nationwide in their efforts, from 2008 to 2013, to obtain credentials from various organizations.

It also highlights the need to reform credentialing systems so they reflect the reality of the current news ecosystem -- and protect the ability of all journalists to bring news to the public. The overarching goal, according to the study, was to identify patterns in credentialing practices that would lead to “better structure and predictability in the credentialing process,” recognizing that the US journalism industry is “more diverse than ever before, with a wide array of independent newsgatherers complementing the work of institutional news organizations.”

The survey asked the respondents about their efforts to obtain credentials from 17 types of federal, state, local, and private organizations, including state legislatures, municipal governments, and county law enforcement agencies. Out of the 676 respondents who said they had applied for a credential from one or more organizations, a full 21 percent -- one out of every five -- said they were denied at least once.

As the study concludes, the results suggest that credentialing organizations give preference to formal employment relationships over other types of arrangements. The last 10 years have seen major swings in media-consumption patterns, and innovations in technology have created new means for people to commit acts of journalism -- all complicating efforts to define a journalist for credentialing, shield law, Freedom of Information fee waiver, and other purposes.