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December 16, 2011

LPC won’t accredit bloggers at convention

I’ve learned the news today that the Liberal Party of Canada will host the first modern political convention that doesn’t accredit bloggers. Our friend Dr. Roy received a letter from the party rejecting his request for accreditation. I’ve shared it with his permission below,

From: xxxxx@liberal.ca
Date: December 16, 2011 10:14:10 AM EST
To: [Roy]
Subject: Re: Convention

Hello Roy,

Thank you for your interest in attending the Ottawa 2012 – Liberal Biennial Convention.

Media Accreditation is open to recognized news organizations. Freelance and social media representatives must be sponsored by a recognized news organization. They will be asked to attach a letter of assignment to their electronic Media Accreditation Form. We will be posting an electronic Media Accreditation Form to our site closer to the Convention date.

As well, we are encouraging everyone to attend the Convention as a delegate or an observer, and hope you will join us in that capacity.

To learn more about how to become a delegate or an observer, please visit our Convention website: http://convention.liberal.ca.

Thank you,
Sarah

I don’t think this is the right thing to do. I was invited by the Liberal Party in 2006 to blog about their leadership convention and I had a blast doing it. The Blogging Tories produced a lot of video and blogs regarding the convention.

The Liberal Party is rebuilding. It needs to engage with new media and those that have influence on the various platforms with respect to Canadian politics.

I suspect that the Liberal decision is related to delegate fees; Liberal bloggers will likely pay the delegate fee anyway. Other bloggers are faced with paying an >$1000 observer fee.

I took to twitter this morning to express disappointment with the Liberal Party decision.

UPDATE: Success? The Liberal Party looks to have reversed its decision regarding bloggers and will may now allow them to register for media credentials. However, do they mean that bloggers and freelancers need not be sponsored by a mainstream media news outlet? I will try to register as media for this convention and report back the results.

@liberal_party: Bloggers welcome at #LPC convention! through media accred or observer status. Contact media@liberal.ca

This entry was authored by Stephen Taylor at 02:13 PM | Tweet this | Comments (8)

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Bigcitylib

So what do you get with media accreditation that you don’t get as an observer?
http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

$1100 in your pocket?
Bigcitylib

Actually, I’m serious. It isn’t like the party didn’t want them to attend; just wouldn’t give accredication. Also, I’m not entirely sure the tweet you quote is a change in policy, unless they’ve dropped the “sponsored by” requirement.
http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

Yes, I’m hopeful that it is a change in policy.
Liz J

Wonder if they’ll make an exception with Kady O’Malley of CBC?

What are they afraid of?
Haizhu

As a Lib recently said they a sh*t.
DougM

Their original position was pretty strange but really not surprising – In order to re-build, the Liberals will have to clean out the backrooms, powerbrokers and corruption but they (those in those positions) will cling to that power like a barnacle to a rock. So if they can’t really do it with integrity, they will have to try to do it by stealth, hence the initial requirement for keeping the message within the Liberal ability to spin and control. Frankly I hope the Liberal party does regain at least some of its power. A choice between the KneeDeepers and fiscal reality is not good as it gives the Conservatives a lock on power for decades – unless the alternatives are simply too absurd – Alberta?, no party should have that tight a lock in a democracy.

The problem for the Liberals is how do they rebuild a party of the center from scratch and leave the old guard in the toilet where they belong to start with a clean slate? After Mulroney’s debacle, I read someting positing that in each of the two main parties, it took about 12 years to rebuild after getting trounced. I wonder if the Liberals in 12 years will be a viable party- the chances of the KneeDeepers getting there is about zero.
http://www.stephentaylor.ca Stephen Taylor

Nope, just the principle of openness and getting some more blog fodder!