In countries such as the U.S. anyone can call themselves a member of the
press. With Wikinews accreditation I believe David Shankbone managed to
parlay that into membership of the New York Press Club, which even I've
heard of in this little backwater called Belgium.
Speaking of Belgium, where things are slightly different, you need a press
pass issued by the Ministry of the Interior. There are similar setups in
many other European countries. The rules for issue of these are that you
must make the majority of your income working as a journalist. My neighbour
works for "De Standaard" and has a pretty blue plaque for his car as well as
the coveted press pass.
However, as Michael [[User:StevenFruitsmaak]] was telling me last Friday,
there is some good news; this isn't how the courts view it. Michael is also
involved with IndyMedia Belgium and said that an IndyMedia reporter was
taken to court and won the case as the judge recognised him as a journalist.
This is a great precedent for all citizen journalists - including Wikinews.
Michael, I'd appreciate more details on this and, as I'm forwarding a copy
of this to Mike Godwin, any links you've seen to press coverage of the case.
On an unrelated note, Friday's meeting with the EFF saw us lacking something
- business cards. I can Photoshop together a template for people to use, the
key text will be "Wikinews Community Accredited Reporter" plus - obviously -
your wikinewsie email address. I want to ask Mike if we'll be fine using the
Wikinews logo on these, and as we're all poor I'm looking to exercise that
old suggestion that the Foundation will make funds available for some things
like that.
Brian McNeil