Are we Press?

Hsien reports that the CEO of b5media (organization that hosts her blog) left a comment on Panda's Thumb (why not on her blog which is, after all, a b5media blog?) in which he states that:

All it takes for us to issue bloggers accreditation is that we - are you ready for this? - issue them press badges and register those badges with one of the two dozen journalist associations in north america.

That's not how it sounds from what the AAAS person said, but OK, we'll see how it all develops.

So, if I want to get a paper that is under the embargo in order to have sufficient time to read it and have a post written and ready to go as soon as the embargo expires - do I just ask SEED for a badge? Is it that simple? Somehow I am still skeptical that AAAS and EurekAlert would buy it. I'd like for someone to explain in a little more detail with a little more clarity, please.

More like this

I am Spartacus.

By Mustafa Mond, FCD (not verified) on 13 Mar 2007 #permalink

Bora, You are so on top of it! I just posted that an hour ago or so. Anyway, I guess you didn't hear back from EurekAlert! after applying last week? @#!

I applied last week also ans still have not heard back...

By afarensis (not verified) on 13 Mar 2007 #permalink

Nope, no response yet.

And I just happened to get online when you posted - otherwise Real Life is heavily intruding into my blogging (as you can see I have not written a substantive post in several days!).

On a related topic (at least, under the general subject 'blogging science'), I want to call your attention to this post by P. Beltrao at Public Rambling: Journal policies on picture copyright. He tried to find out where some of the main publishers stand on the issue, but it's not easy, since most of them apparently haven't thought about it. Worth reading/extending/discussing... Perhaps some activism may be required. And a "science blogging FAQ" could be a good idea, once image copyright and badges issues are clarified.