… but under the proposed criteria for letting bloggers have lobby passes, I wonder if several existing lobby pass holders should lose theirs:
The general criteria we would agree with is that the person applying for the pass should be a proper journalist with a track record of journalism; that they should be operating for a respectable news organisation or website with a reasonably large number of subscribers or viewers; and that they should be using the pass for the purposes of journalism, rather than coming in and commenting on stuff. (PR Week)
Note particularly the bits about not just commenting and having a decent audience 
UPDATE: Although PR Week’s David Singleton tips Jonathan Isaby as the first blogger recipient of a lobby pass, sources tell me (you see, I can do this journalism lark too) that passes are on their way to the Guy News TV team. It’s an off-shoot of the Guido Fawkes blog though, unlike the blog, the online TV show becoming legally based in the UK. Even so, given it’s very irreverent attitude to politics, this is a move that isn’t being met with universal adulation from the existing lobby members.
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RT @markpack New post: It would be really mean of me to suggest… http://bit.ly/bmM61k
RT @markpack: New post: It would be really mean of me to suggest… http://bit.ly/bmM61k
[...] Communcations director (and former Lib Dem new media chief) Mark Pack is first off the blocks to speculate as whether ‘under the proposed criteria for letting [...]
How on earth do those criteria change the status quo? I think Iain Dale might scrape through, but that’s it. The “proper journalist” bit restricts the pool to professional or semi-professional writers, which misses the point completely. What about all the specialist bloggers who bash away at one subject for years because no journo will cover it? If they’re just going to give a bunch of generalists who want to be journalists lobby passes then we’re back to square one.
I can’t find the list of lobby pass holders that should exist on pressgallery.co.uk.
Alix has the key point. The revolutionary implications are not for allowing blog hacks into the Lobby alongside Press Hacks, but that if it is done properly we have the potential for authoritive specialists reporting on specialist subjects.
It’s pretty shady for the Commons Authorities to be worrying that BLOGGERS may damage the reputation of Parliament.
I have a piece on journalism.co.uk later.
[...] Mark Pack says he hears that passes are “on their way” to the Guy News TV team: “It’s an off-shoot of the Guido Fawkes blog though, unlike the blog, the online TV show becoming legally based in the UK. Even so, given its very irreverent attitude to politics, this is a move that isn’t being met with universal adulation from the existing lobby members.” [...]
[...] Mark Pack says he hears that passes are “on their way” to the Guy News TV team: “It’s an off-shoot of the Guido Fawkes blog though, unlike the blog, the online TV show becoming legally based in the UK. Even so, given its very irreverent attitude to politics, this is a move that isn’t being met with universal adulation from the existing lobby members.” [...]
[...] Mark Pack says he hears that passes are “on their way” to the Guy News TV team: “It’s an off-shoot of the Guido Fawkes blog though, unlike the blog, the online TV show becoming legally based in the UK. Even so, given its very irreverent attitude to politics, this is a move that isn’t being met with universal adulation from the existing lobby members.” [...]
[...] Mark Pack says he hears that passes are “on their way” to the Guy News TV team: “It’s an off-shoot of the Guido Fawkes blog though, unlike the blog, the online TV show becoming legally based in the UK. Even so, given its very irreverent attitude to politics, this is a move that isn’t being met with universal adulation from the existing lobby members.” [...]
[...] Mark Pack says he hears that passes are “on their way” to the Guy News TV team: “It’s an off-shoot of the Guido Fawkes blog though, unlike the blog, the online TV show becoming legally based in the UK. Even so, given its very irreverent attitude to politics, this is a move that isn’t being met with universal adulation from the existing lobby members.” [...]
[...] predicted by Mark Pack Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Who will be the first blogger in the Westminster [...]