A reminder to those with a media credential attending this weekend’s Final Four in Houston: Do NOT share a photo of your press pass!
One unnamed member of the media lost their access to the Final Four in Houston this week after it was pulled from the NCAA. Why was the credential pulled? That media member shared a photo of the credential on social media.
Just revoked a Final Four credential for posting a picture of it on social media. For those media members coming…don't do that.
— David Worlock (@DavidWorlock) March 29, 2016
At first you may think this seems rather over-the-top and perhaps too strong a punishment by the NCAA for simply sharing a photo of a credential on Twitter or Facebook, but there is a reason for the decision from the NCAA’s point of view. The NCAA wants to make sure nobody is stealing the shared image and duplicating it to their best abilities to gain access to the Final Four without the NCAA’s approval.
This has been a problem in the past with media credentials and tickets, and the NCAA is simply looking for every way it can to manage access to its biggest event of the year. We can be quick to bash the NCAA, but there really is no criticism here. They grant access with certain expectations. One expectation is the media will adhere to the request from the NCAA not to share an image of their credential in the public eye. We’ll see if that credential will be reissued before the Final Four, but here’s hoping everyone learned a lesson.
There are alternatives to this decades-old method of recognizing credentialed media, of course. Evolving to a point where all digital passes are done through some sort of digital means, like a barcode that must be accessed through a digital app. Of course, given the nature of a good number of media members, asking them to use such modern technologies may be frowned upon. The other negative to that concept is having a badge wrapped around a reporter’s neck makes it easier to see by security guards throughout the arena.
Then again, those old-timers may not have to worry about getting into trouble posting images on social media as much.
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