Don't Lock Out Bloggers

In my hometown, the local newspaper covers fewer and fewer government meetings because their staff has shrunk dramatically. This is a nationwide trend. And it's exactly where bloggers should come in.

In 2008, a blogger was excluded from an executive session because they said he wasn't a true member of the media. Their proposed policy on who qualified as a member of the news media included:

• Regular reporting on the Lake Oswego City Council

• Multiple personnel with defined roles

• Registration with the state Corporation Division

• Reporting "conducted continuously (at least weekly) and permanently"

• Publications or broadcasts that include "at least 25 percent news content"

• Media representatives would be allowed to attend executive sessions if they provide evidence that includes "proof satisfactory to the City Council that the person is gathering news," along with a press badge, a recently published news article with their byline or an editor's note on letterhead.

he me. In Frederick, MD, board discussions over education, taxes, policies, etc. were open to the public. Each weekly Board of Education member was open to every resident, and I even attended one with several classmates to protest a decision they had made. I was in a high school journalism class -- and that definitely wouldn't cut it under Oregon's proposed policy -- but I lived there and had every right to say what was on my mind.

If I could do that as a 17-year-old with no media credentials, why not let in the bloggers? I don't even need to bring up the fact that the Oregonian blogger Mark Bunster was doing the public a service (as journalists do) by reporting on information most probably wouldn't obtain on their own. A part of that is apparently because Oregon doesn't enjoy letting residents attend sessions, but mostly because those meetings are dull, dry, and doze-worthy. The councilors should be happy anyone even wanted to listen to them talk.