Media and Major League Baseball in New Photo Dispute

By: Daryl Lang, Photo District News Major League Baseball wants to ban news sites from publishing galleries of baseball game photos, and media outlets aren't happy about it.

Outlets including The Associated Press and Sports Illustrated, and groups including the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) and the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE), are asking MLB to change the credentialing terms for the upcoming baseball season.

This is the latest in a series of disputes between the press and sports leagues, which are increasingly trying to take control of photographs and other elements of media coverage.

In the new set of conditions for issuing 2008 press credentials, MLB states that "still pictures or photographs of any game cannot be used as part of a photo gallery."

For several years MLB has restricted news agencies from publishing more than seven photos of each game. The new rules add that photos published on their own ? without a game story ? can only be displayed for 72 hours after the game ends.

MLB also requires reporters to seek permission to produce audio and video reports of game interviews, and limits audio and video reports made within the ballparks to two minutes or less.

MLB has long placed restrictions on live coverage to protect its lucrative broadcasting contracts. Its popular MLB.com site now competes with news outlets as a source of baseball information.

MLB vice president of public relations Pat Courtney says the new rules are designed to curtail online photo galleries, which he says some Web sites fill with photos and leave up forever. Courtney says MLB also has concerns about outlets publishing photos while games are still in progress. He added that MLB grants credentials for specific purposes, and the rule changes were made to reflect that many print reporters now carry audio and video equipment to produce Web site content.

"If you compare it to other entities and leagues, we're not doing anything that hasn't been agreed to by media that cover other leagues," Courtney says.

But journalism associations say the rules go too far.

In a Feb. 26 letter to MLB commissioner Bud Selig, NPPA president Tony Overman writes, "Your new terms impose a form of prior restraint on the use of visual images (both still and video) that will negatively impact the editorial independence of our members and the press as a whole."

The NPPA letter says the restrictions are overly broad and open to interpretation, and singles out the seven-photo limit and the 72-hour posting restriction. "To then ban the use of photos in a photo gallery is nothing short of draconian," the letter adds.

APSE leadership plans to meet with MLB officials on Wednesday to discuss the rules, says John Cherwa, a special projects editor at the Orlando Sentinel and sports coordinator for the Tribune newspaper chain.

"We are very hopeful," Cherwa says. "They pretty readily and easily agreed to meet with us." The Tribune company does not plan to take any action about the rules before the meeting, he says.

Some publications are already voicing objections.

"We will be very shortly communicating with the MLB about our concerns and objections," Associated Press director of photography Santiago Lyon said earlier this week.

"A combination of media lawyers and sports editors are strongly objecting to what we think are unduly restrictive rules, mainly regarding what can be posted on Web sites," New York Times spokesperson Diane McNulty said in an e-mail. "We hope to persuade MLB these rules are not in their interest, certainly not in the fans' interest, and not viable for the media."

A statement from Sports Illustrated says, "The new terms and conditions outlined in the 2008 Major League Baseball press credential application form dramatically restrict the use of content and imagery compromising our ability to cover baseball. To uphold the responsibility of serving the public in a manner consistent with our rights and responsibilities under the First Amendment, we have informed Major League Baseball that we cannot accept these new policies."

The news outlets hope a compromise can be reached before the season begins. Opening day is March 31.