Del Marsh

Freedom of the press is essential. Freedom of the press is important to me. Freedom of the press is not going anywhere in Alabama.

With the national explosion of partisan political blogs and shady, fly-by-night websites offering purposely skewed and inaccurate interpretations of hard news events, I recently asked the Secretary of the Senate to put together a definition of what qualifies as a legitimate journalist.

My concern focused on the confusion that could result if a number of partisan bloggers requested official credentials to cover legislative happenings from the press rooms located in the rear of each chamber at the State House.

Allowing agenda-driven bloggers the same access and legitimacy as serious, long-established and unbiased reporters could soon create a confusing, circus-like atmosphere and blur the line between promoting opinions and reporting facts.

Other state legislatures across the country have already sensed this coming collision and taken steps to create the same definition and requirements that I asked the Senate secretary to consider. As a result, he reached out to several of his peers and inquired about the practices they were implementing.

A few newspapers across Alabama had strong words when they learned of the request, and I believe they simply misinterpreted our intentions.

Let me be clear. We are not attempting to reduce transparency or pull a cloak over what occurs in the chambers and committee rooms of the State House.

For the first time in history, anyone around the world who is unable to travel to Montgomery but would like to monitor what is happening in the Senate may now stream live video of every floor debate and listen to audio of almost every committee meeting during the legislative session. My colleagues and I felt this was important, and believe that the taxpayers should have access to their State House – regardless of where they are located.

The issue is not transparency, but rather accountability.

Every organization and profession has standards that must be met. Because the Legislature does not have a definition of what constitutes a "journalist," anyone with a smartphone or a Facebook page could demand press credentials. With so many ways to instantly share information, it is important that those who publish unfettered opinion – or are paid political operatives – should not be mistaken for a professional and accountable journalist.

Just as elected officials are accountable to the people they represent, so, too, are journalists accountable to an editor.

While a free and open press is vital and necessary, there are some who are attempting to hijack the profession by promoting raw political agendas from the confines of the press gallery. This is not freedom of the press, it is deceitful and wrong.

I acknowledge that in today's rapidly changing media world, it is more complicated to determine who should and should not be considered a legitimate journalist.

To that end, I have asked the Alabama Press Association to assist the Senate staff in determining a proper definition of what constitutes a journalist meriting access to the press room. Those denied press room access under a new standard would still be welcome to sit in the public gallery and blog about what they see. There are already those who do that without complaint.

We have not yet taken any concrete action in this regard, and there is no guarantee that we will. I simply asked for a conversation to start with the full input and insight of those who represent legitimate news-gathering operations across Alabama.

Several past and present members of the Capitol Press Corps reporters have indicated to us that they do not fear this process because they agree that paid political operatives must not be allowed to disguise themselves as journalists.

They join us in recognizing the importance of preserving the integrity of their profession.