What does it mean to be a journalist? That’s a complicated question these days, but in Chicago for decades there’s been a rule of thumb. A journalist is the one who gets to push through the crowd at fires and crime scenes and cross the police line That means he’s the one who’s carrying a Chicago Police Department-issued press pass.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
We’ve also been turned away from mayoral news conferences, Board of Education meetings, and other newsworthy events where the CPD press pass is the key to admission. But the days of part-timers and online bloggers having to stand back with the gawkers are over.
“We realize that not everyone [who works in the media] is full-time,” says CPD News Affairs director Roderick Drew. “The newsgathering business is not as black and white . . . as it has been in the past.”
This is good news for young writers pitching criminal justice stories on spec from bedroom offices, but major media outlets may take little notice of the change. “Every broadcast outlet I know in the city has hidden that some of its credentialed employees are actually part-timers/freelancers for years,” WBBM radio’s Bob Roberts, Freedom of Information chair for the Illinois News Broadcasters Association, told me in an e-mail. Roberts said he knew of entire shops that have refused to obtain CPD credentials since 2002 because of the fingerprinting and background check requirements. Most opted instead for Cook County passes, which offer similar privileges.
