Also from DOPE ON THE SLOPE. WHY IS RATNER AFRAID OF BLOGGERS?

Norm Oder, the most thorough and perhaps the most thoughtful
journalist covering the Atlantic Yards project was barred from a press
conference this morning where Frank Gehry was to unveil another
iteration of his "design" for the instant neighborhood that Forest City
Ratner wants to install on top of Prospect Heights.

Why was his presence unwelcome? Superficially, it appears that he
was barred due to the fact that he’s a blogger. As Norm himself writes
at Atlantic Yards Report:

The FCR press release hinted that a journalist who writes a blog wouldn’t be welcome:
Please
note that this press conference is open to reporters with valid press
credentials. If you do not have press credentials, we require a request
from the publication that you will be representing. The request on
letterhead should be faxed to 212.981.5449.

What’s a valid
credential? And what’s a letterhead? I faxed a request on my own
letterhead, but that wasn’t enough for Ratner. Jeffrey Lerner, a Dan Klores Communications Senior Account Executive, politely but firmly told me "the decision is final."

And is a blogger a journalist? Well, not everyone, but journalists who write blogs are still journalists. And, as Matt Welch wrote
in 2003 in the Columbia Journalism Review, bloggers contribute
"personality, eyewitness testimony, editorial filtering, and uncounted
gigabytes of new knowledge."