Jack McElroy gets it all wrong

I usually do not blog about my work. However, after reading Jack's latest blog post I had to correct a glaring error he wrote. in his blog post he wrote http://blogs.knoxnews.com/editor/2011/10/arrest-of-occupy-reporter-rais.shtml "There's no such thing as a official, card-carrying journalist, and the last thing professionals want is the government deciding who's a real reporter and who's not. " This is wrong on so many levels. First off, the Public Building Authority does in fact issue card carrying official journalist credentials to the certified media members who do business in the city and County buildings. I have a credentialed media pass with my photo on it which also acts as a magnetic swipe card to allow me access into the city County building without having to go through metal detectors with my photography equipment. Also, many police departments across the nation issue press passes. When I was a reporter in New York I was issued a press pass by the local police department. The way in which a press pass issuance is determined is usually by amount of hours worked by the reporter, circulation numbers of a local paper, radio is often determined by the wattage or listener share. but as for the video itself The journalist appears to have made a key mistake. First off when we had the first "Occupy Knoxville" rally I did cover the event when it first started about a month ago. The first thing I did was walk up to the head of KPD at the scene and asked if any special precautions needed to be taken. I presume if this reporter would have done the same he would not have gotten into trouble. In conclusion,YES government certified card carrying journalists do exist... Please note. The statements listed immediately above are the sole opinion of the noted writer of the above document.The information should be construed as an open opinion and information contained in this document represents facts to the best of the writers knowledge and should not be viewed as permanent certified fact but that as the way the information is interpreted by the opinion of the author. Blogs are generated using speech-recognition technology. Therefore, this blog cannot guarantee their complete accuracy.