ONLINE NEWS ASSOCIATION OBJECTS
TO DALLAS MAVERICKS NEW MEDIA POLICY
NEW YORK (March 14, 2008) - The Online News Association sent a letter today to NBA Commissioner Daniel Stern objecting to a new policy initiated by the Dallas Mavericks which bans full-time bloggers from the team's locker room.
The ONA asked Stern and the NBA to investigate this abrupt, mid-season change in policy and work with the Mavericks to develop a more reasonable policy.
"We believe that professional journalists should be treated equally when it comes to issuing credentials -- whether they are producing content for print, broadcast or the web," said Jonathan Dube, president of the Online News Association.
Dube continued; "This change in policy is particularly disappointing coming from an organization owned by Mark Cuban, considering he is not only a blogger, but spoke to ONA members at our conference in 2006. Among his remarks, he stated, 'Part of your job is to put [news] in a format that people want to receive it in."
The ONA urged Stern and the NBA to work with the ONA to find a reasonable solution in this matter." These terms interfere with our members' ability to do their jobs as journalists and cover news of public importance."
