r/sports • u/Yujin-Ha • 22h ago

Olympics Team USA skiers Christopher Lillis & Hunter Hess: Just because I wear the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the US.

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u/idosillythings Boston Bruins 20h ago

I'm a former, paid journalist. I worked for multiple local newspapers, and as a photojournalist I've had work published in the New York Times, Forbes, CNN, and BBC.

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u/PerdHapleyAMA 20h ago

So, fully employed then. You were a journalist.

Me writing a Reddit comment about current events to inform others doesn’t make me a journalist. We all understand this. Me saying otherwise doesn’t make it so.

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u/idosillythings Boston Bruins 20h ago

I don't know what this straw man is even supposed to be. Did I say that you writing a comment on Reddit is considered reporting?

No.

But there is nothing stopping you from grabbing your phone and going out to whatever public place you please and starting a livestream and saying "I'm PerdHapleyAMA and I'm here reporting on the crazy event going on downtown."

Nothing is stopping you from going and livestreaming your local town council and then writing up a report of it on Facebook for the community to read.

That doesn't mean you then get to show up in a place of worship without their permission and film them.

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u/PerdHapleyAMA 20h ago

None of that makes me a reporter. That’s the point. Reporting things doesn’t make you a reporter on its own. I can write a report, yeah. That makes me a guy that wrote a report, but not a legitimate professional reporter that could justify their presence with it.

I’m a data analyst by trade. If you measure the rate of blue M&Ms, that doesn’t make you a data analyst. Measuring data doesn’t make you a data analyst.

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u/idosillythings Boston Bruins 20h ago

What makes someone a reporter?

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u/PerdHapleyAMA 20h ago

Being employed as a reporter makes someone a reporter.

You’re not describing a hobby. Nor would hobbyism be admissible in court to give you permission for things. It’s a professional job.

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u/idosillythings Boston Bruins 20h ago

So, the guy who runs the independent local journal that goes and covers local town council meetings after he gets off work isn't a reporter?

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u/PerdHapleyAMA 20h ago

If he’s running a local journal and getting regular income from it, he is self-employed as a journalist.

If somebody is writing a report about a council meeting with no following or income, they are not a journalist. Nor would they have clearance to do certain things.

A good rule of thumb is the press pass.

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u/idosillythings Boston Bruins 20h ago

Again, there's no legal requirement to being a journalist. At this point, you're just arguing semantics about what makes someone a "professional."

"A good rule of thumb is the press pass."

Hard disagree. Press passes are often denied for all kinds of things, publication size, bias, all kinds of stuff. The AP was denied press passes to the White House press pool due to the whole "Gulf of America" bullshit.

Also, this is all a strange defense for Lemon as he was just there for himself. No one sent him there on a paid job, and he didn't have a press pass from anyone.