Nerditorial: Citizen Shane

...though I cannot be said to be a flattering honest man, it must not be denied but I am a plain-dealing villain.

Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing (Act 1, scene 3)

The Herald has picked up the story about my little kerfuffle with Senator Ericksen over the weekend. Link to Herald Politics Blog here.

And so has The Stranger in Seattle. Link here.

Senator Ericksen described this entire event as "much ado about nothing".

That is literally true, but not in the way the Senator imagines it.

I wrote to the Secretary of the Senate for a clarification of the Senate's policy on media access to public events.

Turns out, they don't have one.

...the Senate has no policies relating to media access to public events.

Mike Hoover, Senate Counsel

Huh.

Well, that's a problem.

Can a State Senator hold a town hall meeting and then unilaterally decide what the media can and can't do in order to document a public event?

If Senator Ericksen can prohibit me from plugging into such a P.A. system, then he could impose the the same prohibition on KING 5 or KOMO 4... or KGMI or KBIA or KVOS for that matter. And if Senator Ericksen is at liberty to make such judgment calls then so is any other State Senator in any other venue throughout Washington State. If it is up to the full discretion of an elected official what the press can or can't do, I suspect that the elected official will tend to err on the side of can't.

In terms of the venue itself (in this case a public school district facility), does the venue itself have the full discretion on what the media can and can't do in order to document a public event?

Again, if the venue can prohibit me from plugging in to a P.A. system, then the venue can also do likewise to KING 5 or KOMO 4... or... you get the idea.

What doesn't appear to be widely understood here is that media is as media does.

Professional journalists don't enjoy any special legal status. They don't have any enhanced first amendment rights to exercise freedom of the press beyond those rights enjoyed by any other citizen. Professional journalists just exercise those rights on an industrial scale. Anything that Ericksen or any other State Senator can do to me can be done to any media.

I so far have gotten no response from the Lynden School District on their policy regarding media access when school facilities are rented out.

As of this writing, it remains unclear just who can decide what the media can and can't reasonably do at an event like the Town Hall meeting in Lynden.

But I'm just cheeky enough to make some assertions here.

It can't be left up to the Senator, or any other elected official. It's not that I don't trust Senator Ericksen's judgment in this situation, it's that I don't trust any Senator's judgment in this situation.

It can't be left up to an employee working for the venue who lacks the authority to make executive decisions. A person really shouldn't be able to say No unless that person has the authority to say Yes.

The benefit of the doubt, in the event of doubt, should go to the media.

Hey... that would be me in this case, huh?

If a venue rents out a facility for a public event that is hosted by an elected official there is a reasonable expectation that media will show up and document the event and there is a further expectation that the electronic media in particular may need to make reasonable use of whatever P.A. system exists at that venue to properly document that event.

One component of this story is that Senator Ericksen was concerned about the possibility of my actions causing some sort of technical problems with the delicate balance of the sound system.

The problem with that argument is that it is based on the Senator's lack of basic understanding of the equipment in question.

Within a few feet of the audio connection that I was attempting to use was a common AC outlet, like everyone has in their homes.

This bears repeating for emphasis, the connector I was accessing was within as easy reach of the public as a common 120 volt AC outlet. It wasn't hidden. It was actually down right handy.

If I had plugged in some equipment to the AC outlet, I suspect no one would have raised an eyebrow. But that outlet posed a much greater threat to the continuity of the event than the connector I was endeavoring to use.

If you have ever seen your house lights dim when you use a vacuum cleaner or a microwave oven, then you have witnessed the limitations of the common AC outlet. It's not exactly the most stable or reliable infrastructure available. It is just the most familiar.

The outlet I was trying to use is known is an XLR connection. It is a much less familiar or commonly used connector, but that has no bearing on the stability and safety of that connector. It is an extremely stable, reliable, durable, time-tested and safe connection. XLR connectors pre-date the eight-track tape, yet are still the gold standard for professional audio in the high-definition Blu-ray world we find ourselves in today. These connectors are not just "grounded", they are also "balanced" which means they are designed to reduce the possibility of external noise being introduced into a sound system. Link here.

And I know this because I am familiar with this sort of equipment. I am a Certified Broadcast Network Technologist and I got that certification from the Society of Broadcast Engineers. I'm qualified to make these decisions. I was by far the most qualified person of the three persons in the conflict.

Senator Ericksen clearly didn't know anything about this equipment because he didn't know an XLR connector from Shinola.

The notion that the original conflict that kicked this entire story off should be resolved by the person with the least amount of applied knowledge of the equipment rings hollow to me.

As I have mentioned before, I have plugged into a variety of P.A. systems in a variety of venues in Whatcom County. I've done the very same thing at every County Council meeting I've recorded using the very same connector without incident.

The "risk to the sound system" argument won't pass the laugh test with anyone qualified to set up these sound systems. Its a red herring. I was using stock equipment that employed industry standard connections. There was no risk to the P.A. system. I was attempting to use the system in a manner entirely compatible with its intended and designed function. And apparently I was the only person present who understood that.

At the risk of indulging in nit-picking, I'm going to close this post by pointing out that if I were a professional videographer, my inability to get "broadcast quality" audio would likely have resulted in rendering my video useless to any media outlet. If I were doing this for a living, I wouldn't be able to sell the video footage I shot to any one in a position to buy it. Fortunately, in this case, I'm just an amateur videographer and this decision didn't affect me in this way. YouTube doesn't require broadcast quality audio.

This matter should be resolved before a professional videographer is prevented from earning a living off of a fair day's work while plying a legitimate trade.