Footwear, Football, and Person-Powered Media

“Brave souls” protest NFL rules: Local editors are resisting new National Football League rules that require on-field photographers to wear red vests bearing sponsor logos. On Friday, Strib managing editor Scott Gillespie and PiPress editor Thom Fladung sent a  letter to the league stating they “have no intention of having our journalists wear sponsor logos while doing their jobs.” The NFL is also limiting footage shot by local media in stadiums to 45 seconds of continuous airtime. While the league’s ruling has raised the ire of news photographers and editors, only a few papers, including the local dailies and the Chicago Tribune, have threatened to decline covering games. “[F]or this opposition to truly gain traction, it needs more than just the brave souls at the Tribune and Twin Cities papers,” writes Editor & Publisher’s Joe Strupp. “If those slamming the logo-laden vests want to make their point, then join in with a true boycott. Put your money where your telephoto lenses are and refuse to show up.“

The Uptake’s master plan: City Pages new managing editor Matt Smith gives kudos to The Uptake, a citizen-media group that shot man-on-the-street video questions and submitted them to YouTube’s Democratic debates. Thanks to their efforts, Minneapolis’ Marcus Benson met the world with his question about taxes. But this cadre of media heavy-hitters — including activist and sculptor Jason Barnett; Minnesota Stories‘ Chuck Olsen; New Patriot blogger Chris Dykstra; Mike McIntee, Inside Minnesota Politics podcast producer; and former Keith Ellison communications expert Bridget Cusick — has a bigger goal: training as many as 100 amateur videographers to cover the Republican National Convention, the Democratic convention in Denver and the Iowa caucuses. Writes Smith, “The plan is to train video-equipped ordinary Joes to cover three aspects of the convention: the Republicans and their sponsors, the stories behind the protestors, and how traditional media cover the event.”

Ode treads lightly in Bachmann profile: The title “Watching her step” could apply to both the subject and author of a July 23 Star Tribune profile on Rep. Michelle Bachmann, writes City Pages’ G.R. Anderson. Kim Ode’s piece “glosses over” the controversy that erupted when Bachmann claimed to know of a plan to partition Iraq, repeated the story that Bachmann’s career started “almost by chance” when she ran for statehouse (her opponent called it “absolute bullshit”), and offered a heavy dose of fashion — including, Anderson points out, plenty of references to footwear. “In the age of declining readership and sharp media scrutiny, no one could really fault the old Star and Sickle for straining to hook the Fair and Balanced crowd,” writes Anderson. “Still, would it hurt the paper’s credibility to be even slightly critical of our daffiest congressional member?”

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