SEC Likely To Drop "Full Time Salaried Employee" Media Restriction

In the draft Southeastern Conference (SEC) media credential policy that was written about in the Tuscaloosa News last Friday, one of a few areas that touched some nerves was the following section:

Each Bearer must be and hereby represents that he or she is (i) acting on a specific assignment for an accredited media agency, and (ii) is the agency's full-time salaried employee (emphasis added) who has a legitimate working function in connection with the Event attended.

In an email to Eye on Sports Media, SEC Associate Commissioner for Media Relations Charles Bloom (pictured left) indicates that this is one area likely to be cut from the final policy:

"The section of the policy as it relates to full-time, salaried employees is one that will likely get cut. As you can imagine, we are also dealing with student media as well and that would not go over very well with journalism professors on our campuses."

There is more back and forth to go with Charles with follow up question before we publish a full article on this new draft policy, but it is important that this clarification get published so that is timely and useful for readers.