Why the hell does Dave Winer get a press pass for Macworld and we don't?

Media registration is a privilege, not a right. And love him or hate him, Winer is not just another blogger -- he has his own Wikipedia entry. Since the iPod took off, demand for media accreditation at Macworld has increased every show. Many publications that would have skipped Macworld in previous years to attend the Consumer Electronics Show are now making time for Jobs' keynotes. Last year at MWSF, so many press passes were issued that show organizers had to create an overflow area. Online media (i.e. bloggers and Web-only publications) were shunted to a theater downstairs, where the Jobs keynote was shown on closed-circuit TV. My guess? So many people are asking for press passes that the show organizers decided to filter out the bloggers. Period. No doubt, there will be some exceptions to this rule. Be nice, and you might get to be one of those exceptions.

I think Scott was trying to say was why aren't bloggers from other leading Apple sites invited? Now, without looking at an who's who of the invite list I can't say for certain, but for my money I reckon Scott is well due an invite. I read TUAW a couple of times a day. I like it's verbose mix of news, hints and heads-up on interesting software. I really appreciate all the work Scott and the other guys do on this site and if it was up to me, there would be VIP passes all round. Thanks for your hard work guys!

sin't give TUAW a press pass...

I think IDG opened up a can of worms with this one. As a writer a Mac site (one that, admittedly, does not meet all the requirements), I'm fine with the fact that IDG instituted the restrictions they did. But boneheaded moves like this smack of preferential treatment and go against everything IDG set out to accomplish with their new guidelines. Those who are upset have every right to be upset IMHO.

I do not think it is whiny, but I am a little tired of the bit***** and moaning from the readers of the blog. I frequently use TUAW and have always been pleased with what they have to offer. I certainly do not pick up my daily paper and read every article with the same level of interest or concern and blogs are the same way. I am scanning them for what intersts me and everything else I can scroll away. As far as MacWorld I want to hear what some rabid Mac fans (like myself) have to say as soon as it is announced and this is one of the places I would go to hear about it.

I have to add my voice to those supporting Scott McNulty and TUAW. What must be understood here is the fact that even if his post was a whine (I disagree about that), that alone does not mean that it isn't raising a valid issue. Whether sections of the media are being unfairly barred from MW is still an issue that needs discussing. I trust that the "not enough room" line caused everyone else as much laughter as me; if they're desperate enough to lie barefaced like that, then chances are they don't have any valid reasons to exclude TUAW or other bloggers. Certainly, though, the worst thing I have read is the constant applying of the label "unprofessional" to TUAW. Ridiculous. You might as well call a satirical cartoonist "unprofessional" because they drew GW Bush's forehead larger than it is in reality. Did TUAW ever claim to be the NY Times of Apple news ? I think TUAW carries out its mission of being an approachable, multi-author, Apple-focused weblog with aplomb. Keep up the good work, guys.

Man, the Winer apologists are coming out of the woodwork today, and all with the same party line. What are the chances they're all Dave? I read this site, and Winer's scripting dot com site every four hours via the magic of RSS, and I end up following links to read articles on this one at least twice a day, where I can't recall the last time I clicked through to anything at scripting, aside from those pre-election times where he was running his mouth about politics, which is, believe it or not, more annoying than him grandstanding and self-referentially preaching to his choir of sycophants. Anyway, here's hoping you go, regardless, press pass or not, as I, for one, look forward to reading news about MacWorld from here. God knows Winer won't bother to report anything that doesn't involve how great he is, which should be a relatively short list of postings.

First time I read the post, I definitely thought you were whining. Then I read all the comments, went back and read the post. This time I thought it was fine. What's the real difference? I didn't read the title. I think the "Why the hell does..." just sets the whole post off on a whiny, ranting tone. Change that to "Why does..." and it sounds like a simple and legitimate question. All that aside, I don't think anybody should be surprised that some people get press passes and others don't. Politics/playing favourites isn't exactly a new phenomenon in the media.

I like TUAW and IDG is doing the wrong thing. I understand Scott's outcry and it's perfectly in place in a personal blog. This is exactly what ppl come to blogs for. Personal opinions, not press releases. Those who think otherwise don't understand the concept behind blogging. It's not journalism in it's traditional sense. Here you get what journalism should be if journalists were not afraid of losing their jobs and were more independent from their information sources.

McNulty is 28, soon to be 29 (feel free to send presents.. though somehow I doubt LD will be so inclined). As for whining, I don't think I was whining in this post, but several insulting comments can't be wrong, can they?