http://johnsterling.blogspot.com

Let’s not act as if this is a private mom and pop corner store who is being hounded by big bad news reporters.

I’m in Waltham (though not for long)

Know of any Yankee bars?

The First Amendment, first and foremost, protects citizens against Government actions limiting speech, not the actions of private parties like MLB. (However, Congress and the Supreme Court have used the Interstate Commerce Clause of the US Constitution to open up old boy networking clubs to women and even NYC’s historic McSorley’s was forced to allow women in some years ago… but that’s another story).

The First Amendment also allows for fairly broad freedom of expression, meaning, for example, that you cannot get arrested for making pornography – - with certain exceptions. You cannot, however, generally use the First Amendment to gain access to private property when the owner is taking steps to protect his or her interests in the property and keep access limited.

The game broadcasts are private property which MLB carefully protects (”...no portion of which may be used without the express written consent of MLB). Your ticket to the game is merely a revocable “license,” by which the owners of the team give you limited rights to be at the game, beginning at a certain time and ending a certain time after the conclusion of the game, provided you do not violate any of the conditions listed on the back of your ticket, including sound or motion picture recording devices I think. MLB ball parks are in fact private places which open certain areas to the public under certain conditions.

MLB issues (and can withdraw, revoke or suspend) press credentials to control who gets access to the players in the stadiums and thus limits the ability to record or otherwise capture and preserve for other use what players or team officials say while in the controlled areas.

MLB does not, however, own the words or thoughts of a player. So, a journalist can always seek access to the player away from the park or at the park with the team’s permission, and avoid some of the tighter restrictions of the MLB regs. But beat writes want the players’ thoughts in the locker room right after the action so putting limits on this access is a real headache for the Pete Abes of the world.

At least there was a compromise of sorts. These sands will continue to shift as the cable/direct tv market sorts out what value to assign to various things.

It’s a sad, sad commentary on my current state of mind (i.e., foggy) that I’m more interested in commenting on crushed potato chips (yummy!), cheetos (I prefer the crunchy ones), and fake cheese dust than the rather important topic introduced by our fearless leader, Pete.