Have a blog? FreedomFest will make you pay

FreedomFest, a 3½-day celebration of liberty and freedom in Las Vegas next month, won’t be free for hardly anyone — and especially bloggers trying to pass themselves off as the working press to avoid paying $500 for a ticket.

FreedomFest calls itself “the world’s largest gathering of free minds” and is expected to attract 2,000 people to Planet Hollywood July 8 through 11. Headliners include U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a Republican candidate for president, pundit Glenn Beck, Fox Business host John Stossel and Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.

The liberty-loving annual event raised eyebrows, however, when it declared that media passes would come at a price. Media organizations usually don’t pay admission to political or campaign events, partly to preserve their independence while serving as the public’s eyes and ears and partly because reporters aren’t there to participate.

“I think the notion of charging the press just to be there doesn’t make a lot of sense for a candidate,” said Rick Edmonds, who teaches at the Poynter Institute, a Florida-based journalism center. He added that media outlets covering presidential campaigns expect to shell out plenty to defray the cost of their campaign-organized transportation, but not when they’re just standing in the room during an event.

FreedomFest organizers said the uncommon idea of charging a the media a “nominal fee” isn’t aimed at keeping newshounds at bay. In fact, it’s “to prevent non-legitimate media professionals (read Internet bloggers) from claiming a media pass to get into FreedomFest for free.”

There are apparently two ways to show you’re legit:

1. Pay $99 for a media pass.

2. Refuse to pay for a media pass.

One sure way to find out if someone is a real journalist, event organizers acknowledge, is to ask for money.

When asked about the fee, the organization offered free-of-cost passes to the Review-Journal, noting that legitimate media organizations are more likely to question the $99 fee.

Stephen Bates, a journalism professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said there are other ways beyond trying to charge for admission to determine if a media outlet or journalist is legitimate.

Sponsors of popular consumer electronics trade shows ask to see something the reputed journalist has published before giving out press credentials, for example. Sometimes sponsors will ask for an endorsement letter from an identifiable news organization.

But asking a journalist to pay to hear a politician’s stump speech? That’s just plain wrong.

“There’s certainly no First Amendment right to get free tickets to anything, but I would think the (Rubio) campaign would think twice about how that looks,” Bates said.

Rubio’s campaign couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday.

For more information about the event, try www.freedomfest.com or 1-855-850-FREE.

That’s a toll-free number, so there’s no charge for the call.

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904. Find him on Twitter: @BenBotkin1.