The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) has endorsed 33 websites that the USBWA feels deserve full consideration for receiving online media credentials from sports information directors. We are providing this service to SIDs to assist them in identifying legitimate websites. Please share with other CoSIDA members. While we are recommending these websites to receive credentials, we acknowledge that NCAA member institutions retain the sole right to grant or deny credentials.
Below is a full report of the USBWA Online Credentialing Task Force's work and the process involved to review applications for endorsement.
Please contact me with any questions.
Joe Mitch
USBWA Executive Director
314-795-6821
mitch@usbwa.com
USBWA ENDORSEMENT OF WEBSITES FOR ONLINE CREDENTIALS
For decades, decisions to grant credentials to print reporters often were based on traditional criteria such as circulation numbers, which were assumed to prove a certain legitimacy. In recent years, digital media have blown holes in tradition, leading to myriad questions, some as basic as "Who are those guys?"
The USBWA Online Credentialing Task Force was formed in 2013 to identify criteria that would be helpful to all parties when it comes to submitting and either granting or denying credential requests. The task force was comprised of reporters from traditional print and online publications, sports information directors, representatives from APSE and USBWA officers. The task force agreed that the APSE's statement of ethics guidelines constituted a good model for professional journalism websites to follow.
It was decided that USBWA could perform a service to reporters and sports information directors, many of whom are members, by identifying websites that deserved full consideration for credentials. How to do that? The task force set up a committee to review websites with focus on the following criteria:
- Editorial oversight and adherence to journalistic and ethical standards
- Evaluation of demonstrated proprietary content (i.e., proprietary v. aggregate)
- Experience of staff
- Scope of coverage
- Balance of coverage
- Frequency and consistency of publication
Applications for endorsement were solicited last spring, with a submission deadline of September 1. Below is a list of websites endorsed by the USBWA through Nov. 12, 2014.
The committee is working to clarify some questions that arose during this first year, and plans to add an FAQ list to this page in 2015, when the application window will open again.
Point of emphasis: NCAA member institutions and other event-sponsoring organizations retain the sole right to grant or deny credentials. Endorsement of a site by the USBWA does not guarantee credentials will be granted.
USBWA ENDORSED WEBSITE LIST
(as of November 12, 2014)
All Sports Discussion
Basketball Times
Bleacher Report
Blue Star
CBS College Sports - Eye on College Basketball
Campus Insiders
Cardinal Authority
City of Basketball Love
College Chalktalk
Eagle Totem
ESPN - College Basketball Nation
Fox Sports
Grantland
Hoopville
Houston Roundball Review
Inside The Hall
Ken Pomeroy
Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association
Mid-Major Madness
NBC College Basketball Talk
Net Scouts
Pickin’ Splinters
Project Shanks
Rivals*
Run the Floor
Rush the Court
Scout*
The Sporting News
Sports Illustrated
UM Hoops
USA Today
Yahoo! The Dagger
ZagsBlog
* - does not include affiliate sites in partner network