Last week, we were left wondering whether or not bloggers would have to be sponsored by a "recognized media organization" to attend the federal Liberals' upcoming biennial convention in Ottawa.

Judging from emails sent today both to us and to conservative blogger Stephen Taylor—who first broke news about the new convention policy—it would appear that "freelance and social media representatives" still have to be sponsored to gain media access.

Here's the body of the email OpenFile Ottawa sent to the federal Liberal party on Dec. 16, four days ago:

We're writing today about the party's policy around bloggers and freelancers at this year's convention. As you've seen on Twitter, there's been some question around whether bloggers must be "sponsored by a recognized news organization" to gain media accreditation, as this letter posted online suggests.

Recently, the party's Twitter account made this announcement, which some have taken as a reversal of the existing policy. So we're wondering: do bloggers, social media folks, and freelancers still have to be sponsored by an existing news organization? Or has the policy been updated? And if there has not been a change, how does one decide what is a "recognized" news organization?

And this is the email—really, nothing more than a form letter—that both OpenFile Ottawa and Taylor received:

Dear Trevor,

Thank you for your interest in attending the Ottawa 2012 - Liberal Biennial Convention.
There are many ways to attend the Convention. We are encouraging everyone to attend as a delegate or an observer, and hope you will join us in that capacity. To learn more about how to become an observer, please visit our Convention website: https://www.liberal.ca/register-convention/.

As well, freelance and social media representatives who are sponsored by a recognized news organization can complete the Media Accreditation form, that will be posted to our site closer to the Convention date, and attach a letter of assignment.

Thank you,
Isabella Frenning

No mention of what constitutes a Recognized News Organization™ (henceforth, RNO) even though we clearly asked that question. Does OpenFile count? I'm a blogger, but I'm also a journalist. Though maybe I'm not the latter, according to the Liberals. Who knows.

Here's how Taylor bluntly sums up the response:

There it is. No policy change.

Taylor also shows that the criticism of the blogger policy isn't just a Conservative thing, quoting the opposition expressed by folks like the CBC's Kady O'Malley and Warren Kinsella, who recently wrote that the policy was "stupider than dinosaurs, and just about as modern."

O'Malley, in particular, has been all over the new revelation today. Here's one of her more cutting tweets:

The Ottawa Citizen's Glen McGregor, on the other hand, sees value in limiting who gets media accreditation:

McGregor also asks who would pay the observer fee if they could just represent themselves as a blogger or a "Twitter reporter."

And on that note: if a blogger or "social media representative" really does want to cover the upcoming convention—which, as O'Malley pointed out on Dec. 16, won't even involve the choosing of a new leader—without getting an RNO to hold their hand, they can always fork out a cool $1,100 to attend as a non-voting observer.

The convention takes place in Ottawa from Jan. 13–15.

Photo by racheocity on Flickr