Need a Press Badge? I Have a Deal for You!

http://internationalpress.com/index.php?file=join_us

“The kit”:
http://www.aipress.com/pressgold.html

http://www.fakecard.co.uk/Fake_ID_press_passes.asp#

I recall the story of a photo-j, without press access in mexico city during the earthquake there in the 80s, using his library card to good affect. no problems.

Hi Eric,

I’m member of the International Press Association and I think it’s a good thing…In Italy to obtain a subscription at the order of Journalist you must work as permanent at least for 18 months for a magazine or news paper and after that you have to attend to a test very tough…and from my point of view is helpless! With the IPA card, anyway you have to call the press office of the event organization to obtain acces on a specific events, but you can present yourself as freelance and show a badge that you are a freelance…

Kind Regards,
Riccardo

It is so easy to make your own today as a a lot of business card shops have the gear to print thick plastic badges.
After forgetting my creds at the house, I could not get access to a scheduled event while working in Brazil last year. A letter from the BR ambassy and a jorno visa in my passport just wasn’t good enough…
Went to a local printing shop where they took my pic and made a card with Corel in less than 2 hours. Total cost was about U$7… The optional card holder was an extra 50 cents!...

Does anyone ever use their Press Pass seriously? Mine’s in my bag but I can’t ever remember pulling it out!

absolutely! just last week i used it to go in a museum for free… more seriously, half of the time i’m shooting in a western country post 9/11 the cops ask for credentials. i have a couple of different cards, real ones. i don’t use the ones i sent the links about. there’s no real regulation about issuing press passes unless they’re government issued like in Israel and Turkey. (and probably some other places)

Yeah actually you are right Guilad, I am sure the Alliance has discounts and stuff I think on movies, I just always forget.

No-one generally asks me for ID here, they either just point blank refuse to let me in places or they obviously don’t think I look that suspicious.

I tend to get in at a lot of backstage type things just with my chutzpah! (and very tight jeans) Oh and if that doesn’t work a good old fashioned dummy spit sometimes does!

I got one in Khao San road, it’s a damn good copy ;0)

Oh yeah, over here you have to have it all the time along with your passport as well or you don’t get in anywhere full stop.

Michael is that a hangover from the grand old days of the KGB or is it for reasons of security (like if one of the Russian mafia guys show up with guns?) or is it about Chechniya?

I mean I understand why in Northern America but whats their biggest fear in Russia?

Never have been there but its on the itinerary for one day…

Lisa, Russia is 100 times more restrictive than any western country. i went to Siberia a few months ago, what a pain in the ass. it’s not a hangover from KGB days, it’s putin’s autocratic dreams. (not really just a dream anymore)

ah, but in Australia you don’t have to prove you make the greater part of your living to be a member of the AJA/MEAA, there you have your Australian pass….. and if you’re a member of the AJA/MEAA you then qualify for the IFJ international pass!

Fact is, most national journalists unions (IFJ affiliated ones) do demand that you show your finances…. except in the land of Oz, as long as you just pay your annual dues.

‘in Australia you don’t have to prove you make the greater part of your living FROM PHOTOGRAPHY (or newsgathering generally)’...... I meant to say up there above.

You could be wiping arses in a nursing home for all they know!

Maybe it’s different now, no idea, been a member for a long time.

The only thing my press pass(es) has ever done for me is get me in to tourist attractions for free, and even then, I really could care less. I will admit, I was cheap in Dublin and did not want to pay fifteen Euro to go on the Guinness brewery tour, but the mate I was visiting insisted on it, so I dug one out of the bag, put it on, and they waived me through. Even threw in the free pint.

I hate my passes, personally simply for the fact, if I wear them on the chain, they get tangled with my camera and bag straps. Parents come up to you and ask to get their kid’s picture in the paper, or as in the case of the other day, can short out and fry a camera battery. (Damn Nikon)

Oh, AIPress, I bought into that scam back in college fifteen years ago. I found that to be less useful than not having anything. Seriously, I don’t think I have ever seen anyone wearing or admitting to having wasted money on that. I suppose I’m the only idiot out there dumb enough to admit to it. The things we do when we’re in college. Should’ve wasted the money on keggers.

I was the only snapper at the recent Bollywood awards event with a genuine pass but no photo, nor name and no details on it for the ‘green carpet’ screened off area for the stars. Took me a whole hour of pleading and cajoling to
get it and the issuing authority told me there was no way security would’nt notice that it was blank !!
The NS Press Pass which gets me into Downing Street,(but not into number 10 ! ), is recognised by the Police, etc.,
and has my newspaper’s name on it was useless in this instance. My tip is to have a large thumb you can place over the blank area where the photo should be, then to choose a moment when lots of people are going into the security checkpoint at the same time and slip in amongst them. JR.

Lisa and Guilad: You’re both right it’s for all those reasons. Putin’s autocratic dreams and KGB hangover are the same thing… The Party’s called “United Russia” now but it’s all the same people.

Heres a novel idea…try fostering relationships by actually speaking with credentialing agents at events, before hand and telling the truth about your circumstances.

At the risk of being ostracized here, I have read some very dumb and potentially career jeopardizing suggestions on this thread such as “slipping in” anywhere. Especially in todays ultra scrutinized, over zealous security laden world, where most of the hired help at these events have what my Mother likes to call, “just enough power to make the wrong decision”

Being arrested for a fake credential should someone try to press the issue…No thank you.

Best,
EHRG

best

Hey Edouard if you haven’t been arrested for something meaningful at least once in your life you haven’t lived!

Edouard: career jeopardizing? “slipping in” is what i built my career on, aka getting an exclusive. i agree with Lisa, you should be arrested at least once (a year). besides there’s no international regulation about press passes, so basically, you could make your own pass with crayons and it still wouldn’t be considered a fake. all agencies can make their own, so wake up tomorrow morning, look in the mirror, and say three time “i am an agency”, then you can print you own passes with little pink winged elephants on the verso.

Aaron, actually i know a few people who bought the AI kit, and have been very happy with it. one of them covered the Amman bombing with me and had absolutely no problems with the Jordanian security. the others use it pretty often, if i didn’t have 4 different official ones in my pocket, i’d probably buy it too… i don’t think it’s a waste of money.

Edouard-If I had’nt been dumb enough to slip in at the Bollywood event then that probably WOULD have jeopardized my career ! And as for speaking with ‘credentialing agents’ at events before hand if you read my very dumb post properly you would see thats what I did for a whole hour before the event. The passes were issued a week BEFORE the event and I was assigned to it the evening before. The pass was not a fake-just did’nt have my photo or details printed on it because that was not possible in the time. And yes, I have been arrested by plod before-but that was nothing to do with fake passes or not telling the truth about my circumstances and says more about them trying to bend the laws they are supposed to uphold like the rest of us.

Heres a novel idea…. try reading people’s posts more thoroughly in future and be careful who you call dumb !!

I carry my national journalists union card and IFJ card all the time in order to have peace of mind. When covering stories with UN or in hostile zones, using a fake is a big risk that i never took. You need real credentials. During bombing in Beirut (August 2006) i took something like a press pass(i dont know what its written on it since its in arabic) from hezbolla and that gave me access to everywhere! but before getting that, the checked all my other press card (national and international) and asked for my nationality

I’m with EG on this one, guys. Try doing what you’re doing here or in NYC and you’ll get your asses kicked out before you even get in.

Reading up, I’m wondering if some folks are just talking different events. I can’t help but wonder if one person is talking about a press pass as to cover a musical event, while another is taking about using a press pass to cover a bombing.

Personally, I think most photogs would have better credibility with a laminated PC printed card from a legitimate media agency, even if it is a weekly newspaper, than the AIPress scam. Sorry, to anyone who bought in to AIPress, but you can not buy credibility. And paying fifty bucks for the AIPress kit does not grant it. AIPress is in the business of selling credentials.

“Try doing what you’re doing here or in NYC and you’ll get your asses kicked out before you even get in.”

Try getting into Downing Street, London with a fake pass and the same will happen to you. Read my post if you are referring to the Bollywood awards event-the pass was NOT a fake. What would you suggest I should have done then-packed up and gone home just because I did’nt have their own accredited piece of card? That really would have jeopardized my career. I’m a photographer. It’s my job to get pictures back to my newspaper-not make excuses for
why I could’nt get in to an event. Jeez :-((

Ah, John, your post about Bollywood made it sound like the pass was a fake.

In India, specially New Delhi, because of intense security paranoia, only am accredition given by the Government of India works…don’t try anything else. :)

In posting this I was by no means suggesting that one could rely on these kinds of passes to get into places that are restricted for security. Aaron is spot on, however…there are definitely other circumstances where some low level kind of accreditation is of value.

In fact in posting this I was not suggesting anything in particular, except perhaps that one could make some of these passes for your work group, like your PJ class or your snapper buddies who sometimes shoot (or drink) together.
Indeed I suppose in theory there COULD be a Lightstalkers accreditation pass!

On second thought, the non-profit purposes of LS/11-11 don’t extend to issuing press passes. So forget that one.

Hey-no offence taken Bill, although it would be nice if EG could bother to reply to my second post and apologise for calling that first post of mine very dumb. Sorry for the defensive language mate-Although I did say the pass was a genuine but blank one, I guess I did’nt make it that clear in my first posting and if you read it quickly it might have looked like I was supporting the idea of fake passes for all-I dont !!

Actually I have tried to get into Downing street once when my, (GENUINE !!), pass had expired by one week and the new one was in the post to me. The thumb method,(over the date), did’nt work then and the Met Policemen politely explained that there was simply no way I was getting in. A sensible snapper tends not to argue with armed plod so I did’nt.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about the Bollywood Awards event was that there were wall to wall ‘photographers’
in the pen-many of them with the correct accreditation,(same as mine except theirs had a photo and their details printed on), but taking pictures on their only ‘cameras’-mobile phones !

“In posting this I was by no means suggesting that one could rely on these kinds of passes to get into places that are restricted for security.” Thanks Neal. Neither was I if EG had bothered to read my post properly !! Best wishes, JR.