Press Card

Usually done through the Government Public Relations Department – or at least it is in Thailand. Took me around two months to organise – usually need confirmation letter you are on assignment and can show at least 3 or 4 published images per year.

Good luck

In Nepal you get your credentials in 2-3 days but you have to show a load of publications. Every year again. Tedious but okay… The whole procedure is done at the Department of Information.

I guess there is something like that in Singapore too, no?

1) Get familiar with Adobe Illustrator (or similar product)
2) Design yourself a good looking press pass
3) Print it up, get it laminated, wear it around your neck

James, that might work where you are – but a fake press pass is more likely to cause you greater problems in the long run – besides putting your credibility in to question, authorities are likely to take a dim view of a falsified card, especially for an overseas resident.

I would check the Singporean press association (assuming there is one). As an alternative become a member with the press association of the German state you are from. When I living in Baden-Wurtemberg I got a press card through them. Good luck!

If you can join the National Press Photographers Association in the US ($105), they will issue you a card with your picture on it and also the word PRESS in large letters. Also look at this earlier post on LS and the references there: http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/applying-for-a-press-card

“a fake press pass is more likely to cause you greater problems in the long run”

There’s really no such thing as a fake press card. All “press cards” are ID cards issued by somebody (or some organization) that says you are a journalist. Who’s to say that one group is more “real” than another? Is a press pass issued by an repressive government more valid than one issued by a photo co-operative? Is one issued by the second largest journalists’ union (affiliated with the local far-left party) any less valid than one issued by the largest union (affiliated with the local center-right party)?

All a press pass is is a piece of paper, usually laminated, that tells the world you are a working journalist. If you design and print up a press pass that honestly describes you as a working journalist, why is it any less valid or “real” than something issued by a third party?

I think you already know what I mean but I am happy to spell it out if you want…

If you come to a country other than your own, and decide to print up your own Press Card, it follows that you need to be on the specific visa required under that country’s immigration rules that match your profession or job.

Thailand, for example, has only one type of recognized press card, which is issued by a government department and only issued after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has given permission and sanctioned the request after it has issued you with both a Media visa and a work permit – there’s no getting round it – you don’t get a press card unless you follow this procedure.

Of course you can print your own, the risk you take is declaring yourself (by the very nature of wearing a card that states “PRESS”) as a working member of a media organization and subsequently then found to be on a tourist or other visa. Deportation is usually next on the list…

http://www.ifj.org/en/pages/international-press-card

“There’s really no such thing as a fake press card. All “press cards” are ID cards issued by somebody (or some organization) that says you are a journalist.”

James,
Each country has different rules and laws. Some of them (France is on) don’t recognize media organizations issued press cards. It has to be an official press card delivered by a government department or office or organization in charge. Even here in the states, New York for example, good luck if you do not have a press card delivered by the cops.

As for Singapore, there must be an association or club of whatever of foreign corespondents. In any case a call or visit to talk to someone at Reuters or AP local bureaus should get you all the information you need.
Seems to me you should be able to get more correct information where you are instead of on the net.

L.

Luc,
Practical experience in France shows that virtually everybody in France (including government departments) recognize and accept press ID issued by media organizations and government issued press ID is not really needed. The wonderful press cards issued by the NYPD used to have a certain magic when on the street in NYC but these days everyone is treated equally, like shit.

Thank you all for your feedback!!

another question…how can one add their own URL to their profile? I see that some have it and some don’t.
Thanks

Quote:
“Practical experience in France shows that virtually everybody in France (including government departments) recognize and accept press ID issued by media organizations and government issued press ID is not really needed.”

Down here in Argentina is pretty much the same, with a couple of (important) exceptions: the Casa Rosada (Government’s Office, where youneed to have the press pass issued by the Ministry of Interior on behalf of the PJs National Association, ARGRA and have your fingerprints registered) and football, where you have to be registered in ARGRA.
For almost everything else, having some sort of press pass will do, ocasionally you’ll get bounced off one door, but for the most you can do a lot of work without any official press pass, and the police will let you work without problems, and if they don’t want you there no pass will do.

Olaf, probably the best way would be to get in contact with freelens. They have information about press id’s, national as well as international, on their website: http://www.freelens.com/presseausweis

I typically side with James on these issues, but will admit, my own press cards issued by major media outlets did nothing to help me when I got stuck on the Brooklyn Bridge last year. I was just visiting and had never seen the bridge before when I got stuck in the middle of the OWS rally on there.

My NPPA, and other accredited press cards meant nothing to NYPD. It was by sheer dumb luck, I dropped a name of an NYPD officer I knew that got a beat cop that was rounding us up to look at my X100’s (Thank lord, I wasn’t there with the D3s and the 24-70) LCD to see just touristy pictures for him to let me go with a stern warning that one must have an NYPD issued press pass to work as media, and I was damn lucky I wasn’t being run in with the rest of the “media and protesters” .

On that note, NPPA does state quite clearly that the NPPA membership card and pres ID are not “press passes” and make no claim that any rights will be granted to photographers who present the card at all. In fact, NPPA asks that if you can use it as a press-pas to let them know because otherwise, it is nothing more than a simple membership card with a photo on it.

I’m sure this topic has been beating more than a pervert at a woodpecker tree. Press passes are merely identification and typically grant no more nor more less rights than any man on the street, with the majority of such identification credential as nothing more than a piece of paper issued buy an event organizer.

Truth be known, I find them more a hassle than without. At least if I’m just a man on the street with a point and shoot, a Leica M, or a cell phone, even at a crime scene, or a rally, I’m not standing out. But lord forbid, I got that press pass, and every one from the local cops, to the Feds or even Joe Sixpack want to stop me from working.

Joe Sixpack is usually the worst cause they see the press pass and want to know who I work for, or if I can get their little kid feeding ducks on A1. (Or if I get a picture of them walking down the street, demand the name and phone number of the news desk so they can personally “chew out” my editor becasue dumbass walks in to my frame.

if you want want that bad, you can make your own, get one from NPA, or buy one from one of those internet outfits like the NPFO or ID.com or who ever.

So, back OT, for my time in Singapore, I never had any issues with needing anything issued by the government in Singapore. (Which is weird seeing how CPJ ranks Singapore pretty damn low on press freedoms) Then again, I never covered anything which would anger those in power.

Press ID is of two types in India. One is the organisational press card that is issued by the media house where you serve. Another is the accreditation or recognition from the I&PR department of the State or central government.The govt clearance follows certain rules and regulations both for Indians and foreign journalists working in India with J Visa.

@Subhamoy – yep that’s pretty much how it is in Thailand too.

Hey you want a press pass?

Duh yeah!

Just get one at www.presspass.me

The last time anybody asked for my press card, (which I just waved and nobody looked at) was in Wellington, New Zealand just over 7 years ago… But I still carry one with me all the time, a bit like insurance when you’re on the beach with a camera.

Hey Tom van Cake, if they run in the family then I guess we should get married.

Hahaha Olaf, sorry I meant something else.

Forget about www.presspass.me, that is for losers, be a real fake and get a presspass here instead: http://www.ia-pp.com/en/presspass-credentials.html

With www.ia-pp.com you can not go wrong as they provide laminated business cards since 2007. And hey times are tough…(from their website)

“Press discounts for IAPP members

Who doesn’t like discounts? And, people with press pass credentials from IAPP are often showered with discounts by merely flashing their press pass."

Officials aren’t usualy too impressed when you show them your press card, but I do have one. I would recommend you check out Demotix, they issue press cards and reference letters once you have submitted a few photo stories. It will give you a chance to practice your skills and build a small portfolio leading to issuing a press pass.

Best of luck.