Considerations

When you apply for media access, please consider the following:

• Media Access is for professional reporters and media that provide significant national, local, or genre exposure
• If you have covered Dragon Con in 2019, ensure you have provided copies of your coverage to Media Relations
• Your application will be thoroughly vetted, and it is likely you will be contacted to discuss the nature of your coverage
• If you represent a significant voice in a particular genre of fandom (GateWorld, Dragonmount, etc), we will check with the appropriate track director on your impact in your genre/fandom
• We may ask you to provide additional documentation before approval

You will not qualify for Media Access if you are:

• Bloggers or Podcasters with limited distribution
• Social Media Influencers (and outlets relying solely on Instagram)
• Individuals who work in non-reporting roles for media outlets
• Convention photographers not on assignment from a media outlet
• Freelance reporter/photographer not on assignment from a media outlet
• An individual who had been granted prior year media access who cannot provide proof of coverage

Your Personal Requirements

• You are required to apply using your legal name
• You are required to apply using a distinct email address
• You are required to show a government issued or employee issued photo ID to receive your pass
• You are required to demonstrate you are currently on assignment to cover Dragon Con (usually an assignment email or letter will suffice)
• You are required to be a working journalist or photojournalist
• You are required to be over 17 years old
• You may be asked to provide more samples of your coverage if we cannot find significant proof through our own vetting
• You are required to report on Dragon Con to be allowed media access in the future
• We reserve the right to approve only outlets we feel will be able to convey the spirit of Dragon Con in a professional, respectful manner
• While not required, we do prefer to see emails that are from outlets (cnn.com, spacegypsies.com, etc)  rather than from general email websites (yahoo.com or hotmail.com)

Categories of Reporters

• Print Media & Newswire Reporters (may be asked to send examples of work)
• Journalists/Photographers On Assignment (must provide assignment letter) 
• Broadcast (TV & Radio)  Journalists & Photographers (will need ID/Business cards when picking up your badge)
• Online Reporters (will need to provide URL showing a depth of coverage)

Approval Guidelines:

Dragon Con Media uses a number of numeric qualifiers, personal references, and quality analysis of your outlet and reporting to determine approval.

• Google Page Rank
• Physical distribution numbers (where appropriate)
• Listenership (where appropriate)
• Twitter followers
• Facebook followers
• Assessment of overall impact and quality of outlet
• Recommendation by a Dragon Con director
• Consistency of reported numbers with measurable analytics
  • If a  site claims 700K views a month and its Google Page Rank is 2, we would consider that a discrepancy

Approval in 2019 is not a guarantee for approval in 2020.

We are not including Google+ numbers at this time, due to the changes in how Google is managing Google+.

Instagram is not considered a valid media outlet at this time, as it does not provide significant content.

Media Outlet Teams at Dragon Con

Dragon Con understands that there are times when a team will be assigned to cover the convention. However, space is limited, and each member of the team must fill out an individual application. Being part of a team does not automatically approve each individual.

If you have questions regarding your team, please contact the Media Relations department.