As per the discussion started on this story here:

Robert Scales is not a staff member and he is not getting paid for his work on NowPublic. He is reporting for us, and other outlets, from Beijing and Shanghai for the games. The reason he has the super editor crown is because he often works by himself, so if he needs to make any changes to his posts or access certain parts of the website, we have allowed him to do that.

Sorry for the confusion. 

And in response to this question:

But I'm puzzled. Many of us work by ourselves. As a member, I have no problem editing my story at any time, adding photos, adding videos, updating, etc. So I'm not quite sure what you meant by he needed the gold crown to be able to make changes to his post.

Of course, I don't know what other parts of the website he needs to access in order to post. Are there other features that would also be helpful to other members who work alone, and who post from various places (vs. in the Vancouver newsroom/area)?

I am replying:

To clarify further, he just needs to be able to access the layout of the Olympic channel if he wants to interact with that and needs a 'gold crown' to do that.

It would only be helpful to members in Beijing, and it is not a privilege he will be able to keep after the games.

I hope this clears up any more confusion.

Thanks.