Obama charges reporters to cover him

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On election night.
I thought he was a "man of the people" who understood the "plight" of the working man.

It turns out that he wants to soak those same working people whose job it is to cover him on election night.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/10/obama_campaign_selling_chicago.html?67

Quote:

WASHINGTON---The Obama campaign is putting a hefty price tag on the best camera and reporting positions for news organizations covering Barack Obama's outdoor election night activities in downtown Chicago. If a reporter wants access to the file center--which will be the best place to find Obama officials and spokesmen--be prepared to write a check for $935. The cheapest place a reporter could stand on a riser with a view is $880.

That $935 covers one reporter in a heated file tent, power, cable tv, internet and food. I am told by an Obama spokesman who did not want his name used that this just covers costs and they are not turning a profit on this. The planners could have built in more al a carte options for Grant Park coverage.

All it does is cover costs?
I thought the party paid for those things.
I would even go so far as to say I have no problem with making the reporters pay for their own food, but the rest is IMHO outrageous.

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Type: Discussion • Score: 3 • Views: 637 • Replies: 11

[+3] - JTT - 10/22/2008McCain pays reporters to cover him
[+3] - Eva - 10/22/2008You got something against capitalism? :lol:

@mysteryman,

Perhaps it should be weighed against the cost of a commercial on a major TV station during the broadcast in question.

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@mysteryman,

McCain pays reporters to cover him

1 Reply

@mysteryman,

mysteryman wrote:

All it does is cover costs?
I thought the party paid for those things.
I would even go so far as to say I have no problem with making the reporters pay for their own food, but the rest is IMHO outrageous.

maybe. but i can tell you from experience that equipment/property/labor costs for staging this kind of stuff is really expensive. the insurance riders are awfully high too.

1 Reply

@mysteryman,

Charging for electricity, food, shelter, TV and Internet access!

Outrageous!

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@mysteryman,

and you think Joe Reporter's going to be paying out of his own pocket? or that there aren't costs associated with covering Senator McCain's campaign?

~~~

I'm running out of legs to be pulled.

~~~

from Joe Klein gets kicked off McCain campaign plane

Quote:

Again, the status quo persists because it gives an overwhelming access advantage to the news outlets that can afford to send their people. A seat on a campaign bus costs $30,000 a month ($1000 per day) per reporter.

~~~

]Covering McCain and Obama Costs $50,000 Per Reporter

Quote:

August 23, 2008 12:23 PM ET | Paul Bedard

it will cost news organizations $50,000 more per reporter to cover Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. John McCain

~~~

On the Bus

Quote:

With a single correspondent's campaign travel costing as much as $10,000 a week, the number of cash-strapped news organizations willing to pony up has been dwindling in recent years. Only five newspapers -- the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune -- are traveling regularly with Obama and John McCain. The big regional papers, USA Today and Time magazine are there only intermittently, and Newsweek, which had been a constant presence on the trail, pulled back last week for financial reasons. (The networks, which used young off-air "embeds" during much of the primary season, now have front-line correspondents on board to do daily live shots.)

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@mysteryman,

You got something against capitalism?

Laughing

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Hunter S. Thompson writes about having to pay for access in Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail -- that's in 1972.

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@JTT,

HAH!!!

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@DontTreadOnMe,

I makes me shiver to think what would happen to my liability premiums if I started catering to high ranking government officials . I'm required to have million dollar coverage to take a moonwalk to a backyard party.....

1 Reply

@mysteryman,

mysteryman wrote:

On election night.
I thought he was a "man of the people" who understood the "plight" of the working man.

It turns out that he wants to soak those same working people whose job it is to cover him on election night.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/10/obama_campaign_selling_chicago.html?67

So you think individual reporters will be paying for their spots? I figured you would be happy that Obama is going to "soak" all those big MSM outlets.

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@Bi-Polar Bear,

Bi-Polar Bear wrote:

I makes me shiver to think what would happen to my liability premiums if I started catering to high ranking government officials . I'm required to have million dollar coverage to take a moonwalk to a backyard party.....

yeah, no kidding. the premiums are one of those "wasted money. until..." things. it's amazing how fast a light thump can turn into a life debilitating tragedy once a p.i. lawyer gets his teeth in it. Mad

so if the campaigns need to charge the press a little bit (and in the scheme of things, $950 isn't all that much to a network for concierge) when the whole point of the rally is to gain public support and get more donations, what the heck. the reporters can always do run & gun and munch on a burger if it bothers them.

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Obama charges reporters to cover him

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