The political rally: Mingling with the crowd
In an otherwise irreverent online chat, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post refers to reports that a heckler at a Palin rally shouted out "Kill him!" (The Secret Service has since described the report as unfounded.)
"I wasn't at the Scranton event, but I have to say the Secret Service is in dangerous territory here. In cooperation with the Palin campaign, they've started preventing reporters from leaving the press section to interview people in the crowd. This is a serious violation of their duty --protecting the protectee -- and gets into assisting with the political aspirations of the candidate. It also often makes it impossible for reporters to get into the crowd to question the people who say vulgar things. So they prevent reporters from getting near the people doing the shouting, then claim it's unfounded because the reporters can't get close enough to identify the person."
I don't know what that heckler may or may not have said. But it must be noted that this isn't just a Palin campaign issue. Reporters at the Obama rally here in September were prevented from leaving the press area. Well, sort of.
From reporter Joe Killian's Twitter feed that day:
9:29 a.m. Secret service and staff can't agree if press are allowed to mix in with crowd
9:40 a.m. Secret service says yes to mixing with crowd. If escorted by staff.
9:46 a.m. Obama staffer says press not allowed on ground, not allowed to talk to crowd even through fence.
9:52 Am removing press badge and getting out of press area to talk with people.
Reporter Gerald Witt didn't even go into the press area. He mingled with the crowd for his story. Good old fashioned reporting.
Friday update: Visitors here may be more interested in this.
Comments (2)
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It is no wonder that a lot of people are getting cynical about politics in this country. That there even is a separate area for reports is repugnant to me. Why don't the candidates insist that reports be given full, unfettered access to get the whole story out?
Instead, they attempt to provide nothing but spin. Never mind that facts are distorted, taken out of context or downright untrue, they're going to feed the electorate what they feel the desired message is to get elected. This voter is fed up!
Thank goodness for factcheck.org, reporters who refuse to be intimidated, and independent bloggers who get the facts out there. Otherwise, we would be forced to close our eyes, throw a dart to make a selection and then hope for the best.
Posted on October 17, 2008 1:27 PM
It *is* disappointing to see this tactic, isolation of reporters, especially coming from the Obama campaign. Among the things this country needs to correct is this nonsensical (and dangerous) "free speech zone" mentality, and I was hoping that a President Obama would get us moving in the right direction.
Posted on October 17, 2008 7:08 PM