Purge: Skeptical Reporters Tossed Off Obama Plane

[shagdrum]

PURGE: SKEPTICAL REPORTERS TOSSED OFF OBAMA PLANE
Fri Oct 31 2008 08:39:55 ET

NY POST, DALLAS MORNING NEWS, WASHINGTON TIMES TOLD TO GET OUT... ALL 3 ENDORSED MCCAIN

**Exclusive**

The Obama campaign has decided to heave out three newspapers from its plane for the final days of its blitz across battleground states -- and all three endorsed Sen. John McCain for president!

The NY POST, WASHINGTON TIMES and DALLAS MORNING NEWS have all been told to move out by Sunday to make room for network bigwigs -- and possibly for the inclusion of reporters from two black magazines, ESSENCE and JET, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

Despite pleas from top editors of the three newspapers that have covered the campaign for months at extraordinary cost, the Obama campaign says their reporters -- and possibly others -- will have to vacate their coveted seats so more power players can document the final days of Sen. Barack Obama's historic campaign to become the first black American president.

MORE

Some told the DRUDGE REPORT that the reporters are being ousted to bring on documentary film-makers to record the final days; others expect to see on board more sympathetic members of the media, including the NY TIMES' Maureen Dowd, who once complained that she was barred from McCain's Straight Talk Express airplane.

After a week of quiet but desperate behind-the-scenes negotiations, the reporters of the three papers heard last night that they were definitely off for the final swing. They are already planning how to cover the final days by flying commercial or driving from event to event.

Developing...

 

[foxpaws]

The Dallas Morning News and the Obama campaign
9:29 AM Fri, Oct 31, 2008
Ryan J. Rusak

By now you may have seen the Drudge Report item indicating that the DMN and two other papers who endorsed John McCain are being booted off the Obama campaign. Here's the facts as we know them.

It's true that our reporter, Todd J. Gillman, has been told that there's no space for him after Saturday. Obama aides told the DMN told last Saturday that the paper would lose its seat on the plane on Wednesday. Within a few hours, that moved to Friday. And by midweek, traveling press secretary Jen Psaki had told us that Saturday night's final flight would be the last leg available. We protested then and continue to do so now, arguing that a paper of the DMN's size and stature should be on-board.

But we don't have evidence that the newspaper's endorsement of Sen. McCain had any bearing on the campaign's decision to boot us from the plane. No one from the campaign every mentioned it to Todd. (And for the record, he as a reporter, and I as the editor in charge of political coverage, had absolutely no input or knowledge of the endorsement. That's handled by a different department on a different floor. I didn't even know about the editorial board's choice until I read it in the paper a couple of Sundays ago.)

We think the Obama campaign's decision is to some degree more a function of limited seats, and while we're a large regional newspaper, we're not national and we're not in a swing state. We've been on the road with them at key moments, but we've not been along for the entire ride, like, say, The New York Times and The Associated Press.

For what it's worth, we've had the same trouble with the McCain campaign. One of our reporters dropped off earlier this week when space became an issue, and we're only getting back on with McCain tomorrow for the final weekend because they, unlike the Obama campaign, are adding a second plane.

That said, we've protested loudly and frequently with the Obama campaign. While we understand their decision, TDMN is one of the biggest papers in the South and Southwest, and over the years and in this campaign, we've demonstrated a strong commitment to campaign coverage. We believe very passionately in covering campaigns completely and aggressively, in being our readers' eyes and ears on the scene as much as possible. We let the campaign know in early October that we wanted to travel along for the duration of the campaign. We still hope they change their minds.

Plus, we're the only Southern or Southwestern paper that's been on board constantly through October, and if we get booted, there won't be any outside of New York, LA, Chicago, Washington and Boston.

The real problem is that the campaign does not want to add a second plane. Here's how this works: The campaign makes travel arrangements and bills journalists for the costs. Your share of the cost is based on the total cost being divvyed up among the number of journalists traveling. So if there's too many journalists for one plane but not quite enough for two, someone's not going to make the cut.

And it does seem true that the campaign is allowing for more friendly media. But that should come as no surprise - Sen. Obama hasn't done a press conference in more than a month, but he's given "exclusive" interviews to Jon Stewart, Rachel Maddow and Mario Lopez. (Don't know this media titan? He's the host of "Extra," an entertainment news show, and a former star of "Saved By The Bell.") This should tell you something - Sen. Obama is sitting on a lead and doesn't want to risk aggressive questions by unbiased political reporters.

But for many readers, a lot of this is inside baseball. Here's what you need to know - over the next five days, The Dallas Morning News will bring you complete coverage of the campaign. Todd is a dedicated guy who can function pretty well on little sleep and a whiz at travel arrangements, so he'll hopscotch along behind the campaign if that's what it takes. But no matter what, we'll have robust news and analysis of the final stretch of this historic campaign.

 

[shagdrum]

Yeah, I know about McCain, especially when he kicked Maureen Dowd off his plane...and the outrage in the press about it. Do you think there will be anywhere near the outrage in the press over this?

I also assume you have heard the phrase, "Two wrongs don't make a right". It is also a fallacy called Tu quoque.

"Fallacy" (or derivatives thereof) should probably be the drinking words when reading my posts.

 

[foxpaws]

It's 10:30 in Boulder - although it certainly is 5:00 somewhere - too early to be drinking here!!!!

 

[shagdrum]

It's 10:30 in Boulder - although it certainly is 5:00 somewhere - too early to be drinking here!!!!

10:30?! And you haven't started drinking yet?! I am disappointed...