Now, obviously, this is not about the true meaning of a free press. It's a pun. God knows the media bludgeon us with enough, I figured it was appropriate here.
Senator Obama is planning on charging the media nearly a thousand dollars to attend his celebration on election night in Grant Park. From a campaign that just reported a $150 million dollar month and is sitting on a huge war chest, this just does not feel appropriate.
Update
Superheed called bullshit and I went back and checked and found I missed a line about the 2nd press area next to the bike racks buried with the option list. So for that I should pull the diary, but I'll leave it up to admit my error
Let me begin by stating I am a long time supporter of Sen. Obama and have been since he was a long shot to win the primary for his Senate seat. In the grand scheme of things, this is not a large issue. But there are underlying currents that strike me professionally and as an American. To that end, I write this as a plea to cease with the fee.
Senator Obama is planning on charging the media nearly a thousand dollars to attend his celebration on election night in Grant Park. From a campaign that just reported a $150 million dollar month and is sitting on a huge war chest, this just does not feel appropriate.
The media need to have access to a candidate, especially on election night, especially if he wins. And the Senator should not discriminate among the media via this fee, which would limit the smaller outlets ability to attend the event.
If you don't think that a thousand dollars means a lot to local media outlets right now, you are absolute ignorant of the state of media today. While it may not be a deal breaker, it does add to the prospective cost of a trip to Chicago, which may in turn mean they won't go and instead rely on national coverage; thereby eliminating an addition perspective of the events.
We all know the Obama campaign has a huge war chest and that those funds were raised to get him elected, not to celebrate his victory. I maintain that the event is part of that campaign though and therefore feel completely justified in calling on the campaign to eat the cost.
Now, the other main counterargument, though I can think of several more, is that the fees will help limit the media, through a process of supply and demand. They knew that fee would limit media requests on a night in which they would be flooded with them and sought to decrease the number. They also knew they larger outlets would pay the fee, which would be relatively insignificant to them.
I understand space prevents every media outlet with satellite truck from attending, but there surely was a better way to award those precious spaces.
The technology now exists where a reporter can cover an event with a laptop and portable camera, relying on the Internet to report to connect with their audiences. Or they may even wait until they return to file their report. Either way they are occupying little more space than a human body.
That would strip the aforementioned counterargument to being an attempt to limit the number of reports coming from the event, which I believe we can all agree is detrimental to our national conversation and an abridgment of one of the primary abstracts for which we are taught our country stands.
So, please Senator Obama, waive the fee for the night, develop a plan to divide the valuable turf dedicated to equipment amongst those most need it, and let all media who can come.