Presidential Politics & The Media

Senator Hillary Clinton brought her presidential campaign to Aiken today. Her supporters were there and the media turned out to tell the story. The only problem was the Clinton campaign and its tight reign on the media. The idea seemed to be -- to keep reporters at arms length.

Access to the candidate was extremely limited with cameras and microphones kept across the room from the senator--- for the most part. I did manage to get close enough to ask a couple of questions. One about Senator Clinton's chances in South Carolina and the other about Oprah Winfrey joining Barack Obama on the campaign trail.

Here's how the 11 second conversation went.

(Rogers) "...Senator Clinton, what's your biggest challenge to win in South Carolina?"
(Clinton) Oh, I'm having a great time campaigning."
(Rogers) "What's the Oprah factor gonna be for you?"
(Clinton) I'm just gonna do my campaign and its up to the voters."

To her credit, Senator Clinton did stick around to take some questions from people in the crowd- and she spent a few minutes with her supporters. She even allowed a group of young people to meet her behind the curtain for a quick photo opportunity.

So -- just how limited were we inside the community center? Members of the media were told to stay on the riser in the back of the room... and in the one row of chairs in front of the riser. They did not want us near Hillary Clinton.

I think if you invite the media to cover an event, the least you can do is allow them access to the candidate they're covering. To do otherwise is to suggest that you welcome the exposure the cameras bring, but you still want to control what reporters get to cover. Keep your questions to yourself.


There's still some time between now and the primary... maybe we'll have better access next time.

Richard Rogers
News 12