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News Outlets Protest Fees Charged by Romney Campaign

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Matt1735, Dec 17, 2012.

  1. Matt1735

    Matt1735 Well-Known Member

    First off, this is not in any way intended to be political. If the mods feel that it is, please merge into the politics thread. I do not mean to cross them.

    Saw this link today:
    http://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/news-outlets-send-letter-to-romney-campaign-contes

    The reason for posting this is the newspapers giving another entity carte blanche with charging to their American Express cards. All of these charges couldn't have popped on the last bill (one would hope) and there are some extreme charges here. Did the news outlets wait until the campaign was over to complain or investigate these charges? Are campaigns trying to profit off news outlets for access? Is there anything that a news outlet that wants to cover a campaign can do to avoid this in the future?

    For a limited time, I had a card for official use that was basically a company card. The accountant monitored every charge like a hawk, which she should have done.
     
  2. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    News organizations could stop covering the candidates this way. Local news reporters can handle the airport wave video or stump speech. This is a relic of the 1920s.
     
  3. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Old Bain got 'em with the management fees in the end. Nice job. Bonuses all around!
     
  4. typefitter

    typefitter Well-Known Member

    It is insanely expensive to cover a campaign. Like this letter is complaining about, some of the craziest charges are for things like Internet access at a hotel event or food. You wolf down a crappy buffet sandwich and a Coke and it's like $100. Then there are the legitimate charges. Late in the campaign, you might do six flights in a day, plus hotel. End to end, it's hundreds of thousands of dollars. It makes baseball season seem cheap.
     
  5. HejiraHenry

    HejiraHenry Well-Known Member

    Given all the in-kind - and literal - contributions to the other side from newspaper folk as a group, seems fair.
     
  6. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    I would argue the candidates benefit from the coverage far more than the media organizations do.

    Campaigns should be bending over backwards to give these reporters, producers and media types as much access as they possibly can. They are, after all, the ones who benefit in the long run.

    If they want to charge outrageous amounts for stuff, I can go cover something else.

    How awesome would it be if some candidate staged a campaign rally and a dozen people showed up?
     
  7. Joe Williams

    Joe Williams Well-Known Member

    This.
     
  8. Joe Williams

    Joe Williams Well-Known Member

    And this.
     
  9. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    Until the candidate commits a gaffe, then the organizations will be flipping out over missing it.
     
  10. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Yeah, and Lord knows nobody would benefit from a reporting structure that allows depth, nuance and data analysis rather than "ZOMG did you hear that slip of the tongue?"
     
  11. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    You always hear about campaigns that have a debt to pay off - I always wonder what happens to those with money left over. No doubt a bunch goes into bonuses for staff, but considering the hundreds of millions raised for this last election, I don't think the Romney campaign is hurting for cash. I wonder what the bills would have said if Romney won.
     
  12. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    What is amazing to me about this is that in this day and age and the economics of the business being what it is that there are still outlets, other than the major national news networks, who still cover campaigns this way.

    It seems insane given how much stuff costs these days - there are ways to cover it correctly without sending people globetrotting with the campaigns.

    I'd say the same thing with regards to the Olympics.
     
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