Comments on: Hands Off http://commentsfromleftfield.com/2008/01/hands-off Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:39:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Aaron B. Brown http://commentsfromleftfield.com/2008/01/hands-off/comment-page-1#comment-20422 Aaron B. Brown Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:49:55 +0000 http://commentsfromleftfield.com/2008/01/hands-off#comment-20422 As someone who attended an Obama political rally with a press pass here in St. Louis back in October, I can personally attest to this phenomena. Photographers and journalists were largely kept at bay throughout the event. Photographers were actually barred from the press pit in front of the stage were Obama was speaking at the start of the event, and only allowed to visit the press pit one or two at a time during Obama's presentation, and they had to be escorted by an Obama campaign member. I can tell you that many of the press people were not amused, and I've never heard of such a thing. I had to get in line with about 15 other photographers, and I was lucky to get two or three minutes in front of the stage to get my pictures. There was a section directly to the right of the stage that was reserved for the elderly and disabled, and the press was barred from that area during the event as well. I think I would've had more opportunity to take pictures if I had just gotten in front of the stage early before the event started. The Obama campaign seems far more concerned with catering to supporters, then to the media. It was a bit shocking actually, and quite impressive as well. I can understand how media people get overwhelmed during Obama speeches, because it really is like being a rock concert, that is the only thing that is really comparable to the experience I had. The crowd energy was really unbelievable. The old guard journalists are the only ones who didn't seem to get caught up in the fervor, all the young people, photographers and journalists 40 and under had huge smiles on their faces the whole time. As someone who attended an Obama political rally with a press pass here in St. Louis back in October, I can personally attest to this phenomena. Photographers and journalists were largely kept at bay throughout the event.

Photographers were actually barred from the press pit in front of the stage were Obama was speaking at the start of the event, and only allowed to visit the press pit one or two at a time during Obama’s presentation, and they had to be escorted by an Obama campaign member.

I can tell you that many of the press people were not amused, and I’ve never heard of such a thing. I had to get in line with about 15 other photographers, and I was lucky to get two or three minutes in front of the stage to get my pictures.

There was a section directly to the right of the stage that was reserved for the elderly and disabled, and the press was barred from that area during the event as well. I think I would’ve had more opportunity to take pictures if I had just gotten in front of the stage early before the event started.

The Obama campaign seems far more concerned with catering to supporters, then to the media. It was a bit shocking actually, and quite impressive as well.

I can understand how media people get overwhelmed during Obama speeches, because it really is like being a rock concert, that is the only thing that is really comparable to the experience I had. The crowd energy was really unbelievable. The old guard journalists are the only ones who didn’t seem to get caught up in the fervor, all the young people, photographers and journalists 40 and under had huge smiles on their faces the whole time.

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