Charley and I are at the NECN studios to cover the MA-05 debate, which starts in a few minutes. We were sitting in the TV studio with the candidates and a couple of reporters getting ourselves set to watch and blog the debate.
Until a second ago. We were just unceremoniously hustled out of the studio because “our organization” had “endorsed Tsongas.” So now we’re in a conference room watching the large-screen TV.
I asked whether, if the Globe had endorsed Tsongas, they would be permitted to sit in the studio. No answer.
I think, but am not certain, that we were evicted at the request of the Ogonowski campaign. I’ll try to get clarification on that.
UPDATE: Confirmed. The Ogonowski campaign asked that we be moved.
Please share widely!
if what you surmise is true.
Please prove your accusation.
Like I said, I will try to get clarification. I’m watching the debate now, and you should be too.
So much for my paranoia, Tom. Apparently it’s the Ogo campaign who was paranoid enough to insist on our being removed from the studio.
… expel all unfriendlies from the area to the maximum extent possible, including violating any appearance of fairness (in Bush’s case you’d have to add legality).
Here is a nice opportunity to step up.
upsets Tsongas in the ultimate “poll”.
Do you prefer A-1 sauce or Lee and Perrins with your crow?
have the chance to admit you were wrong, but instead say it’s “all moot anyway.” That’s pretty weak.
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BTW, speaking of crow, I’ve got $100 that says Ogonowski loses. If Ogo wins, I’ll donate to the wingnut charity of your choice. If Ogonowski loses, you give $100 to the moonbat charity of my choice.
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Are you in?
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You tory loyalists are all alike; bland and unimaginative. A-1 indeed. Everyone knows crow should be served according to the manner in which it was earned: lyonnaise with sauteed pom frites for a bitter defeat (the onions carmelize with the starch in the potatoes in way that seems to smooth the bitterness); cognac a la corvus for a stunning defeat (self-explanatory); thai style with a spicy peanut sauce, for the defeat that came out of nowhere; and salted murder, for when you have to eat crow after crowing about how the other guy is gonna eat crow. That’s the one I’d suggest for you, should you find crow on your menu, that is…
I am sure it is true that the Ogonowski campaign asked that you guys leave the room. Is Barry Keller there? He did the same thing to a Greater Lowell Democrat official. Not ready for prime time.
but I wouldn’t recognize him if I saw him.
I do not know what he looks like either; but I know he is a young guy who runs a lot of interference for Ogonowski.
He really doesn’t sound like an “independent” Republican…and he’s not even really good at obfuscating that fact.
It is after all corporate media in this country. I’ve been also told by my expats it’s corporate media in 99.9% of every “media outlet” in the English language. The prospect of going up “against” something which carries the name Ogonowski, the pilot who died in the covert US government operation known as 911, is simply uncontestable in the eyes of corpo-media.
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I call it institutionalized assholianism.
… several minutes for David & Charlie. They must be having out with someone right now.
That was cool. Met Patrick Murphy, Kurt Hayes, and Niki afterwards.
Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage were in the room?
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David and Charley you are partisans, you are not impartial members of the media. I would never ask to be in that room as a blogger. It was completely appropriate to ask that you be removed.
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I’m just starting to watch the debate on Tivo and will have my take. But let’s just say from what I’ve watched. Niki doesn’t seem like she’s up to the task.
to be anywhere. We checked in, and went to where they escorted us, which was into the studio. Then they moved us, so again, we went where they moved us.
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And whether or not it was “appropriate” it was a silly move. Makes the Ogo campaign look like they’re afraid to have a couple of bloggers in the room. What did they think we were going to do — start throwing things? Clap and cheer every time Niki said something?
You should have never been in the room David and you know it. Niki would have done the same thing if I or the Margolis brothers were in the room. This is much ado about nothing.
Charley and I bothered to show up. Look, I don’t think it’s a huge deal or anything — I actually think it’s really funny that the Ogo campaign was so upset to see us in the room. Gives us a good story, and makes Ogo’s staffers look petty. Works fine for me.
because we weren’t invited. Who where you invited by? It doesn’t seem like NECN, or they wouldn’t have asked you to leave. Who invited you, was it NECN or did the Tsongas campaign ask you to ride shotgun?
Better?
Everything’s a conspiracy to you guys, isn’t it? The Tsongas campaign had no idea we were coming.
…based on the quality of your works?
…they didn’t ask to be invited. Perhaps NECN didn’t even know that their blog existed.
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Regarding Eabo’s comment
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Niki would have done the same thing if I or the Margolis brothers were in the room.
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I’m must amazed that some people pretend that they can predict what would have happened if “X” had occured when “X” didn’t occur.
I would have welcomed the Margolis brothers, or even you, Eabo, and would consider that completely normal, assuming that there’s a degree of familiarity and trust with the individuals involved. NECN has had both of us, and needless to say many Republicans, in the studio before, so we’re known quantities to them.
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No, I do not think Niki would have done the same thing — at least I hope not.
you’re a big, bad blogger. You can’t be trusted. Partisan agendas. Blah, blah, blah.
While the way this was handled is obviously poor, the incident does raise interesting questions.
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If the Globe had endorsed, that would be the editorial board, not the reporter covering the event. The reporter would be presumed to write as objectively as always.
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When BMG endorses, there’s obvious cheerleading that follows. Of course I agree that it’s pretty reality-based, but some are going to see it as spin.
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So what should the policy be on allowing partisan media access to events such as this? Of course the issue isn’t respect and decorum. I doubt David and Charlie were a risk to disrupt the debate with their anti-Ogo chants and body paint. But should a newspaper columnist or tv personality with strong personal views also not be allowed? What if Bill O’Reilly had been there? James Carville? Michael Moore? Rush Limbaugh?
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I certainly hope that, had EaBo or PP been there, Niki’s campaign would not have done the same thing. Of course, few would have known if PP or EaBo were there, as they don’t make their names widely known and haven’t been elevated to the same level of pundit status that Charlie and David have.
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Given that NECN invited them, they probably should have stuck to their guns and allowed them to stay. And it is a petty move for Ogo’s people to ask for them to be moved. (Maybe they’re sore about “Idon’tknowski?”) But it’s really more about how to handle the blurring lines between traditional and new media.
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A ripe question for someone’s thesis, I’m sure.
i really don’t see a problem in blogs live-blogging an event. as you intimate, standard news outlets are supposed to separate their journalistic and editorial functions, but we need go no further than Fox News to see that there are no hard and fast rules there. Just as with standard news, readers will judge the bias of the blog they’re reading and take the comments therein appropriately. If nothing else but for this last point, I think live blogging is a wonderful development. It requires the reader to be discerning, and not just assume that the news/commentary provider is one of integrity. People are lazy and don’t evaluate the veracity of broadcast/print news in the way they do with blogs.
…live blogging is a waste of time and effort.
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And I’ll give you an analogy. Have you ever read the sequence of AP articles–published on the NYTimes web site? AP apparently wants to be the firstest on a story. But they frequently do so with the leastest. And over the next few hours, the story is fleshed out, and oftentimes the updated story contradicts the original story. I don’t know why they do the “firstest” story; it’s a waste of time.
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So is it with “live blogging.” I would be much more interested in reading a thoughtful blog post even hours after the end of the “live blogged” event. It isn’t as though these events are time critical. It might be different if someone was live blogging a speech in which GWBush was threatening to nuke Iran in 15 minutes. But a debate regarding an election 1 1/2 weeks hence? No.
but there’s one more point to live blogging. and that is the added importance of simply being present. for me, part of the pleasure in reading live accounts is getting the flavor of the event and the after-event coverage that often is left out of standard news reports. and by people whose viewpoints i have some handle on. again, i suppose you could argue that all that could be written up after the fact. but there is also an element of excitement and participation provided by live blogging that is of course totally lost when you have to wait for the paper to his the shingles the next morning. i gather that you personally aren’t interested in this aspect of the whole thing. i guess i am. to each their own i suppose.
Really, really hot. đŸ˜‰
where TV coverage is prohibited, like the Scooter Libby trial, I see the value of live blogging. Beyond that I’m still for it, but as mentioned by others, I wouldn’t waste a brain cell following a Faux news live blog, as opposed to BMG or FireDogLake live blogging an event.
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To my mind it’s about choice. I steer clear of any debates or forums that feature Tim Russert or ahem, Jon Keller ‘moderating’ because I don’t respect them as journalists. I’d like to see more use of newer formats where candidates or pundits interact with the audience through live web questions.
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Ogonowski having BMG removed last night was absurd. It’s another limp GOP attempt at stifling discourse. It reminds me of the way that Bush’s goons arrest citizens for wearing t-shirts that they don’t like, or the way that Romney has his handlers impersonate undercover policeman in order to try and intimidate reporters. It’s the same crap, only this is the Jr. High version.
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Our red troll Tom is right though, it is moot. Ogonowski is going to get his ass handed to him, and then maybe he can start a blog at the Herald.