[Vision2020] Washington Times kicked off Obama plane for finale: "the journalistic equivalent of redistributing the wealth"

No Weatherman no.weatherman at gmail.com
Fri Oct 31 08:14:47 PDT 2008


Washington Times kicked off Obama plane for finale
The Washington Times
Friday, October 31, 2008

The Washington Times, which has covered the Barack Obama campaign from
the start, was kicked off the Democrat's campaign plane for the final
72 hours of the race.

The Obama campaign informed the newspaper Thursday evening of its
decision, which came two days after The Times editorial page endorsed
Senator John McCain over Mr. Obama. The Times editorial page runs
completely independent of the news department.

"This feels like the journalistic equivalent of redistributing the
wealth, we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars covering Senator
Obama's campaign, traveling on his plane, and taking our turn in the
reporter's pool, only to have our seat given away to someone else in
the last days of the campaign," said Washington Times Executive Editor
John Solomon.

"I hope the candidate that promises to unite America isn't using a
litmus test to determine who gets to cover his campaign."

The Times formally protested the decision, noting that it has one of
the top 20 largest newspaper Web sites in the country, distributes its
print edition in the key battleground state of Virginia, and has had
its stories repeatedly cited by Mr. Obama and other Democrats
throughout the campaign.

"Sen. Obama himself demonstrated he appreciates the importance of The
Washington Times and its news coverage. In June, he wrote a letter
citing a Times' investigative project that highlighted government
mistreatment of our veterans. Sen. Obama requested an investigation by
Congress and the administration, both of which confirmed the problems
and led to corrective action at the VA. In his August acceptance
speech, Sen. Obama also prominently mentioned our interview with Sen.
Phil Gramm and the now infamous comments about a 'mental recession'
and a 'nation of whiners'," wrote Mr. Solomon in an e-mail to Obama
campaign manager David Plouffe.

Times reporter Christina Bellantoni, who has covered the Democratic
campaign since 2007, is being asked to leave the campaign plane
starting Sunday. In defending its decision, the Obama campaign said it
respected Ms. Bellantoni's reporting and simply ran out of seats on
the campaign plane for the finale because of high demand. It also
noted that the Obama campaign is allowing some news media critical of
the Democrat to travel, including Fox News.

"Unfortunately, demand for seats on the plane during this final
weekend has far exceeded supply, and because of logistical issues we
made the decision not to add a second plane. This means we've had to
make hard and unpleasant for all concerned decisions about limiting
some news organizations and in some cases not being in a position to
offer space to news organizations altogether," wrote Obama campaign
Senior Advisor and Chief Communications Officer Anita Dunn in an
e-mail.

"There are simply no more seats on Senator Obama's plane," she added.
"There are press seats available on Senator Bidens plane for travel
this final weekend and The Washington Times is encouraged to include
our vice presidential nominee in your coverage plans for this final
stretch."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/31/washington-times-kicked-obama-plane-finale/



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