DNC news, or lack thereof

[lookout123]

the link is to an article describing the reduced role of the big 3 networks in the convention, but in the middle i found some interesting quotes (read below). this sounds to me like kerry is limiting reporters' access to him and the major players this week; which i think has been one of the things that the dems have called bush out over the last couple of years.

anyway...

We'd always like to have more time,'' said Mr. Brokaw, for whom these will be the last conventions as NBC anchor, as he is leaving his post after the election. "On the other hand, can I go and make a strong editorial argument for the necessity of having more time? These conventions are so managed, and over-managed.'' Mr. Brokaw said Senator John Kerry's campaign staff was trying to control what the networks did to an unusual degree.

"Any entrepreneurship that we show on booking guests or unilaterally calling up people and trying to get them to come to our booth, we get a call 15 minutes later from the Kerry operation saying 'No, no, that's not part of our booking procedure,' '' Mr. Brokaw said. "There is a politburo running this convention.'' (Stephanie Cutter, a spokeswoman for Mr. Kerry, said the campaign's booking operation was set up to facilitate interviews, not restrict them.)

The campaign went so far as to try to limit the kind of questions Mr. Brokaw and Mr. Rather were to ask Mr. Kerry here on Wednesday afternoon. The staff wanted the questions to concern Mr. Kerry's expectations for the convention, nothing more, according to people at both networks. It was the sort of terms-setting that few have dared to ask of network anchors. The request was swiftly denied.

Mr. Kerry did not help matters when he failed to appear until nearly an hour before the evening newscasts, leaving the anchors to wait at Faneuil Hall with increasing anxiety. (Mr. Kerry was not running late in returning from a campaign stop but rather from his vacation home in Nantucket.)

"What that said to me was that either they don't have their stuff together, or he's ultimately responsible, or he just took it lightly,'' Mr. Rather complained

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