Dem Convention Press Briefing Attended by 500 Journos Kept Strictly Off-the-Record;

NewsBusters ^ | 1/19/12 | Ken Shepherd

[Nachum]

So the Democratic National Committee (DNC) gave a walk-through Wednesday for network journalists planning on covering the party's nominating convention this summer in Charlotte. But while the DNC is trumpeting the convention as "the most open and accessible in history," the Charlotte Observer's Mark Washburn complained that the briefing, attended by some 500 journalists, was kept strictly off-the-record. What's more, Washburn notes, when he complained about what he saw as ludicrous ground rules for the briefing, the convention's chief operating officer, Theodore LeCompte snipped that

[Nachum]

Full title: Dem Convention Press Briefing Attended by 500 Journos Kept Strictly Off-the-Record; Why the Secrecy?

"Hey Boss, who we gonna hit dis time"

[struggle]

I’ll be there to protest!

[scrabblehack]

It would appear to me that it’s a loyalty test. Keep your mouths shut about the $25k media suites and the $31.50 beer and maybe, just maybe, you’ll get a scoop from us some day.

[FlingWingFlyer]

They all were probably given their “Democrats good. Republicans bad.” badges AFTER they made a contribution to the DNC.

[6SJ7]

By lunchtime, Chris Miller, morning news reporter on WBT-AM (1110) and one of the journalists in town you probably don't want to push around, had been pulled aside by a convention press aide. She was concerned about a tweet he had sent that began, "DNC official just announced everything is now off-the-record." He says she reminded him everything was off the record.

Being off the record is off the record. With "watchdogs" like this, people could start "disappearing" and the bootlicking lapdogs would never make a peep. Damn them all to hell.

[Venturer]

$31.50 for a six pack of beer with all of the profits of about $28 bucks being donated back to the Dem party.

Not bad ——What a pack of crooks.