WP: For Media on Campaign Trail, Little Access to Candidates

[kskiska]

In the section of John F. Kerry's campaign plane reserved for members of the news media, calendar pages marking the days until the Nov. 2 election hang from a prominent spot on a bulkhead wall. A date on one of the pages, Aug. 9, is circled several times in dark ink. Above it, someone has written the words "Last Press Avail!!!"

It is a pointed, if silent, comment from the media pack that follows Kerry on the campaign trail. Despite a growing press presence as the election nears, Kerry's direct contacts with his media entourage have dwindled. The Democratic presidential nominee has not held a formal news conference or even answered questions from smaller groups of reporters -- an "avail" in campaign-speak -- in more than a month. In the two weeks before the Democratic National Convention, Kerry spoke to the media just twice, answering a total of six questions.

If anything, President Bush has been less available on the campaign trail, and in the White House generally. The president delegates all press inquiries to his White House communications staff and his reelection campaign. He has not taken a question from the reporters who are following his campaign for several weeks.

As president, Bush has held just 15 solo news conferences and 67 shorter question-and-answer sessions with the media during his term, according to data compiled by Martha Joynt Kumar, a Towson University professor who studies White House communications. That is by far the least of any president since Ronald Reagan. Measured by news conferences alone, Bush's 15 are the fewest for any president in 50 years, the figures show.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24541-2004Sep15.html

[JDPriestly]

1. No wonder. The press is dominated by talking heads

who compete with, rather than report on, the candidates. The election should be about Kerry and Bush, not about what the press thinks of Kerry and Bush.