Covering political rallies: Who decides what TV cameras show?

For months we in the US of A have been watching candidates for our presidency speak at rallies and the apparently endless debates hosted by, it seems, everybody but fast-food chains.

We know that candidates dicker with presidential debate sponsors on everything: sitting or standing, size of lectern if standing, boosters for the short of stature, position on the podium with respect to other candidates, favorable lighting, what television cameras may or may not shoot, and so on. Candidates negotiate for every possible advantage. They demand control. We expect this at debates.

But what about those loud, noisy, seemingly chaotic political rallies? Candidates stroll onto stage surrounded by cheering supporters (handpicked, I bet), American flags waving and red, white and blue confetti swirling in the air. We see these scenes repeatedly on CNN or Fox or MSNBC or the broadcast networks, especially during CNN’s “Ballot Bowl” —which offers “unfiltered views of the candidates.” (Ballot Bowl is usually bereft of reporting that challenges candidates’ messaging, which I detest.)

Regarding these campaign rallies: Who decides what the TV cameras show?

Advertisement

Quotabull

[He has] accepted responsibility for the columns published under his name in his local newspaper, and has apologized for not upholding the standards expected by the president.

— White House press secretary Dana Perino in a written statement expressing President Bush’s disappointment that White House aide Timothy S. Goeglein, originally recruited to work in the White House by former adviser Karl Rove, had plagiarized from the Dartmouth Review for columns he wrote for the News-Sentinel of Fort Wayne, Ind.; March 1; emphasis added.

You’re used to making $17 an hour with benefits, and now you have to take any job for $8 an hour. I’ve literally sat and cried, but my friends with double degrees are doing worse. It’s the economy. It’s really bad.

— Nicole Flennaugh, 36, a widow who has a college degree and who was laid off as a customer service representative at an educational services company, and who, even after applying for dozens of full-time jobs, has been getting by with occasional stints as an office temp; March 1.