Why is Sen. Obama's campaign selling election spots to the media, when they could get the coverage for free?
Media analyst Bob Knight is questioning the Obama campaign's decision to sell Chicago election night coverage packages to news outlets.
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Chicago Sun-Times columnist Lynn Sweet notes the Obama campaign is planning to charge reporters $935 for a package that includes access to a heated file tent, power, cable TV, Internet, and food. The cheapest place a reporter could stand on a riser with a view is $880. Members of the media will also be charged $300 for an unlimited long distance phone line and $275 for high-speed wired Internet
Knight says the Obama campaign's "pay-to-play plan" is unprecedented. "In all my years as a reporter and editor, I have never heard of anything like that," he shares, "and I just asked a colleague at a major newspaper if he had [ever heard of such a thing] and he said, 'No.' He finds it very strange."