Burnt Orange Report

Bush Hates Free Speech

By Byron LaMasters

Ok, well I know most of us knew that already, but here's a recent example where the Bush campaign banned reporters and photographers from college newspapers from a campaign event:

Reporters and photographers from two college newspapers said Thursday White House officials denied them access to President Bush's appearance in Des Moines.

Student newspapers at Des Moines Area Community College and Iowa State University were turned away from the noon event at the Marriott hotel in downtown Des Moines after submitting requests for media credentials on time, they said.

Reporters and photographers for the DMACC Chronicle and Iowa State Daily said their organizations were not on the list of approved media when they arrived, despite faxing their request for credentials ahead of the 2 p.m. Wednesday deadline.

Chronicle reporter Mike Allsup said White House advance staff told him his time would be better spent in school. "It really is not fair that we represent 14,000 students at my college and I'm disregarded and sent away," said Allsup, of Des Moines.

A news crew from WQAD television in Moline, Ill., was not on the approved media list but was allowed into the event, Iowa State Daily photography editor Eric Rowley said.

White House officials did not immediately reply to repeated requests for comment.

Meanwhile, John Kerry participated in a conference call with campus media last week.

Compare and contrast, folks. With more weeks like this, I'd be shocked if Kerry's ten point lead among college students doesn't continue to expand. Any politician is smart to pay attention to college newspapers. For example, the UT newspaper, The Daily Texan has a daily circulation of 28,000 - 30,000 during the fall and spring semesters. For many students, their #1 source of news is the student newspaper (unfortunately, most students don't read the New York Times or Wall Street Journal or even our local papers for that matter). Student newspapers are available at dozens of locations on or near campus for free. For the average student wanting to keep up with national, local and campus events in less than ten minutes a day, the student newspaper is the place to go. Yeah, there's us crazy government types that will spend several hours a day sorting through dozens of news articles, but we're smart enough to know that we're not in the college mainstream on that one. Anyway, it's good to see the Kerry campaign reach out to students. Students and other young people are often overlooked in politics since (shamefully) we turn out in the lowest percentages of anyone, but in a close election a little attention to a traditionally ignored group can go a long way.

Links via Smart Ass, the official blog for the College Democrats of America.