Better to be a citizen than the media

Demoted from citizen to media

Citizens sit up front. Media in the back.

The convention had a big sign: "Closed to the public." So I went straight to the "Media Table."

To be considered media, it is best to carry a briefcase, but don't over-dress. The only media people wearing a sport coat were a few of the people who went on camera. Most of "the media" are people are carrying cameras or boom microphones, or sitting at laptops. 

They are casually dressed. 

Why would I present myself as "media," rather than "citizen"?  Mostly I would not. It is better to be a citizen. But sometimes events are considered "closed to the general public," and at those I tell the gatekeeper the simple truth that I write a blog with 2,000 readers. 

Then they treat me as media and have me sign in.

There is a disadvantage to that. At the Biden events I went there early and had good casual visits with the young staff people and what it was like to be on the ground organizing. A "Field Director," i.e. someone in her mid-20s, asked about this blog, and thereafter the young staff people she supervised (generally people fresh out of college with liberal arts degrees) were warned that I was "media" and they should not talk with me about anything except where to find my seat. Prior to their being given that admonition, I was just another Biden potential supporter, a citizen, someone to court, and they were chatting me up, telling me about their majors, that this was a first real job, that they lived with supporters or had an apartment, that they were thrilled to be part of something big. Nice young people.

"Political tourism has a kind of hierarchy." The best seats are for citizens voters. Sometimes the very best seats are reserved for donors or activist leaders, i.e. party chairs, and depending on the event I qualify for those, but usually do not. I am mostly a token-dollar donor to the presidential campaigns. Usually it does not matter. The important thing in getting to sit in the front row is getting there early. 

The worst seats are for the media people.  There is a practical reason for that. At events with major presidential candidates, there are camera crews. They need a raised dias and their setup is intrusive and blocks the view of others.  Plus, by being at the back they can film whatever happens in front of them.

The writers get a table in front of the cameras, typically, as in this case at the AFL-CIO convention, a long table made up of short tables put side by side.  They get one advantage over "regular citizens": they get special power outlets brought to that long table. 

So far in the convention, two hours into it as I write this,  we were stood up by Donald Trump, who had a speaking spot at 10:00 a.m. by video. He did not call in.  

We just heard from candidate John Delaney, who spoke of his gratitude to the IBEW--the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers--which union his father belonged to. It assured a family wage job for the Delaney family, he said, and it had a scholarship fund that paid half his tuition at Columbia.  He said he was pro union and the companies he founded had a superb record for being worker-friendly.

Elizabeth Warren spoke next. She said she said that "unions built America and unions will re-build America" and that is something that she has said at every single Town Hall she has done, and not just here at a Labor convention. She got a big standing ovation when she entered and when she concluded. She has been organizing in Iowa very successfully, the locals tell me.

Photos of the convention below:

Tables up front, for citizens

Photos of the set-up below:

Table for print media

Room setup--250 attendees.

Cameras in back