AmyOuthouse
2011-11-17 18:54:38 UTC
"Accused of harassing several women when he worked at the National
Restaurant Association in Washington in the 1990s, Cain has been
chased aggressively by media seeking interviews on the subject."
=========================
"Cain campaign reviewing security after reporter skirmishes"
By Amy Gardner
November 17, 2011
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. — Herman Cain’s campaign rallies always attract a
lot of attention. Throngs of well-wishers seek handshakes or
autographs. An army of camera operators race around him as he
disembarks from his campaign bus to mingle with the crowds.
Lately, another common element has emerged from the fever-pitch of the
Cain road show: physical skirmishes involving the press.
One incident on Wednesday involved journalists jostling among
themselves for position. Another featured a local police officer
aggressively blocking a video journalist. In at least two instances,
Cain's own private security guard physically blocked reporters,
including one from The Washington Post .
There were two confrontational incidents on Wednesday, prompting Cain
spokesman J.D. Gordon to touch base with the reporters involved and
also to acknowledge in an interview that the campaign needs to address
the issue.
“There’s intense interest in Mr. Cain from the media and the public,”
Gordon said. “That’s been particularly been the case the last month,
where anywhere we go we’ll have anywhere from a dozen to 50 media.”
Since late September, the previously unknown, underdog candidate has
rocketed to the top of public polls, become embroiled in a sexual
harassment scandal, and fallen out of the top tier of candidates.
Just as Cain’s advisers had to learn quickly how to handle intense
national scrutiny of a top-tier presidential campaign, they also are
learning as they go about the nuts and bolts of the campaign trail,
where big audiences and media packs call for more intense planning and
crowd control than Cain had previously required.
Accused of harassing several women when he worked at the National
Restaurant Association in Washington in the 1990s, Cain has been
chased aggressively by media seeking interviews on the subject, Gordon
said. At one point, a day or two after the initial story broke, Cain
was cornered by a camera crew in the underground garage of CNN’s
Washington studios, Gordon said.
Gordon acknowledged that such confrontations are the price of sitting
at the top of the field, and he said the campaign needs to do more to
prevent them. The campaign will conduct a thorough review of security
procedures starting Thursday, he said.
The two incidents on Wednesday occurred as Cain made his way up the
Gold Coast of Florida, rallying crowds first in Miami, then Coral
Springs and finally West Palm Beach.
In the morning, Cain’s tour of the renowned Cuban restaurant
Versailles was interrupted by loud shrieks. They came from Susan
Archer, a video journalist with ABC News, who screamed loudly: "Stop
it! Stop it right now! Chill now! Stop pushing!”
Archer was visibly shaken after the incident and declined a request
for an interview. But witnesses, including Gordon, said other
journalists jostling for position had pushed Archer, prompting her to
cry out.
The second skirmish, at a campaign appearance at the Wings Plus
restaurant in Coral Springs, was testier. Journalist Lindsey Boerma,
of CBS News and the National Journal, was running alongside Cain’s
giant red tour bus, trying to catch up with the candidate and shoot
video as he boarded. A plain-clothed police officer stuck his arm out
to block her, and the two collided.
The officer, later identified by Coral Springs police as Sgt. William
Reid, demanded an apology from Boerma for hurting his arm. Boerma
shouted back, “Are you kidding me? You just blocked me!”
Other camera operators began taping the ensuing exchange, and Reid,
who identified himself only as a “citizen journalist,” took out his
cell phone and began recording also.
Gordon described the local police officer as “overzealous,” but a
spokesman for the Coral Springs police department said the officer was
just doing his job. He was one of 12 local officers the city sent to
the rally to “keep the peace” — in addition to the four local officers
whom the Cain campaign hired to bolster its security detail for the
event, Lt. Joe McHugh said.
Boerma was not wearing media credentials, McHugh said, and Reid
rightly blocked her from getting too close to the candidate.
On Tuesday in Iowa, Washington Post reporter Aaron Blake tried to
position himself to ask Cain a question as he exited a restaurant in
suburban Des Moines. A Cain bodyguard backed into Blake with his back
and shoulder when Blake declined to move from his position outside the
restaurant’s side door.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cain-campaign-reviewing-security-after-reporter-skirmishes/2011/11/17/gIQAqi3aUN_story.html
Restaurant Association in Washington in the 1990s, Cain has been
chased aggressively by media seeking interviews on the subject."
=========================
"Cain campaign reviewing security after reporter skirmishes"
By Amy Gardner
November 17, 2011
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. — Herman Cain’s campaign rallies always attract a
lot of attention. Throngs of well-wishers seek handshakes or
autographs. An army of camera operators race around him as he
disembarks from his campaign bus to mingle with the crowds.
Lately, another common element has emerged from the fever-pitch of the
Cain road show: physical skirmishes involving the press.
One incident on Wednesday involved journalists jostling among
themselves for position. Another featured a local police officer
aggressively blocking a video journalist. In at least two instances,
Cain's own private security guard physically blocked reporters,
including one from The Washington Post .
There were two confrontational incidents on Wednesday, prompting Cain
spokesman J.D. Gordon to touch base with the reporters involved and
also to acknowledge in an interview that the campaign needs to address
the issue.
“There’s intense interest in Mr. Cain from the media and the public,”
Gordon said. “That’s been particularly been the case the last month,
where anywhere we go we’ll have anywhere from a dozen to 50 media.”
Since late September, the previously unknown, underdog candidate has
rocketed to the top of public polls, become embroiled in a sexual
harassment scandal, and fallen out of the top tier of candidates.
Just as Cain’s advisers had to learn quickly how to handle intense
national scrutiny of a top-tier presidential campaign, they also are
learning as they go about the nuts and bolts of the campaign trail,
where big audiences and media packs call for more intense planning and
crowd control than Cain had previously required.
Accused of harassing several women when he worked at the National
Restaurant Association in Washington in the 1990s, Cain has been
chased aggressively by media seeking interviews on the subject, Gordon
said. At one point, a day or two after the initial story broke, Cain
was cornered by a camera crew in the underground garage of CNN’s
Washington studios, Gordon said.
Gordon acknowledged that such confrontations are the price of sitting
at the top of the field, and he said the campaign needs to do more to
prevent them. The campaign will conduct a thorough review of security
procedures starting Thursday, he said.
The two incidents on Wednesday occurred as Cain made his way up the
Gold Coast of Florida, rallying crowds first in Miami, then Coral
Springs and finally West Palm Beach.
In the morning, Cain’s tour of the renowned Cuban restaurant
Versailles was interrupted by loud shrieks. They came from Susan
Archer, a video journalist with ABC News, who screamed loudly: "Stop
it! Stop it right now! Chill now! Stop pushing!”
Archer was visibly shaken after the incident and declined a request
for an interview. But witnesses, including Gordon, said other
journalists jostling for position had pushed Archer, prompting her to
cry out.
The second skirmish, at a campaign appearance at the Wings Plus
restaurant in Coral Springs, was testier. Journalist Lindsey Boerma,
of CBS News and the National Journal, was running alongside Cain’s
giant red tour bus, trying to catch up with the candidate and shoot
video as he boarded. A plain-clothed police officer stuck his arm out
to block her, and the two collided.
The officer, later identified by Coral Springs police as Sgt. William
Reid, demanded an apology from Boerma for hurting his arm. Boerma
shouted back, “Are you kidding me? You just blocked me!”
Other camera operators began taping the ensuing exchange, and Reid,
who identified himself only as a “citizen journalist,” took out his
cell phone and began recording also.
Gordon described the local police officer as “overzealous,” but a
spokesman for the Coral Springs police department said the officer was
just doing his job. He was one of 12 local officers the city sent to
the rally to “keep the peace” — in addition to the four local officers
whom the Cain campaign hired to bolster its security detail for the
event, Lt. Joe McHugh said.
Boerma was not wearing media credentials, McHugh said, and Reid
rightly blocked her from getting too close to the candidate.
On Tuesday in Iowa, Washington Post reporter Aaron Blake tried to
position himself to ask Cain a question as he exited a restaurant in
suburban Des Moines. A Cain bodyguard backed into Blake with his back
and shoulder when Blake declined to move from his position outside the
restaurant’s side door.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cain-campaign-reviewing-security-after-reporter-skirmishes/2011/11/17/gIQAqi3aUN_story.html