Watchdog Radio: Politicians vs. the press

By Eric Boehm | Watchdog Radio

MADISON, Wis. — Politicians often try to control the media — but when they can’t do that, they often find it easier to hide behind closed doors.

That’s what happened this week when Watchdog.org reporter Adam Tobias was shut out of a campaign event for Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Mary Burke.

Tobais wasn’t given much of an explanation for why he wasn’t allowed to cover the event — except for the claim that he “was not a member of the press.”

Watchdog Radio hosts Eric Boehm and Matt Kittle beg to differ.

Freedom of the press is included in the First Amendment — along with freedom of speech and freedom of association — because it applies to all Americans, not a select few deemed worthy by the campaign staffers of political candidates.

But this is a growing, disturbing, trend: politicians trying to exercise absolute control over their “public” images by keeping the public out.

Also, Watchdog reporter Katie Watson stops by the show to talk about the hotly contested U.S. Senate race in Arkansas, which matches two-term Democratic incumbent Mark Pryor against up-and-coming Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton. Unlike most other Democrats in toss-up elections this year, Pryor is actually standing up proudly in defense of his vote for Obamacare.

And we check in with Watchdog reporters in Pennsylvania and Alabama to see what’s going on in the states and statehouses.

All that and more on this edition of Watchdog Radio.

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