US Senator Barack Obama’s stock as a superstar candidate rose even further on Thursday amid reports that his first tour of Europe and the Middle East as Democratic presidential contender will be followed in detail by US television’s top news anchors and printed media star reporters.
The first black White House contender’s trip has generated such a media frenzy that his Republican rival, Senator John McCain, has branded it a “political stunt” and an overseas campaign rally with little in the way of fact-finding objectives.
News organizations are practically tripping over each other to get coverage deals for the trip with the Obama campaign.
ABC’s Charles Gibson, NBC’s Brian Williams and CBS’ Katie Couric — the top three news anchors of US network television — have already cut deals to follow Obama’s footsteps next week in Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and Britain.
“Our plan right now is for Charlie to conduct an interview with Senator Obama at some point during the trip, but we are working out the details,” ABC spokeswoman Natalie Raabe said.
In all, some 200 journalists are vying for 40 accredited spots to accompany the 46-year-old candidate on his foreign trip, the Washington Post said.
Besides his tour of Europe and the Middle East next week, Obama may also fit in surprise visits to Iraq and Afghanistan, but nothing official has been announced for security reasons.
The attention to the trip has some Republicans complaining it puts McCain at a disadvantage in getting his message across.
McCain’s visit to Europe and the Middle East in March received much more low key media coverage. No anchors accompanied him on the tour.
McCain told a town hall meeting in Missouri on Thursday that his opponent should wait until after his visit to Afghanistan and Iraq before pronouncing on his war policies.
His aides made a similar point even more sharply.
“Let’s drop the pretence that this is a fact-finding trip and call it what it is: the first of its kind campaign rally overseas,” Jill Hazelbaker told reporters yesterday.
US Representative Eric Cantor, a high-profile McCain backer, said Obama’s tour had turned into a huge media event.
“The question really needs to be posed — is this type of coverage fair? This is nothing but a political stunt,” he said.
CBS official Paul Friedman told the New York Times the media frenzy over Obama’s trip was justified because it was the Illinois senator’s first trip abroad.
ABC’s Natalie Raab said: “I think we are covering both candidates aggressively and fairly.”
Media watchdog Tindall Report said ABC, CBS and NBC — with a combined audience of 20 million — had given Obama 114 minutes of television time since June, compared with 48 minutes for McCain.
CLOSURES: Several forest recreation areas have been closed as a precaution, while some ferry and flight services have been suspended or rescheduled A land warning for Tropical Storm Danas was issued last night at 8:30pm, as the storm’s outer bands began bringing heavy rain to southeastern regions, including Hualien and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島), according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). As of 9:15pm, the storm was approximately 330km west-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, moving north-northeast at 10-20kph, the CWA reported. A sea warning had already been issued at 8:30am yesterday. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 83kph, with gusts of up to 108kph, according to the CWA. As of 9:30pm last night, Kaohsiung, Tainan,
POWERFUL DETERRENT: Precision fire and dispersed deployment of units would allow Taiwanese artillery to inflict heavy casualties in an invasion, a researcher said The nation’s military has boosted its self-defense capability with the establishment of a new company equipped with the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). The company, part of the army’s 58th Artillery Command, is Taiwan’s first HIMARS unit. Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who presided over the formation ceremony in Taichung on Friday, called the unit a significant addition to the nation’s defensive strength, saying it would help deter adversaries from starting a war. The unit is made up of top-performing soldiers who received training in the US, according to the Ministry of National Defense. The HIMARS can be equipped with
UNILATERAL: The move from China’s aviation authority comes despite a previous 2015 agreement that any changes to flight paths would be done by consensus The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday slammed Beijing for arbitrarily opening the M503 flight route’s W121 connecting path, saying that such unilateral conduct disrespected the consensus between both sides and could destabilize the Taiwan Strait and the wider region. The condemnation came after the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) earlier yesterday announced it “has activated the W121 connecting path of the M503 flight route,” meaning that west-to-east flights are now permitted along the path. The newly activated west-to-east route is intended to “alleviate the pressure caused by the increase of flights,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency quoted China’s Taiwan Affairs Office
STRONG WINDS: Without the Central Mountain Range as a shield, people should be ready for high-speed winds, CWA weather forecaster Liu Yu-chi said Danas was yesterday upgraded to a typhoon and could grow stronger as it moves closely along the nation’s west coastline, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Hsinchu and Chiayi cities, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Hsinchu, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Nantou, Chiayi, Penghu and Pingtung counties have canceled work and school today. Work and school in Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, and Yilan, Taitung, Hualien, Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties would continue as usual, although offices and schools would be closed in Taoyuan’s Luju (蘆竹), Dayuan (大園), Guangyin (觀音) and Sinwu (新屋) districts. As of 5pm yesterday, the typhoon’s
RSS