Romney campaign doesn’t appreciate unscripted appearance by reporter

The New York Times | Politico | New York
Fox News allowed the Times’ Jim Rutenberg to roam backstage Saturday night during a GOP candidates forum. Upon seeing Rutenberg, “Mr. Romney’s aides sprang into action, asking where he worked and what he was doing there, and then insisting that he not physically approach Mr. Romney before or after he was questioned on television.” The response was typical of the Romney campaign, writes Politico’s Dylan Byers: “Romney is inaccessible even by the tightly scripted standards of the contemporary campaign bubble: Not only is the candidate kept at arms length from reporters, the campaign typically responds to the news media only when it feels it is in its interest. Inconvenient questions are met with silence.” So why would Fox News give a Rutenberg such access? Roger Ailes has decided that 2012 will be the year that “the political world recognizes that his network is willing to make GOP candidates sweat in front of their base,” writes Gabriel Sherman of New York magazine. || New meme for political reporting? Both the Times and Politico use the term “hermetically sealed” to describe political events. || Related: Awkward 1994 Romney interview with teen resurfaces (Mother Jones) | Cain supporters blame media after he suspends his campaign (Politico)