Why would the television networks have agreed to restrictions on covering the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, famously including the restriction that journalists and crews remain inside a designated “press pen” while the candidate speaks?
The answer, writes Jim Rutenberg in The New York Times Sunday, is, essentially that’s what it takes to see the hottest show in the 2016 campaign:
Still, I was surprised that network executives agreed to go along with such constrictive terms, which do not apply to Clinton and Sanders rallies. In interviews, executives said it was the price of admission for their cameras, correspondents and crews, but they would keep arguing for fewer restrictions. “This is an ongoing process,” Chris Isham, the CBS News Washington bureau chief, told me. “We’re continuing to push on a number of different fronts.”
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