Wednesday, September 29, 2004
News Networks Will Ignore Camera Rules at Debate
Source: Indianapolis Star With the first presidential debate Thursday, television networks plan to ignore an attempt by the Bush and Kerry campaigns to stage-manage the event by dictating which camera shots they can and cannot use. The networks object to a provision in the debate agreement between the two candidates that says the networks cannot show a reaction shot of Democrat John Kerry when President Bush is speaking, or vice versa. "The campaigns have agreed to this," said Princell Hair, CNN general manager. "We haven't.
"We have access to these cameras, and we're going to -- as we would with any news event -- decide which is the best way to broadcast this," he said. "A producer in the booth will make those determinations, not some people in the campaign." Fox News Channel is operating the cameras at Thursday's debate, scheduled for the University of Miami campus. Fox is expected to provide each network with feeds from several cameras, giving them each discretion on which shots to air. MORE
More networks respond in a related story at CNN.com.
# posted by ATN @ 11:07 AM 
