Obama Campaign Merchandise: Reporters Buying Souvenirs With Fake Names

So-called objective journalists covering the Democratic National Convention were apparently loading up on Obama campaign swag under fake names.

The story about reporters buying official Obama gear at the Charlotte convention, which constitutes a donation to the Obama campaign, an “activity that is generally frowned upon for members of the media,” was broken by the Politicker.com website:

The souvenir stand was in a secure area only accessible to those with a media credential and buying campaign gear means contributing to the campaign, so we asked the woman working the cash register whether anyone at the press stand had been making purchases. Her answers were quite surprising…

When we informed her that our status as a reporter means we don’t buy campaign gear, she suggested a strategy other members of the media have apparently used to pick up their Obama swag.

“Have you ever thought of making up a fake name? That’s what the other guys do,” she said.

The media itself, in the form of PACs and direct employee contributions, isn’t reluctant about ponying up cash for the Obama campaign either, even including the parent company of Fox News, according to the New York Times.

As of August, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. (FNC’s owner) contributed nearly $60,000 to Obama, and a mere $3,000 to Romney. Time Warner, CNN’s parent, gave about $200,000 to Obama and just about $11,000 to Romney. Disney (which owns ABC and ESPN) gave Obama approximately $126,000, while Romney received a little less than $10,000. Comcast, which owns NBC, also gave about $200,000 to Obama and $20,500 to Romney. This doesn’t include the 24-hour Obama campaign infomercial otherwise known as MSNBC.

Do you find the mainstream news media’s rejection of claims of liberal bias convincing?

Do you think reporters were equally enthusiastic about buying Romney/Ryan campaign merchandise at the RNC?