POLITICO ‏@politico Mar 28 Scott Walker limits media availability in wake of slip ups

[riversedge]

POLITICO ?@politico Mar 28

Scott Walker limits media availability in wake of slip ups http://politi.co/1DcJJOv | Getty
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http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/03/former-press-hound-scott-walker-limits-media-availability-204652.html


Former press hound Scott Walker limits media availability in wake of slip ups


By DYLAN BYERS
3/27/15 2:51 PM EDT

Last month, Scott Walker seemed readily available to any reporter who had a question for him. He was basking in the limelight, holding media scrums and granting impromptu interviews............

On Friday, Walker toured the Texas-Mexican border with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. The tour was closed to the press, and Walker did not take part in a media avail afterward. Similarly, Walker visited Greenville, S.C., last weekend but refused to take questions from the media. Of the six likely Republican candidates to visit the state in the last two months, Walker was the only one to pass on the press.

Scott Bauer, a Madison-based reporter who covers Walker for the Associated Press, reported earlier this month that the Republican governor "has become much harder to reach as he ramps up for a likely 2016 presidential campaign." In the past, Walker had "repeatedly shown a fearlessness, and even affinity, for patiently taking questions from reporters following the most mundane events or in the face of embarrassing slip-ups," Bauer wrote. Now, most of his comments came through formal statements.

Walker isn't totally spurning the media, of course: In recent weeks, he's granted interviews to New Hampshire's Union Leader and The Tampa Bay Times, as well as radio host Hugh Hewitt. But he is starting to put limits on his availability to reporters, often declining to hold Q-and-A's with them and restricting their ability to tag along on his travels.....

[Thinkingabout]

1. Well, if he keeps his mouth shut just may curtail his slip ups.

[unionthug777]

2. you can always tell when he is lying..

his lips are moving.

[ladym55]

3. He's taking a play from the Joni Ernst campaign

If you don't allow press access, then voters won't see how (a) stupid, (b) crazy, and (c) slimy you really are.

It worked for Joni in Iowa. She limited access, and the press rolled over and let her do it.

[riversedge]

4. umm. Lets hope the national media does their duty

[lutefisk]

5. Walker uses his spokeswomen like human shields against the press

Kirsten Kukowski and Laurel Patrick have been doing almost all the talking for our cowardly governor lately. I'd be embarrassed for him if I didn't despise him so much.