Video: Coleman Campaign Snubs The UpTake And Gets Unintended Results

When you call a press conference, it is usually to disseminate information. Not so with the Norm Coleman campaign this election season. The Coleman campaign has repeatedly denied The UpTake and other independent media access to its press conferences when they are held at the campaign's headquarters.

But when the press conference is held in a public building such as the State Office Building as it was on Tuesday, the Coleman campaign has no authority to deny anyone access. So Coleman spokesperson Mark Drake came up with another way to either prevent The UpTake from asking questions or perhaps protect the campaign from answering them.
He refused to give The UpTake's Mike McIntee a copy of the lawsuit because Drake said the The UpTake "has an axe to grind". Drake offered no evidence of that.

That led to some interesting moments during the press conference and finally the Coleman campaign admitting (sort of) that The UpTake is a "legitimate" media organization with a "very fair" reporter.

Comments

[Unreadable]

I often wish that mainstream media were more like UpTake: less glitz, less posing, more real news, more real journalism. It's too bad the UpTake just doesn't have enough resources to compete on a full scale with the likes of CNN, etc.

[RickCoMatic]

A great deal of thanks and praise is due to the "TheUpTake" and its staff for TheUpTake's outstanding contribution to the transparency of the Minnesota Recount of Ballots cast in the race for Senate. Their real-time coverage included images Webcast live from the Hearing Room and a close-up of each ballot presented for determining voter's intent. The publics awareness and involvement as each ballot was reviewed could not have been better accommodated. TheUpTake made it feel like we were seated in the Hearing Room and handed each of the contested ballots for our own personal review. The people of Minnesota and Minnesota's Secretary of State should reward TheUpTake for providing their coverage allowing everyone to be eyewitness to the recount with their added element of virtually participating in the decisions as they were made. If The UpTake were a Broadcast outlet a nomination for an Emmy would be appropriate. If TheUpTake were on Cable; an nomination for an ACE Award in order. The least we can do is to have the Minnesota Legislature acknowledge their contribution by Proclamation and include a Grant for them to "UpDate TheUpTake" with hardware and software needed for their efforts. I move to have Minnesota award TheUpTake and recognize their valuable contribution to State matters with a Proclamation of thanks and a Grant of funding to allow them to continue their fine work.