Steep fee to ride with UK's Brown

DAVID STRINGER,Associated Press Writer

LONDON (AP) -- Britain's national debt is the key theme in the country's looming national election -- but it's now news organizations, not just the country's government, racking up huge bills to meet the cost of covering the campaign.

At a time when the world's media are struggling with cuts to staff and budgets, each organization faces an estimated cost of $40,000 to send a reporter on the campaign trail with the two main candidates for prime minister.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown -- seeking his first election win, and a fourth successive victory for his governing Labour Party -- will charge a select group of reporters 13,000 pounds ($20,000) to join his whole campaign tour, or 595 pounds ($900) for a one-day ticket.

His chief rival, Conservative Party leader David Cameron -- who's widely favored to win the election -- is yet to disclose how much he'll charge reporters -- though it is likely to be at least $20,000 and possibly more.

The story is similar in the U.S., where trips with leading politicians can cost media organizations thousands. The one consolation for British journalists is that election campaigns are relatively short -- three or four weeks -- compared to monthslong U.S. slogs.

Britain must hold a national election by June 3, though Brown is expected to call the poll for May 6, when voters are already scheduled to elect representatives to town hall assemblies.

Most observers expect the campaign to last about three and a half weeks -- when Brown, Cameron and their rivals will crisscross Britain, and take part in three televised debates being held in northern, central and southwestern England.

Like election campaigns in the United States and some other countries, news organizations will pick up the cost of train seats, airline tickets, hotel rooms, and food -- but the high fees are likely to leave some reporters out in the cold.

"It's not a huge amount for a major news organization, but for a smaller organization it certainly is," said Bob Satchwell, executive director of the Society of Editors, which represents the British media.

"If a party leader's local newspaper wanted to go and follow him, it would cost them the best part of a reporter's annual salary -- that's the kind of context to see it in," he said.

Satchwell said political parties offering election travel deals get the added bonus of keeping reporters close at hand. "They think that they'll be better able to control the message that comes out," he said.

Britain's Labour Party insisted it makes no profit from the fees for Brown's campaign tour, and said the arrangements had been agreed in advance with media representatives. The charges are in line with prices at Britain's last national election in 2005.

The Labour Party also confirmed access to Brown wouldn't be limited to those prepared to pay the election fees.

"We are likely to make a loss on the tour," a Labour spokesman said on condition of anonymity in line with party policy. The party would not provide a breakdown of the charges, citing commercial confidentiality issues.

In the United States -- where campaigning frequently demands expensive cross-country plane rides -- reporters were charged about $30,000 per month to cover President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's campaigns to win the Democratic Party nomination.

For travel with Obama, a one-day domestic trip averages about $3,500 -- dropping to about $3,000 for a multi-day trip.

However, in European nations, including Italy and Sweden, the practice of billing reporters is unheard of.

In France, when the president or government arrange a domestic trip for journalists involving government planes or buses, most journalists do not pay for the voyage.

When trips are arranged on commercial transport, however, journalists pay the fee themselves.

James Stanyer, a lecturer in communications at Loughborough University, said it could be more likely news will be broken on Twitter than from the back of a campaign bus in the forthcoming election.

"On the battle bus it is just going to be the same old, same old," Stanyer said.

Article by Associated Press Writer David Stringer.

Published On:Saturday, March 20, 2010