Journalists keep close eye on conventions
For Xu Yifan, the Washington correspondent for The China Press, covering the 2016 Republican and Democratic national conventions has offered her some insight into the two parties.
She said the Republican convention in Cleveland, Ohio, was much better organized — the shuttles were more convenient, the press center better equipped and the screens in the arena also more visible.
In the DNC on July 25-28, journalists sitting in the general press stand are looking at the back of speakers.
But Xu said the RNC had no other activities for the press besides daily briefings, while DNC has lots of caucus events, convenient for journalists to set up and do interviews.
The reporter for the Los Angeles-headquartered publication noticed an interesting phenomenon that DNC seems more controlled, handing out placards but not allowing people bring their own, while it was somehow permitted at RNC. “I saw a Sanders supporter getting angry with this and change the slogan‘ Stronger Together’ from the organizer into‘ Stop Her ’,” she said.
Xu also went to interview protesters on the street. She felt that both parties are divided, especially because of the supporters for Bernie Sanders on the Democrat side and Ted Cruz on the Republican side.
A Chinese citizen, Xu said she is more inclined to Republican candidate Donald Trump and was uncomfortable about Hillary Clinton’s problem with trustworthiness.
Several opinion polls showed that about two-thirds of US citizens believe Clinton is dishonest.
“I am not a US citizen, so I am basically just watching,” said Xu, who has been working 16 hours a day these days covering the conventions.
Danielle Ziri, a TV cameraman with Israel’s 124 News, also praised the RNC for better organization and easy access for journalists.
But she said the lineup of speakers at the DNC is better and more interesting.
Ziri was expecting a lot more chaos at RNC with protesters but saw it was not the case. “Action is really at the DNC,” she said, referring the tens of thousands of protesters descending on Philadelphia this week.
“We spoke to a lot of the pro testers. They were angry. Bernie supporters who felt they have been let down,” she said.
Email scandal
Ziri said the Sanders supporters are mostly angry at the way the Democratic National Committee’s email scandal “shows they are clearly in favor of Clinton from the very beginning”.
Ziri would not reveal her personal preference for the candidates. “I would rather not express my personal opinion on that as a journalist,” she said.
She described both conventions as “very interesting, the biggest moment for me as a journalist.”
Silvina Sterin Pensel, a correspondent for Argentina’s TodoNoticias, was amazed that the two parties have turned the conventions into a Broadway show.
“I enjoyed very much looking at the costumes of the Republicans and now the Democrats,” she said, adding that only US people can make boring and serious politics into “a spectacle, kind of a circus.”
Pensel said she enjoyed listening to “emotional” speeches by Michelle Obama and Barack Obama and seeing and listening to Trump’s family members.
An Argentine who has become a US citizen, it will be the first time for Pensel to vote. She admitted being a Sanders follower. “I voted for him in the primary. … This is going to be my first time voting. I think I am with her,” she said, referring to Clinton.