Until two weeks ago, it had never occurred to me that I had much in common with with the photographers who follow reality TV stars out of nightclubs and cause crashes on Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles by tailing black SUVs carrying Lindsay Lohan and the like. That was until I observed the madness that is the mainstream political press, of which recently I have had the pleasure to be a part.
On April 12, Gov. Jerry Brown gave a speech touting his budget proposal before hundreds of members of the Bay Area business community gathered in San Francisco for an annual conference. After his speech, the reporters — who were given two tables at the very back of the room — exited the hall and walked briskly to the front exit, where we talked to a Brown spokesman until the governor himself emerged. At that point the reporters abandoned the spokesman mid-sentence and began to follow Brown.
The governor was accompanied by just one handler — which is apparently quite a departure from the entourage that surrounded the Govenator at all times — who ushered him through the common area. Not to be deterred, the press corps broke into a run — not a jog, but a run — and caught up with Brown as he reached the escalators. The conference was held in the sub-basement of the Marriott Marquis hotel, so Brown had to take several flights of dual escalators to get to the main level and exit through the lobby. Members of the media were huddled in front of and behind him, as well as on escalators parallel to his, leaning over the rails to hear what he was saying. Cameras and recorders were shoved in his face, and people buzzed around the periphery of the group trying to get a better angle. Watching the crowd travel up out of the basement, I was struck by a single thought: we are like flies swarming an animal carcass.
I had always assumed the name “paparazzi,” which is Italian for flies, was given as an insult to photographers who follow famous people — a derogatory descriptor for those who make celebrities’ lives so difficult. That may have been the case, but I realize it’s probably also the most accurate way to describe a hungry media corps that has to mob its subjects for a living. The best quotes we got from Gov. Brown came not during his speech but during the feeding frenzy — including jabs at Republicans who think $13.5 billion can be “magically conjured,” and a demonstration of the contents of his wallet:
“Now, if I were to kind of look in my wallet, let’s see how much I can contribute…well, we have $20, we have a $1…
“You know what? Getting that $13.5 billion is going to take some taxes. If it’s not going to be taxes, it’s going to take a radical restructuring of both public safety and public education. And if there’s a third way, I’d like to see it.”
In other words, swarming public figures: embarrassing but effective.
The article I wrote appears here: Brown optimistic on GOP support for tax extensions
(Notice at the very bottom where is says, “Wire services may have contributed to this report”? That’s as close as I get to a byline sometimes, even though I wrote and reported the entire story.)
