Reporting the circus from the cheap seats

Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver might be penny-wise and pound-foolish to ban reporters from the floor of the upper chamber.

In times more congenial and quaint the legislative branch had at least grudging respect for the Fourth Estate: Press benches are built into the walls so reporters can have immediate access and bear witness to debates, if you can call them that. For 120 years the wretches have sat there watching Iowa history — noteworthy or not — unfold.

Whitver’s press agent reported that they couldn’t figure out who the media are anymore so they just booted the whole pack of them upstairs to the public gallery with the bats and zealous advocates.

Legislation from the turn of the 20th Century prescribes that the Senate secretary shall assign seats on press row. Ultimately, whoever holds the gavel sets the rules. This was a good opportunity to take a swipe at the “fake news” media (like the Associated Press, Radio Iowa, The Des Moines Register, Cedar Rapids Gazette and Lee Enterprises, publisher of the Sioux City Journal) and appeal to the peasants watching circuses.

The press, predictably, responded with righteous indignation, which serves Whitver’s purpose in the short term of picking a pointless fight.

They have no real right to be on the floor. They have no more license than the basement sandwich maker to sit on that bench and take notes or pictures. Privilege is granted and denied.

It’s not really about who the media are. The Senate could ask the Capitol correspondents to submit a list of reporters and bloggers who are serious about this business. If that were the case, Laura Belin, editor of the liberal blog BleedingHeartland.com would get a seat on the spacious bench she has long been denied — even for a day. That’s where the real rub started. Belin has been denied credentials because the Senate does not consider Belin to be real media. The fact that she was singled out tells us that she is indeed media, had gotten under their skin through reporting and analysis, and was as good as anyone to kick around (she is the daughter of renowned Establishment GOP attorney David Belin, is known for doggedness and accuracy, and got her sea legs reporting from Russia).

The House GOP was unwilling to pick the same fight. It will continue to populate the press bench.

Personally, I don’t know why anyone would want to be that close to those boars who smell of coffee breath and worn Old Spice late in the afternoon. Bless those who feel obligated, and please offer them a glass of water. There won’t be a whole lot of nuance or context this session, whose agenda is pretty much cutting taxes, making up lists of obscene books to ban, and whatever else Republicans decide to do in the caucus room outside the earshot of nosey pests.

The reporters might as well nap it out in the balcony.

Whitver rarely holds a press conference. Former Gov. Bob Ray held them every day, and was available by request on weekends. A reporter from the sticks could call Republican House Speaker Delwyn Stromer and ask him about funds for capping drainage wells; he had little apparent interest in books or banning them. And practically anyone who could operate a pen or hold a microphone could sit on the bench so long as you wear a tie.

The reporters say that being there next to the senators gives you that chance to clarify a point in a bill, to appreciate context or ask if you could meet later for an interview. Smart politicians know how to use the press by strolling over and feeding them a little something. Smart-ass politicians use the press as a foil.

This crowd lives in its own echo chamber and thinks it can communicate directly and strategically with its constituency, outside the purview of the “lamestream” media. Let them. The honest reporter is left to describe the circus from the cheap seats, as it is, and let the chips fall where they may from the balcony. The chatterers and spinners work from the grist that the real reporters provide.

They can only report the stupidity of it all, and the vanity, with the detachment of a bird’s-eye view. There is no nuance anymore. No need for whispers. What happens in the chamber is theatre that represents what already happened back in the caucus room, where the decisions are made and women are ogled, and prying eyes are not allowed. It didn’t work out well for Rome over time. This is how it all starts.

Art Cullen is the publisher and editor of The Storm Lake Times. He won the the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing in 2017 and is the author of the book “Storm Lake: A Chronicle of Change, Resilience, and Hope from a Heartland Newspaper.” Cullen can be reached at times@stormlake.com.