Do you think reporters should be allowed to attend the Colbert/Stewart rallies?

[Sarah]

Apparently NPR has banned employees from attending. The Post says theirs can watch from the sidelines.

What is a journalist's role? To observe and report? To obtain second hand reports?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-ja...

[RandomAnthony]

Yeah, I heard about this...it's a slippery slope, don't you think? Misha or anybody, is this common?

[[deleted user]]

They pretty much had the same guidelines regarding the "Restoring Uppity White People Pride" rally that Glenn Beck pulled off a couple of months ago. I suppose the implication here is, observe, yes, attend, no, which doesn't make much sense to me.

[Sarah]

It seems to me that they don't trust their reporters to know the difference between attending as reporters and participating.
Or maybe they're afraid it'll be used as fuel for some future media-bias issue if Nina Totenberg is seen standing in the crowd?

[Joanne]

Whatever happened to the free press ?

[Stacia (the 2010 club)]

I don't know, but I'd sure like to attend.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

I am utterly confused as to why reporters wouldn't be allowed to attend any kind of rally, Stewart/Colbert, Beck, or Hitler.