Reporter claims she was told not to talk to crowd at Michelle Obama event
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Sept. 29, 2014: First lady Michelle Obama speaks on behalf of Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke at a campaign rally. (AP)
A Milwaukee reporter is claiming that journalists covering first lady Michelle Obama’s speech at a campaign rally for Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke were told not to speak with the crowd at the event.
Meg Kissinger, a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, posted on Facebook that she was “creeped out” after she was told by a White House aide and an aide for Burke not to speak with people attending the Monday event.
“This is what reporters do in America: we speak to people,” she wrote. “At least that's how I've been doing things -- at all kinds of political events -- since 1979.”
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Kissinger added in the comments on another post that she had “never seen anything like it in 35 years as a reporter covering dozens of political events.”
Kissinger later said on Twitter that she did not comply with the aides’ rule, and spoke with “plenty” of crowd members. Her report from the event contains interviews with multiple crowd members.
An email request for comment to the Burke campaign was not immediately returned.