Hey, newspapers and magazines and broadcast networks and cable channels, when it comes to the 2016 Presidential campaign, skip the whole thing!

Journalists ought to simply skip the whole campaign circus, and forget about access journalism when it comes to the presidential race. It’s a waste of time and money.

The point the author tries to make is that candidates are now so buttoned-up and “handled” by media advisors that it makes no sense to send expensive reporting crews out to follow each one of these people around. I would add that the costs are going to add up quickly as the Republican field expands beyond the 8 or 10 or whatever number it is already. Say you’ve got a bigfoot reporter; you’ve also got a cameraperson and possibly a gofer. That’s three people whose food and accommodations you have to pay for for the next 15 months or so. Multiply those three cost centers by the number of candidates and you’re already up to 36 person-days every day of the week spent chasing both parties’ candidates around in the hope your reporter can ask the one question that will blow the candidacy of that person out of the water completely (see Thomas Eagleton and depression).

I don’t really think this advice from Ryan Cooper is going to be taken. It would be interesting if it were, though.