When covering major events like the GOP convention back in 2000, the opening of the National Constitution Center or even the mayoral campaigns, a reporter for a relatively small community newspaper is often treated like a second-class citizen.

There’s a pecking order at these events. The TV networks and affiliates, Time and the New York Times will do anything they can to get the best shot possible, while the rest of us routinely have to suffer with elbows and ultra-long lenses to go with all of the short tempers.

During the GOP convention, for example, a photographer from The New York Times actually walked right in front of me, stood in front of my camera and stepped back into me, pushing me into photographers from The Inquirer, Newsweek and NPR. Everyone had something nasty to say to the guy who was overly confident in his six-foot-plus stature, dreadlocks and the fact that his press badge said “New York Times.”

But the hardest people I’ve had to deal with are those from the television networks.  For some reason they feel that no matter who gets to a good shooting spot first, they have the right to walk in front of — and block out —everyone else.  After all, it’s television, and they are automatically entitled to the best shots; right?

At the National Constitution Center opening, our then-intern, Tom Namako, and I got to experience a press conference with much of the nation’s major media. ABC’s Good Morning, America had the first dibs on the shots. They basically threw all of the print media people in a box in the center of the lawn, a good 40 feet away from the stage, so we non-TV types all wound out with the same basic photo.

Namako and I stood next to a giant ABC speaker so that our shots would be somewhat different from anyone else's. Sandra Day O’Connor’s right profile was all mine. I even got to photograph another Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia, who was sweating on stage clearly waiting for his free grub.

After the speeches, we rushed to the press conference area and got a great spot down in front. We were standing in the broiling sun in front of a deserted microphone. As Namako and I were waiting, a local NBC reporter and cameraman walked in front of us, erecting their Eiffel Camera in front of us and blocking any shot by us and other press people. Instead of asking him politely to move, a cameraman from Time angrily yelled at the NBC-TV guy (making a bad situation worse), who simply ignored him. After all of that, the only person to show for the press conference was good old Eddie Rendell.

But that was not the worst of my experiences. As a matter of fact, after  the last Street/Katz debate, I have vowed never to watch Channel 6 again.

Local writer Mike Mishak and I were told by News 6 to report to the Constitution Center no later than 6:15 p.m. for the debate, which began at 7. I had my trusty camera — an extra lens even — to capture the protesters, the sweat on the mayor’s forehead and the nervous expressions of Sam Katz.

We were directed to a giant auditorium, waiting while Street and Katz were doing sound checks. News 6’s Jim Gardner walked out of a side room, tucked his ear monitor in his back and brushed in front of me, wiping the front of my lens with his coat. He did not say “Excuse me.” 

Gardner walked to his desk and sat down. The photographers were allowed inside just to shoot a few photos. As usual, everyone stood in front getting the same shot. I stood to the side and shot off 70 photographs of the candidates getting ready.

Then, out of nowhere, a short woman in a blue skirt-suit said to me, “You’re in Jim’s shot.”

“Excuse me,” I asked.

“You’re in Jim’s view.  Look.” She started to wave her pudgy arms in the air, and I could see one of them wobbling behind Gardner in a monitor. “See, you’re in Jim’s view,” she said again. “You can’t stand there, you’re in Jim’s view.”

I turned and took a photo of her and a few of Gardner. We were then told to retire into a large lounge.

At least it wasn’t just me, Chestnut Hill Local man, being told to hide in the other room. I had to sit there with the area’s best. Even our local NBC and CBS affiliates were barred from the room.

What’s disturbing is the arrogance of some (by no means, all) TV reporters and camera people. Although I work for a small community newspaper, I do not take my work any less seriously than they do. Some of them need to remember what it was like when they were starting out. Maybe then they will remember to be a little nicer to the little guy.