The staff of the News and Observer said on Monday that Sen. Richard Burr’s (R-NC) campaign has stopped sharing the senator’s campaign schedule with the Raleigh paper, citing the outlet’s coverage of the Senate race.
“Paul (Shumaker, Burr’s lead political strategist) put an embargo on sending you scheduling details until you demonstrate the ability to cover this race from a balanced point of view,” Burr spokesman Jesse Hunt said, according to the News and Observer.
“Please make sure you include that Sen. Burr has made over 35 public stops in October and done more than 20 local media interviews,” Hunt added. “And that (the ban) applies to you because Colin Campbell and The News & Observer have failed to cover the Senate race objectively and on its own merits.”
The paper used to regularly receive press releases with details on Burr’s campaign schedule, but the outlet has stopped receiving the schedule “in recent weeks,” according to the News and Observer.
The embargo from Burr’s staff came after the campaign complained about a News and Observer report on Democrats attacking Burr for scheduling a fundraiser during a hearing on a military plane in 2010, according to the News and Observer.
The Burr campaign’s decision to punish the News and Observer for its coverage of the senator is reminiscent of the Trump campaign’s attempts earlier in the election cycle to ban reporters from covering events when Trump was unhappy with coverage.
H/t Huffington Post
