A 139-Word Story Sparks A Firestorm of GOP Criticism for N.H. Freelancer

Last week, the Associated Press — along with other local news outlets — covered Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway’s visit to New Hampshire to speak at party fundraiser.

The New Hampshire Republican Party took issue with the AP’s decision to report from inside the closed-press event, the accuracy of its brief story and the integrity of the reporter who filed it — and responded with a firestorm of criticism, on social media and elsewhere.

After days of complaints from the party, the AP eventually issued a correction to its story, saying its original crowd estimates for the event were wrong. But the incident serves as something of a microcosm for an increasingly tense relationship between political parties and the press.

When I tried to walk into the Nashua Radisson, sporting headphones and a microphone to interview guests mingling in the lobby outside of the Republican fundraiser where Kellyanne Conway was slated to speak, hotel staff stationed at the door had a firm message: “Media can’t come inside.”

Read more: http://nhpr.org/post/139-word-story-sparks-firestorm-criticism-nh-freelancer