Media Stars Will Accompany Obama Overseas

In contrast to Sen John McCain's (R-AZ) trip to Iraq in March, Sen Obama's planned trip to the war-torn nation may be a media circus. NBC News anchor Brian Williams, Charles Gibson of ABC and Katie Couric of CBS will all make the trip, too, it appears. And while the anchors are jockeying for interviews with Sen Obama at stops along his route, the regulars on the Obama campaign plane will have new seatmates: star political reporters from the major newspapers and magazines who are flocking to catch Mr. Obama's first overseas trip since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee. The extraordinary coverage planned for Obama's trip, though in part solicited by aides, reflects how the candidate remains an object of fascination in the news media, a built-in feature of being the first black presidential nominee for a major political party and a relative newcomer to the national stage. Some 200 journalists have asked to accompany Obama on the costly trip, which will include stops in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the campaign will be able to accommodate only one-fifth that number. But the coverage also feeds into concerns in Sen McCain's campaign, and among Republicans in general, that the news media are imbalanced in their coverage of the candidates, just as aides to Sen Hillary Rodham Clinton felt during the primary season.