GOP 2004: Sunday, Not in the Park, Not with George

By: Greg Mitchell Republican National Convention week opened in New York today with a fast start in the street and slow going at the media center across from Madison Square Garden.

Many reporters turned out in force to cover the mammoth anti-Bush protests, while their colleagues filed early stories back at the Garden, which received a Vice President Dick Cheney visitation in mid-afternoon, but not a whole lot else of note.

The massive protests posed a challenge for the media. The legal march, which was peaceful and orderly, even fun, was easy enough to cover but since the protestors had been denied a permit to rally in Central Park, they dispersed when it was over, to places unknown. Reporters didn't know where to look for trouble, if it came.

By late afternoon, dozens of arrests, in minor incidents, were reported, many in the Times Square area, where Republican delegates were attending Broadway plays, many as guests of The New York Times.

Meanwhile, back at the media center near the Garden, things were quiet, with the often cavernous press rooms rented by major papers and newspaper chains sparsely occupied. Well-known figures such as Howard Kurtz of the The Washington Post and Hearst columnist Helen Thomas were already sitting at their computers, while USA Today Editor Ken Paulson roamed his paper's huge press room.

Asked what reporters were requesting the most, a concierge at the press center replied: "U.S. Open tennis tickets."

When they picked up their credentials, thousands of reporters received black press bags stuffed with a wild variety of gifts, including a special Republican Convention box of Kraft macaroni, several New York guide books, Listerine PocketPaks, a disposable camera, and two phone cards.

Security at the media center was incredibly tight, causing long lines, as journalists, even with full credentials, were searched closely at the entrance to the press building, and then again as they entered the pedestrian bridge to the Garden.

Out on the street, helicopters hovered overhead and occasionally riot police would jump into their vans, and speed off, with sirens wailing.

Famed Time magazine photographer James Nachwey stood at the intersection of 34th Street and Fifth Avenue at 4 p.m., his camera packed away, shooting done for the day, just observing, as one press photog after another came up to meet him.

Rows of police lined all the intersections, some of them looking no older than 18, as obviously every available body was called up for the day.

On 34th Street near Broadway a pro-Bush religious group, behind a police barricade, screamed at protestors, who stopped their march, approached the counter-demonstrators, and shouted back, "Shame!", almost sparking a slugfest. But by and large the event was upbeat, although the day's top photo op featured a parade of flag-draped caskets symbolizing the nearly 1,000 U.S. deaths in Iraq.