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Typically, in a modern campaign, the canned daily event is unsurprising, and the leader’s prepared talk a tweaked version of a stump speech he or she has delivered hundreds of times. So the day’s “event” is not where the networks and newspapers go for their lead item. For that they look to the scrum, or “media avail,” that follows the announcement. These interactions are vital to reporters covering a campaign on the road, because they typically offer the only interesting or “new” news.

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The practical effect of de facto restricting the number of questions and responses that will reach a nationwide audience to three, is to force reporters on the campaign bus or plane to focus their tiny treasure trove of questions on the areas of essential interest to all their news desks. In this campaign, over the past two weeks, that has meant all Nigel, all the time. A national reporter who wastes a question on something already known — for example, the prime minister’s view of the necessity of combating terrorism — is not doing his or her job.

This can lead to an uncomfortable dynamic in which the hand-picked audience attending an announcement by the PM, expecting to hear reporters quiz him about the new funding or tax break for their training program or what have you, instead hear them rattle on about the latest scandal. That often makes partisan attendees unhappy. Though I’ve never seen a screaming tirade of the kind that marred Harper’s event Tuesday, I’ve heard much impatient grumbling at such events, as reporters posed their questions.