In this Nov. 3, 2012 file photo, Mitt Romney reaches out to shake hands with supporters as he campaigns at Colorado Springs Municipal Airport in Colorado Springs, Colo. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

(Photo by The Associated Press)

BOSTON — The campaign of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney appears to be setting a precedent this election year in charging journalists and news organizations for any access to a presidential campaign headquarters on the night of the election.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who is locked in a tight race with Democratic President Barack Obama, will be holding his election night gathering at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, where access costs anywhere from $75 for a chair in the ballroom to $1,020 for permission to use the media filing center. Broadcast news organizations will be paying up to $6,500 for workspace.

Obama's campaign party will be held at McCormick Place, in Chicago, and although his campaign is charging for premiums, credentialed reporters are granted access, which includes a workstation, electrical power and a wireless Internet connection, at no cost.

The credentialing process for Romney's election night activities allowed a reporter to choose where they would like to be, whether on a riser, in the ballroom or the media filing center, although prices weren't posted until days later, after an organization entered credit card billing information to confirm their credential request.

And by the time the confirmation email came along, the only option left was the media filing center, where reporters can reportedly watch the happenings in the ballroom on a closed-circuit TV with catered meals.

The Republican/MassLive.com, which will be on the ground in Boston on election night covering the Senate race, planned on sending a team of at least four reporters to Romney's headquarters, but decided to send only one after it was revealed by the Romney campaign that the cost for each approved credential was $1,020.

Romney spokesman Ryan Williams confirmed on Monday that there was indeed no way to cover the event unless paying for facilities.

"As a reporter, you need to pay for access to the filing center if you want to cover (the event)," Williams said, confirming there was no access for credentialed media otherwise.

Al Tompkins, who teaches online and broadcast journalism the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., said that restricting reporters' access to an event based on a paywall is "outrageous."

"If you're going as a journalist and need access to infrastructure, such as electricity, special lighting, etc., it makes sense that you pay your way. They are incurring a cost for that and you should have to pay as you would in any other situation," Tompkins said. "But if you aren't using anything at all, and are just looking to report from inside the building, there is no reason a credentialed member of the press should have to pay. This is paying for access to a story."

Obama's campaign set the precedent of charging for modern technological hookups and accommodations in 2008, although credentialed media interested in simply covering the event were allowed in without a fee, as is the case with his election night party this year.

Tompkins said that the precedent of charging for access to events could seriously hamper journalism moving forward by restricting smaller news organizations, which may not have large corporate backing, from political events.

"This just seems indefensible to me. Even the Super Bowl doesn't charge like this," he said. "The only place you see this kind of thing is presidential politics. It may be a way to cut out the smaller news outlets altogether."

In Massachusetts, Obama is expected to topple Romney by a significant margin, although the national race is quite close.

Should the Republican presidential hopeful defeat Obama, or should the election end up being contested, Romney's event in Boston will be the site where the world is focused into the early hours of Wednesday morning.

"That is the place where the news will be," Tompkins said. "So as a news organization, you're caught in the middle. You want to be there but have to pay for access to your story. They are basically offsetting their own expenses on the backs of journalists, and I don't care if a Republican or Democrat does it, it's outrageous."

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