DNC 2012: On the Ground in Charlotte
Along with 15,000 other media, I was on assignment at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte this week, or as it’s better known: #DNC2012.
While there I hung out with four aspiring broadcast journalists from Fort Mill High School whom PBS invited to cover a breakfast panel discussion. (That’s two of them in the photo above, chatting with Minneapolis Mayor Raymond Thomas “R. T.” Rybak, Jr. You can read my story about them here).
The atmosphere on the ground is nearly surreal.
Uptown (downtown to anyone not from Charlotte) is walled off by concrete barricades, huge trucks and what must be several thousand police, many of whom were trucked in from outside cities. Inside the walls is a carnival filled with media, delegates, more media, politicians, celebrities, protesters and more media.
And they’re all talking at once.
Even street preachers are screaming over each other.
I roamed for a while, camera in hand, to try and capture a bit of the flavor.
Here are a few moments from Wednesday:
All images ©2012 Shawn Cetrone
