CLEVELAND – As of Sunday afternoon, Richland Source has officially landed in Cleveland.
As noted last week, my colleague Dillon Carr and myself will be in the 216 all week covering the Republican National Convention. Admittedly, we don’t know what to expect – but then again, most journalists covering the convention don’t, as they weren’t even alive when the last convention was in Cleveland.
The last Republican National Convention in Cleveland was held in Public Auditorium in 1924 and 1936. Cleveland was officially selected as the host for the 2016 convention in August 2014 because the Republican National Committee felt it offered the best package – including an ample amount of media workspace.
Dillon and I are just two of more than 15,000 journalists descending on the city of Cleveland this week. Nearly 1 million square feet of media workspace has been secured between Quicken Loans Arena and the Huntington Convention Center, and roughly 15,000 rooms in 120 area hotels.
The most legit I’ve ever been. #RSRNC #RNCinCLE #partylikeajournalist #allthecredentials #journalistswag pic.twitter.com/5sdUd23x1V
— Brittany Schock (@BrittanySchock) July 17, 2016
In addition to the media, there are 2,472 delegates and 2,304 alternate delegates attending the convention this week. Their job this week is to cast their vote toward the nomination of the Republican Party’s candidates for president and vice president of the United States – presumably, Donald Trump and Mike Pence.
All convention activity will be taking place at Quicken Loans Arena this week. As a member of the Daily Press Gallery, I will be seated inside the arena at a workspace flanking the speaking platform. Later this week, I will be live-streaming some convention activity on our Richland Source Facebook page.
Session times for the convention vary from day to day. On Monday, July 18 the session begins at 1 p.m. with a break before an evening session beginning at 8 p.m. On Tuesday the session begins at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday at 7 p.m., and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., when presumptive nominee Donald Trump is expected to speak. All evening sessions are expected to end by 11 p.m.
And that’s just for the activity inside the convention arena. Dillon will be scouring the streets of Cleveland every day this week looking for interesting stories, including covering protests. Protests are expected to begin starting around noon.
In terms of stories, readers can expect articles to publish throughout the day as news breaks, as well as articles in the evening to wrap up the activities on the convention floor. All RNC articles can be found on Richland Source under the “RNC Coverage” tab in the top navigation menu.
Beyond that, we don’t know much what to expect. One peaceful demonstration has already taken place on Sunday, where hundreds of demonstrators “circled the city with love.” But I can say we are both excited – with a little bit of well-placed anxiety.
Follow along and interact with our coverage live on Facebook, at our Twitter accounts @BrittanySchock and @dilloncarrRS and by using the hashtag #RSRNC.
