JOHN PAUL FILO
Erica Hill (l.) will co-anchor 'The CBS Early Show' from Rhinebeck, where Chelsea Clinton is having her wedding Saturday. Exactly where Hill will be anchoring in Rhinebeck was, as of Wednesday, still up in the air, just like the wedding itself.
Hill won't be alone. Reporters from local stations, including WABC/Ch. 7, WNBC/Ch. 4, WNYW/Ch. 5, WCBS/Ch. 2, NY1 and all the broadcast and cable networks will flood the tiny town of Rhinebeck and other places in the area, hoping to get a piece of the supersecretive Clinton wedding.
Trouble is, the nuptials are being held at Astor Courts, a secluded estate along the Hudson River, with no media allowed.
"The challenges are access because so much of it is being kept secret," said Michael Rosen, executive producer of the Saturday "Early Show." "We don't know what security is going to be like at this point."
CBS' Elaine Quijano this week has been staying at the Beekman Arms Inn in Rhinebeck, where some of the estimated 500 superstar guests are expected to stay for the wedding.
That raises a question about Quijano's ability to move freely on Saturday, even though she's a paying guest at the hotel.
The wedding of Clinton, the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to investment banker Marc Mezvinsky poses several challenges for journalists. For instance, none of the rumored details of the wedding have been confirmed, though the town of Rhinebeck is bracing for the onslaught of guests and media.
To add to the difficulty, anyone working on the wedding has signed a legal agreement not to talk. Those who aren't involved tend to be complainers.
ABC's "Nightline," "Good Morning America" and "World News" all plan to cover the story this weekend.
NBC will be on the case, too, with John Yang reporting to the network's shows. Celebrity TV shows like "Access Hollywood" will be there, too.
"You can't get a shot from close to [the wedding site]. It's off the road," Rosen said. "We're going to be looking at Main St. and the town that's hosting America's wedding."
New York 1 News has been getting reports all week from the region from Grace Rauh, Tara Lynn Wagner and George Whipple.
The Time Warner-owned network, along with its new Hudson Valley sister service, YNN, has rented a parking space for a remote truck near Astor Courts, according to Steve Paulus, regional vice president of Time Warner Cable's Local News Division.
"Our expectation is there's going to be such a lid on this, you're not going to see a thing," Paulus said.
Still, part of the story is how Rhinebeck is now the setting for an event that pulls in luminaries like Oprah Winfrey, as well as a media horde hoping to get a glimpse of something.
"This is as close to a royal wedding as we're ever going to see in this area," Paulus said. "For our Hudson Valley channel, it's one of the biggest things to happen there since George Washington slept at the Beekman Arms."
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