A story on the Daily Mail’s website, describing how the Clinton campaign staff concealed the locations of two of her voter events Monday in the first-in-the-nation caucus state—and omitted a meet-and-greet in Waterloo, Iowa, from the press schedule—highlighted the risks of a strategy that protects the candidate from pesky queries, but potentially alienates the very people whose job is not only to report the candidate’s words and deeds, but also to convey informed analysis of the campaign.

“It’s maddening,” an anonymous print journalist complained to the Daily Mail. “We can’t do our job if the Clinton campaign freezes us out and tells us there aren’t any more events for the day—and then they race to Waterloo for an event. Don’t they understand that they need us as much as we need them?”

A cable television news correspondent, likewise anonymous, sarcastically told the London-based outlet: “Maybe by this point next year Hillary’s people will be clamoring for us to interview her as Elizabeth Warren and Martin O’Malley make mincemeat out of her”—a reference to former Maryland governor O’Malley (who is expected to enter the race soon) and Massachusetts Sen. Warren (who insists she will not).