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Al Gore charges a lot of money to talk, and likely that was the reason for banning the press from a forthcoming keynote at the CTIA Wireless 2009 tradeshow in Vegas; can’t let those juicy words leak out to the general public for nothing.

Al Gore

He’s since reversed that ban, after realizing it’s hard to keep a secret with 4,000 people, probably all of them tweeting, blogging, facebooking at will.

Various reports have said barring the press from Gore speeches is standard Gore policy, unlike his counterpart, Bill Clinton, who understands what publicity does for a fella’s game. “Keeps you relevant, reminds ‘em you’re alive and ready to disco,” an imagined Clinton raspily says as he spit-smoothes his eyebrows and dances a little, the White Man’s Overbite ever present.

What is ironic about Gore’s no-press policy is that as co-founder of Current TV, he is at least paper-savvy about citizen journalism. And in this case he’s speaking to 4,000 wireless gadget type folks, smart phones, net books, and Twitter at the ready.

He was also present at the Apple shareholders meeting, which also barred press, only to find out shareholders were live blogging from their iPhones. That’s how we know enough to imagine how awkward it must have been when all those suits sang happy birthday to an absent Steve Jobs like they were singing the Apple national anthem (hands over their hearts?).

But the big point is: We are far beyond press bans these days when anybody with a mobile phone and a Twitter account is automatically a citizen journalist. Or would they ban wireless devices at a wireless conference next time?