John M. Donnelly, a senior writer at CQ Roll Call, said he was trying to talk with FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly one-on-one after a news conference when two plainclothes guards pinned him against a wall with the backs of their bodies.
“Not only did they get in between me and O’Rielly but they put their shoulders together and simultaneously backed me up into the wall and pinned me to the wall for about 10 seconds just as I started to say, “Commissioner O’Rielly, I have a question,” Donnelly said Friday.
Donnelly said he was stopped long enough to allow O’Rielly to walk away.
Donnelly, who also happens to be chair of the National Press Club Press Freedom team, said he was then forced out of the building after being asked why he had not posed his question during the news conference.
O'Rielly apologized to Donnelly on Twitter, saying he didn't recognize Donnelly in the hallway. "I saw security put themselves between you, me and my staff. I didn't see anyone put a hand on you. I'm sorry this occurred."
According to the publication for which the reporter works (archived copy),
Senators, including Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley, are warning the Federal Communications Commission about its treatment of reporters after a CQ Roll Call reporter was manhandled Thursday.
“The Federal Communications Commission needs to take a hard look at why this happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again. As The Washington Post pointed out, it’s standard operating procedure for reporters to ask questions of public officials after meetings and news conferences,” the Iowa Republican said. “It happens all day, every day. There’s no good reason to put hands on a reporter who’s doing his or her job.”
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(Score: 2) by frojack on Sunday May 21 2017, @03:00AM (2 children)
Nobody prevented him from speaking.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Sunday May 21 2017, @03:14AM (1 child)
I would imagine that being pinned against a wall would be likely to impede someone's speech. Mr. O'Reilly gave a different account of what happened. You say you've seen a video, and I asked where that was, but you didn't answer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 21 2017, @09:13PM
Keep imagining. An unauthorized person wandering through a government building may expect to be pinned to the wall - maybe even permanently. Just stick some knives through his arms and legs, pin him to the wall like a butterfly. Leave his rotting corpse right there on the wall, as a warning to the next fool to come along.