CQ Roll Call reporter physically restrained after FCC meeting

John M. Donnelly, a reporter for CQ Roll Call,was shoved against a wall by two security guards after he tried to ask questions to an Federal Communications Commission commissioner following the open commission meeting on Thursday, reports Ted Johnson of Variety.

Johnson reports, “At the meeting, the FCC took the initial steps toward rolling back a key provision of the net neutrality rules, an issue that has in the past triggered demonstrations outside the agency’s headquarters. A number of public interest groups staged another one before the meeting on Thursday.

“After the meeting, the FCC chairman and, on occasion, other commissioners hold press conferences with reporters.

“According to Donnelly, the security guards were plainclothes security personnel who ‘shadowed’ him ‘as if he were a security threat.’ He said that he was displaying his congressional press pass and held a tape recorder and notepad. He said that they even waited outside the men’s room at one point.

“The National Press Club said that another reporter, Todd Shields of Bloomberg, told Donnelly that Bucher had taken his press pass when he was talking to a protester at an FCC meeting in July. The agency apologized and restored his credentials.”

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