Technical glitch results in problems for media reporting Fed minutes

The Federal Reserve Board issued the following statement on Wednesday:

A technical error occurred Wednesday during the media lock-up for the release of the minutes of the June meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. As a result of the error in the use of the Federal Reserve equipment that cuts off and enables electronic access from the media lock-up room, one media organization informed us it prematurely transmitted some embargoed information. Our technical error also resulted in some media organizations experiencing a delay in their ability to transmit information. We are reviewing our protocols and have reported the technical error to the Federal Reserve’s Office of Inspector General.

The embargo is lifted at 2 p.m.

In April, the Fed’s inspector general released a report stating that it should strengthen its controls to safeguard sensitive economic information released early to the media. And another Fed report probe into leaks about 2012 deliberations on rate hikes concluded they were unintentional and “careless.”

Last year, a Bloomberg editor was fired after inadvertently releasing Fed data before the embargo ended.

In 2013, the Fed changed how it manages its lock-up room.