A reporter was “manhandled” by security guards on Thursday at the Federal Communications Commission headquarters after he attempted to ask the agency commissioners questions, according to the National Press Club.
John Donnelly of CQ Roll Call, who is chairman of the press club’s Press Freedom Team, says he “ran afoul of plainclothes security personnel” at the FCC after he tried to ask commissioners questions. The commissioners were not standing in front of the podium at a scheduled press conference when he asked the questions.
Despite having a congressional press pass, tape recorder and notepad, Donnelly says security guards treated him as a security threat and shadowed him throughout the FCC meeting, in which the Republican majority voted to start the process of dismantling the Obama-era “net neutrality” regulations.
The statement says when Donnelly “strolled in an unthreatening way toward FCC Commissioner Michael O’Reilly to pose a question, two guards pinned Donnelly against the wall with the backs of their bodies until O’Reilly has passed.”
One of the security guards was identified as Frederick Bucher, who the National Press Club said has already been implicated for being involved in the harassment of another journalist. He asked Donnelly why he didn’t pose his question during the press conference, before he “proceeded to force Donnelly to leave the building entirely under implied threat of force.”
The FCC did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment. A statement from the FCC obtained by Recode says the agency apologized to Donnelly repeatedly.
“We apologized to Mr. Donnelly more than once and let him know that the FCC was on heightened alert today based on several threats,” the statement said.
A demonstration was held outside the FCC’s meeting Thursday to protest Chairman Ajit Pai’s proposal to roll back net neutrality, and there have been a number of public comments threatening Pai’s life.
“I could not have been less threatening or more polite,” Donnelly said of the encounter. “There is no justification for using force in such a situation.”
Both National Press Club President Jeff Ballou and Barbara Cochran, president of the National Press Club Journalism Institute, condemned the incident, with Cochran calling on the FCC to apologize and ensure guards are trained “to respect the right of journalists to cover FCC public events. In other words: hands off reporters.”
