Senate Republicans crack down on press access

Senate Republicans crack down on press access
http://thehill.com/homenews/media/3...views-with-senators-without-permission-report

Senate Republicans on Tuesday shocked the Capitol with a crackdown on media access that immediately drew criticism from reporters and Democrats.

Reporters were told they would no longer be allowed to film or record audio of interviews in the Senate side hallways of the Capitol without special permission.

Television reporters will now need permission from senators, the Senate Rules Committee, the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms or the Senate Radio and TV Gallery, depending on location, before conducting an on-camera interview with a senator anywhere in the Capitol or in the Senate office buildings, according to a Senate official familiar with the matter.

The new restrictions break years of precedent, which previously set that “videotaping and audio recording are permitted in the public areas of the House and Senate office buildings,” according to the Radio and TV Gallery website.

A Senate Democratic aide said the decision to substantially curtail the access of television reporters was made unilaterally by Senate Rules Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.).

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), the ranking Democrat on the committee, told reporters she was not consulted in the decision.

She followed up a short time later, tweeting that she had spoken to Shelby and he'd assured her he "wouldn't move forward on change to press access without consulting me."

"We must hold him to it," she added.

Public interest in Congress and media coverage of lawmakers has skyrocketed since President Donald Trump shocked pollsters and political handicappers by defeating Hillary Clinton.

The crowds of reporters in the Capitol hallways have hit record sizes. Last month, the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms sent a note to media outlets warning about overcrowding as reporters try to pin down lawmakers for interviews in hallways and around the Senate subway system.

Since the beginning of the year, media outlets such as CNN, NBC and Fox News have regularly staked out senators outside of their offices and hearing rooms to ask questions about healthcare reform and the investigations into collusion between the Trump administration and Russia.

Senate officials on Tuesday also announced new restrictions on the movements of all reporters, including print journalists, in the basement of the Capitol, where it is easiest to catch up with lawmakers before and after votes and lunch meetings.

The announcement caught reporters and the heads of the Senate daily, periodical and radio and television galleries by surprise Tuesday and sparked angry backlash from the media.

“Senate Rules Committee and @SenateSAA trying to SHUT DOWN press access in halls. No more staking out hearings without permission. Not OK,” Manu Raju, CNN’s senior congressional reporter, tweeted, using an abbreviation for the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms.

The press gallery directors, who represent the interests and concerns of the media to Senate administrative officials, held an emergency meeting with the Senate Rules Committee Tuesday to discuss the new restrictions on press access.

The move comes as Senate Republicans are facing criticism for not holding public hearings or markup sessions on their ObamaCare repeal legislation, which is expected to come up for a vote by the end of the month.

Several senators from both parties criticized the move.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) tweeted: “Maybe not the right moment to lower the secrecy veil on Congress. To whoever is trying to protect Senators - we can fend for ourselves.”

"I want you to have access to us, inform your readers, inform your viewers what we're trying to do," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of the most media-friendly senators, told reporters in the Senate subway. But "of all the problems in America, y'all are pretty down on the chain."

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) retweeted an NBC News reporter's tweet, adding: "This is a bad idea."
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McConnell is pulling all the stops to keep his health care bill secret and alleviate pressure press questions and going on record puts on individual senators.

Now that this line is crossed expect to see even more of it. Not just for the healthcare process but even to shield members from questions about Trump, Russia, Mueller, etc.

 

Senate Republicans have decided being ambushed by reporters isn't that annoying after all.

But, hey, given everything people have shown themselves willing to put up with coming out of Trump and the current Republican Congress, you can't blame them for trying.

Senate Republicans back off proposed restrictions on media
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/337617-senate-republicans-back-off-proposed-restrictions-on-media

Senate Republicans on Tuesday quickly backed away from a proposal to restrict media access in the Capitol after an angry backlash from reporters and an emergency meeting between the Senate Rules Committee and the media gallery directors.

Senate Rules Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) sent out a statement around lunchtime clarifying that there would not be a rules change, only a discussion about how to ensure safety as the Capitol hallways have become more hectic because of growing crowds of journalists.

Shelby announced in a statement that the committee had made “no changes to the existing rules governing press coverage on the Senate side of the Capitol complex.”

A Senate official familiar with administrative discussions said, “Everything you did before, you can still do.”

It was an abrupt 180-degree turn from earlier in the day, when Senate Sergeant at Arms staff informed the press galleries of tough new restrictions.

Democrats seized on the news, linking the new restriction to the GOP’s work on healthcare legislation that is being drafted behind closed doors.

Earlier in the day, Senate Sergeant at Arms staff told the directors of the media galleries who represent journalists’ interests that reporters would not be allowed to film interviews with senators in the Capitol or the Senate office building without first receiving special permission.

Television reporters had been told they could not conduct on-camera interviews in hallways, outside personal offices or outside committee rooms without permission from the Senate Rules Committee, the Senate Sergeant at Arms or the Senate Radio and TV Gallery, depending on location, according to another Senate official involved in the matter.

Kevin Cirilli, chief Washington correspondent for Bloomberg TV, tweeted that he was informed that he could not stand outside the Senate Budget Committee to interview lawmakers.

The gallery directors were also told that all reporters seeking to speak to senators in the basement of the Capitol, where it is easiest to catch lawmakers on the way to votes and lunches, would have to stand in a special press pen.

The directive appeared to be in effect only briefly on Tuesday.

Shelby told The Hill that his committee staff had acted without his knowledge after receiving complaints from other senators who sometimes feel hounded by reporters.

He instructed them to “stand down” and drop efforts to limit reporters’ activities.

“I know some of the staff talked to the people in the gallery and I think the Rules Committee talked to the Sergeant at Arms, not me,” Shelby said. “When I found out about it, I said stand down."

“We’re not going to change any rules, not unless we hold committee hearings,” he added.

Shelby said he hopes no additional restrictions will be placed on reporters, noting, “We all benefit from you, as long as you act civil.”

One Senate official said that the Senate Rules Committee insisted later Tuesday that it had never ordered the Sergeant at Arms to enforce tougher restrictions on the press and blamed the uproar on a miscommunication.

Shelby told reporters on Tuesday afternoon that Rules Committee staff had been meeting with the press gallery and Sergeant at Arms.

"I think they had a discussion, I wasn't there, of existing rules because a lot of people complained, not to me, said the press the gets in their way and aggressiveness," Shelby said.

"I said leave it alone, leave it alone, we don't care you know? I don't," Shelby added. "So I told them to stand down."

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), the ranking Democrat on the committee, told reporters that Shelby explained the alarm was set off by a “staff inquiry” and downplayed it as an “arbitrary enforcement of a rule that is against common practice.”

"He said he would never move forward on some major change without consulting with me. He said it was an inquiry and that we would talk about it. So he seemed to imply that they weren't going to change the policy," Klobuchar told reporters.

She also released a statement that said, "As ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee I call on the majority to allow reporting in the Capitol to proceed as usual.”

Members of the media had responded with outrage to the restrictions.

“Senate Rules Committee and @SenateSAA trying to SHUT DOWN press access in halls. No more staking out hearings without permission. Not OK,” Manu Raju, CNN’s senior congressional reporter, tweeted, using the Twitter handle for the Senate Sergeant at Arms.

Several senators from both parties criticized the move.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) tweeted: “Maybe not the right moment to lower the secrecy veil on Congress. To whoever is trying to protect Senators — we can fend for ourselves.”

"I want you to have access to us, inform your readers, inform your viewers what we're trying to do," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of the most media-friendly senators, told reporters in the Senate subway. But "of all the problems in America, y'all are pretty down on the chain."

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) retweeted an NBC News reporter's tweet, adding: "This is a bad idea."

Tensions between the media and reporters have ratcheted up at the Capitol since President Trump pulled off a major political upset by defeating Hillary Clinton in November.

Public interest in Congress and media coverage of lawmakers has skyrocketed since Trump’s inauguration and crowds of reporters in the Capitol hallways have hit record sizes.

Last month, the Senate Sergeant at Arms sent a note to media outlets warning about overcrowding as reporters try to pin down lawmakers for interviews in hallways and around the Senate subway system.

Since the beginning of the year, media outlets such as CNN, NBC and Fox News have regularly staked out senators outside of their offices and hearing rooms to ask questions about healthcare reform and the investigations into collusion between the Trump administration and Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.