FCC Sets Security Steps After Reporter Manhandling; NPC Invites Agency to Confab, Skeptical of Response

Maggie Hassan, D-N.H. Pai said it also instructed security that reporters shouldn't be asked to leave areas of headquarters that are open to the public. The FCC caught heat for manhandling a reporter at its May meeting and other security measures (see 1705190031). Pai said the incident "should not have occurred," but defended building security as "hav[ing] a difficult job to do, particularly in cases where the FCC is facing violent threats." Udall and Hassan -- who wrote Pai expressing concern about the May incident -- said they remain troubled by an apparent pattern of hostility by the Trump administration toward the media. Security was understandably high at the meeting, Udall said, but "I'm extremely concerned that the FCC security wasn't able to better balance the need to ensure access and safety." While applauding the steps the FCC is taking, Udall said he hopes Pai also "ensure[s] that FCC commissioners understand that their job includes answering for their actions and being reasonably responsive to the people and the media." Meanwhile, the National Press Club's Journalism Institute invited the FCC to a summit later this year on media access and security issues, as expected (see 1705250014). In a letter Wednesday to Pai, the NPC said the goal is "to talk about the challenges facing all of us and how we might establish some common ground and rules of the road for security and access in a 21st century democracy." The NPC also said it was skeptical of the recap of the incident that Pai provided to the senators, since it "diverges considerably" from what the reporter described: "The account of the events you have given the Senate simply does not ring true to us." The FCC told us it "continues to review its security procedures and has taken steps the minimize the chance of a similar event occurring in the future."