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Reporter “Manhandled” by FCC Security Guards for Asking Question

HeadlineMay 19, 2017

Meanwhile, an award-winning reporter is speaking out after he was attacked and forced to leave the Federal Communications Commission headquarters Thursday—all for trying to ask a question. John Donnelly of CQ Roll Call said he tried to ask FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly a question after a press conference had ended. But two FCC security guards reportedly pinned Donnelly against the wall until O’Rielly had passed. Donnelly said O’Rielly witnessed the incident and kept walking. Donnelly is chair of the National Press Club’s Press Freedom Team and president of the Military Reporters & Editors association. He issued a statement after the attack, saying, “I have been working as a reporter in this town for years and dealing with the top leaders in our government every day and in the hustle and bustle of press scrums. I’ve never been in a situation where simply asking a question was treated as a crime.”

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