A reporter's tale
Rep. Paul Marquart in photo that started it all
We in the media generally are uncomfortable reporting on things involving us.
But, yes, if you were in a Monday evening House committee meeting, those were two state troopers you saw talking to me.
Really, though, this is not about me. It is about media – and thus, public – access to the legislative process.
Let's start this freedom of information tale on Friday. That is when rumblings began to surface that House leaders planned to limit the media's access on the floor of the House and restrict what we could do when covering committee meetings.
We saw an official-looking form requiring media organizations to promise not to do things like videotape audience members in committee rooms. We would not be allowed to tape individual House members. And as media we would be forced to have special credentials given to us by the House.
Reporters objected, saying it would hurt our ability to gather information. That led to Andrew Wittenborg inviting reporters and photographers to a Monday afternoon meeting.
Wittenborg, a former television newsman who handles DFL House leaders' press operations, could offer little explanation about origin of the rules – or proposed rules, or whatever they were (many in the press corps say they stemmed from fear of letting bloggers too close to the action). Wittenborg assured the media that the rules that would most hinder our ability to cover stories would not be enacted.
Wittenborg said rules had not changed from the way they have been for years, and there would be no special credentials required to cover committee meetings.
Two hours after Wittenborg's meeting, I was trying to take a photo of Rep. Paul Marquart of Dilworth presenting a bill to a House committee. A page approached and asked to see my credentials before she would allow me to take photos. Recalling Wittenborg's assurances that no credentials were needed, I told her that I had just been told I did not need to present credentials (which, by the way, hung in plain sight from a lanyard around my neck) and I continued to photograph Marquart.
Soon after I returned to my seat in the back of the room, two state troopers approached me after the page had called them, apparently to kick out this photographer. Both had seen me plenty of times and knew I was legitimate, so gave me little hassle.
Not long after I returned to the office to write my story, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher called to apologize for the incident and promised it would be investigated. And Marquart called to apologize, even though he did not even know the troopers were talking to me at the time and had no knowledge of the proposed rule changes until I told him.
This is one of those inside stories we often don't report, but the public should know because whatever is going on could affect what Minnesotans know about legislative business. And it is a story in progress since we still don't know why the rules were proposed, who proposed them or what their future may be. Stay tuned.
