A spokesman for the state Department of Transportation says it was a misunderstanding that led security officers to temporarily deny entry this morning to a News & Observer reporter seeking to attend Board of Transportation meetings.
"That's been cleared up," said Ernie Seneca.
Seneca said the department's policy is to let his office know when reporters show up for the meetings.
Why?
"Well, you know, sometimes we like to know if the media are attending an event," Seneca said. "They may want to interview a member or staff. It's a good idea to know who's covering a particular meeting, what (media) outlets are being represented. And that's all that was intended."
Comments
Maybe Ernie could install a special button that lights up
February 6, 2008 - 3:17pm — Isaac136To avoid this awkwardness in the future, perhaps DOT and other forward looking state agencies could install a little button that security officers can discreetly press when the media show up. When security personnel press that button (which should be located under a desk drawer, like the alarms that bank tellers use), a little red light can start glowing on and off in Ernie's office so that he'll know to hop up and pay attention to whatever is going on in the danged board meeting.