The BBC has requested a White House review of security arrangements at Donald Trump rallies following an incident in El Paso on Monday in which a BBC camera operator was shoved hard enough to capture the president’s attention from the stage. (Deadline)
Tuesday, a BBC spokesman said: “BBC cameraman Ron Skeans was violently pushed and shoved by a member of the crowd while covering a President Trump rally in Texas last night. The man was removed by security and Rob is fine. The President could see the incident and checked with us that all was ok. It is clearly unacceptable for any of our staff to be attacked for doing their job.” (TVNewser)
Paul Danahar, the BBC’s North America editor, wrote to White House press secretary Sarah Sanders “urging her and her colleagues to review the security that they have in place for the media at the president’s rallies.” According to Danahar, the media area at the rally was “unsupervised” and the attacker was able to enter the area without being confronted by a police or security official. (THR)
Additionally, the White House Correspondents’ Association called on Trump Tuesday to make it clear to his supporters that violence against journalists is unacceptable. (Politico)
Later Tuesday, Sanders weighed in. “President Trump condemns all acts of violence against any individual or group of people—including members of the press,” she said. “We ask that anyone attending an event do so in a peaceful and respectful manner.” (CNN)