Congressional RTCA Asks News Orgs To Leave Hand-Held Cameras At Home

Yesterday, Sen. Ted Stevens‘ complaint about CNN’s Joe Johns‘ interviewing technique was thrown out by the Executive Committee of the Senate Radio/TV Gallery. In a letter last night, Brian Wilson, the chairman of the Congressional Radio TV Correspondents Association, said the timing couldn’t have been worse for the group’s campaign to demand “TV equity.”

The association is campaigning increased stakeout space on the Senate side of the Capitol. “Joe was not fully aware that we were involved in delicate negotiations – and our Executive Committee was not aware that Joe intended to take this action. The timing could not have been worse,” Wilson wrote. Senator Stevens filed a formal complaint, which the Executive Committee investigated and considered in more than three hours of debate and deliberations. In the end, we took no formal action against Joe — but we are urging Joe and CNN in rather strong terms to refrain from using small hand-held cameras on Capitol Hill while we were involved in good-faith discussions with Hill leaders. Today, I am writing to make the same request of you. After this notice goes out, the RTCA Executive Committee will take a very dim view of news organizations using such technology anywhere on Capitol Hill while we are in the midst of potentially fruitful discussions. Please work with us on this.”