NC State lawmaker claims no taping of public meeting without permission...
State lawmaker claims no taping of public meeting without permission, reporter’s recorder taken away
Posted by : Sarah Ovaska Tuesday, May 20, 2014
A reporter’s recorder was confiscated Tuesday at the state legislature, after a state senator announced that all recording devices had to be registered in order to be used at the public meeting.
Commerce committee chairman state Sen. Rick Gunn, a Burlington Republican, made an announcement at the meeting that all recording equipment had to be registered with the legislature’s sergeant-at-arms staff.
The committee, held in a packed committee hearing room where audio is not automatically streamed for the public, was in the midst of hearing about “fracking,” the controversial process to extract natural gas from the earth.
One reporter, N.C. Health News Editor Rose Hoban, then had her audio recorder seized by the sergeant-at-arms after Gunn made his comments.
“’Did you have it registered?,’” Hoban said she was asked when she inquired where her recorder was.
Hoban, who has covered the legislature for several years, said she has never been asked previously to register audio equipment. The state open meetings law specifically allows recordings of public proceedings, finding that “any person may photograph, film, tape-record, or otherwise reproduce any part of a meeting required to be open.”
Gunn reversed himself halfway through the meeting, after word about his ban had been reported on Twitter.
more...
http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2014/05/20/state-lawmaker-claims-meeting-couldnt-be-recorded-without-permission-reporter-gets-recorder-taken-away/
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