News Muse

The video of Weekly Standard Reporter John McCormack being knocked down, jostled and blocked by a political operative in Washington affected me in an unexpected way.  I was instantly shocked and angry and ready to do battle for my fellow reporter.  In the same situation I don’t think I would have had the restraint he showed.

Take a look:

The incident happened when McCormack asked a tough question of Martha Coakley, Mass. Attorney General and candidate for Senate.  While Coakley played dumb, a photo taken from another angle shows she had to have at least known someone fell right next to her.  We have to assume she knew who McCormack was because he’d just asked her a question.  Here’s how McCormack reported it.

The man who knocked McCormack to the ground, helped him up and then proceeded to block his way, is Michael Meehan, a veteran campaigner who has been nominated to the Broadcasting Board of Governors by President Obama.  He did apologize the next day:

Last evening I was a little too aggressive in the confusion of trying to help the Attorney General get to her car and catch a flight.

I clearly did not intend to cause John McCormack to trip and fall over that low fence.  As the video shows and he confirms in his blog, I stopped to help him up and make sure he was OK.

I talked with Mr. McCormack this afternoon and apologized for my part.

But what bothered me from the video was not the fall, certainly in a media scrum people can and do fall.  What bothered me was the subsequent blocking, and questioning of a reporter doing his job.  On a school surveillance video this would be called bullying.  The delaying tactic was enough to keep McCormack from doing his job, which was certainly what Meehan wanted.

Reporters can be irritating, especially when they ask the tough questions.  But that is a reporter’s job and they (we) need to continue to do it.  Any campaign that tries to remove reporters from its path should be viewed with skepticism.