Federal agency still holds reporter's equipment

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs has not released a memory card containing audio interviews conducted by a local radio reporter four days after federal employees and security officers detained the reporter and seized his equipment.

A spokesperson for the Department, Katie Roberts, tells WTOP the agency will return the memory card once the reporter and the patient sign a release form. According to Roberts, the memory card is still in tact and has not been listened to.

David Schultz, a reporter with Public Radio station WAMU, was covering a public town hall meeting at the V.A. Medical Center in Northwest D.C. Last Tuesday when the incident occurred. Schultz was interviewing a terminally ill vet about the level of care provided by the V.A. When an employee of the hospital, Gloria Hairston, asked Schultz to stop the interview. Schultz complied with her request.

Hairston demanded that Schultz hand over his equipment because neither Schultz nor the patient had signed a release form which the V.A. requires before reporters are allowed to conduct interviews on their property.

Schultz refused to relinquish his equipment, at which point Hairston had four armed security officers prevent Schultz from leaving the building. Eventually Schultz did hand over the memory card from his recording device which contained less than 60 seconds of the interview in question according to Schultz. The memory card does contain hours of other interviews and sound Schultz had collected that are unrelated to the V.A. story.

Jim Asendio, the news director at WAMU who told Schultz by phone to hand over the memory card to avoid arrest, tells WTOP his station has not received any official request from the V.A. to sign a consent form as way to recover the memory card.

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