Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
“When a congressman tried to stop her from recording a press conference, student journalist Cat Murphy stood her ground. The congressman, U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, mistakenly claimed that Maryland’s all-party consent law allowed him to ask Murphy to turn off her cameras, even going so far as to ask the police to intervene, but the law didn’t actually apply in that context. Murphy knew this and asserted her First Amendment right to continue documenting the event. … The interaction between Harris and Murphy occurred during a public press gaggle, in which a public official invited reporters to ask questions and multiple cameras were plainly recording. As a result, this conversation is not the type Maryland’s recording law was meant to protect, and Murphy was right to stand her ground.” (10/16/26)