Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., tried to have a University of Maryland student journalist’s recording equipment seized and threatened to refer her to prosecutors during a post-debate news conference in College Park — based on a reading of state law that is simply wrong.
The confrontation happened in a crowded hallway following an October 13 debate between Harris and Democratic challenger Dan Schwartz. Harris grew irritated after a Baltimore Banner reporter asked him a question he called “silly” about why he’d bothered showing up to the debate. When student journalist Cat Murphy, a master’s student reporting for the University of Maryland’s Capital News Service, defended the reporter, Harris turned his anger on her.
“You do not have my permission to record. If you record, we will refer you to the prosecutor,” Harris told Murphy. She pointed out that other journalists in the room were already recording.
“But you are not allowed to. We are in a two-party state, you are not allowed to,” Harris said, pointing in Murphy’s face.
When Murphy asked why she specifically wasn’t allowed to record, Harris offered no legal basis beyond his own refusal.
“Because I refuse to give you permission to record,” Harris said. “Do you know the law?”
Murphy tried handing her recording device to another journalist, and a separate reporter attempted to explain that the press conference was taking place in a public setting. Harris wasn’t having it.
“I’m a legislator… I actually know the law well,” Harris insisted.
He does not. Maryland’s two-party consent law, which Harris invoked repeatedly, applies only to private conversations — not to public press conferences, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Multiple reporters present told Harris they were in a public space; he replied that it “makes no difference whatsoever.”
As Murphy tried to press Harris on a question about the war in Iran — he’d suggested during the debate the war could have gone “smoother,” and she wanted clarification — Harris escalated further, demanding someone physically take her camera.
“You’re going to have to take her camera,” Harris said. “She is violating the law. In fact, get an officer in here. She’s violating the law on two-party recording. We need an officer.”
No officer intervened, and no camera was seized. Harris ultimately cut the news conference short and walked out, telling the room, “She’s ruining all your chances to get an answer about anything. See y’all. Thank her profusely.”
Video of the exchange spread quickly online, and Harris faced widespread mockery for getting the law so plainly wrong.
The University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism backed its student. Dean Rafael Lorente said in a statement: “Cat Murphy is a master’s student at the University of Maryland, credentialed as a reporter for our Capital News Service and doing the job we teach our students to do. Cat recorded openly in a public space alongside other news outlets, and that is her legal right. I’m proud of how she handled herself in a difficult situation.”
Harris’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Harris is the only Republican in Maryland’s congressional delegation.
