David Schultz, DC Reporter, Harassed By Veteran Affairs Official

UPDATE 11:45pm

The AP is reporting that the Veterans Affairs Department has agreed, following protests from various journalism groups, to return the recording equipment it seized from reporter David Schultz:

In a written statement to The Associated Press, VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts said the department "regrets this incident occurred" and as a result would hand back the flash drive that it took from WAMU reporter David Schultz at the VA Medical Center in Washington. WAMU is a National Public Radio affiliate in the capital.

"After reviewing all the facts surrounding the incident of April 7th and actions since, VA has arranged the return of the flash drive to WAMU," Roberts said. "We make every effort to protect the privacy of our patients and to ensure that they are able to make informed decisions about what information they release or discuss with the public while in a VA facility."

"The Department of Veterans Affairs regrets this incident occurred as we appreciate the interest of the press in covering veterans' issues," she added.

A troubling story has emerged this week regarding what many are calling unprovoked harassment and robbery of WAMU 88.5's David Schultz, an NPR-affiliate reporter, by a federal official at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center forum. The official -- an internal communications specialist named Gloria Hairston -- is said to have interrupted Schultz's interview with a veteran about the inadequacies of VA medical treatment. Hairston demanded that Schultz cease the interview and turn over all of his recording equipment. When Schultz refused, Hairston sicced armed police on him. WTOP's Mark Segraves has more details of the incident:

"She said I wouldn't be allowed to leave," Schultz tells WTOP.

At first he refused. But after being surrounded by armed police officers who stood between him and the exit, he looked for a compromise.

"I became worried that I was going to get arrested," Schultz says.

Schultz convinced Hairston that all she really needed to confiscate was the memory card to his recorder, rather than all of his equipment. While this was going on, many of the veterans from the meeting had come out to watch the confrontation.

Story continues below

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One of those veterans, an amputee in a wheelchair, approached Schultz and asked him for his phone number.

"I started to give it to him and then the woman {Hairston} became irate, she said you can't give him your phone number. You have to give me all of your equipment or I'm going to get ugly. She used the phrase 'get ugly,'" Schultz says.

It is not yet clear what exactly Hairston meant when she threatened to "get ugly." And as it turns out, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP), Schultz was able to complete the interview the next day. More from the RCFP:

Since the veteran Schultz had interviewed gave him his telephone number, Schultz said, he was able to finish up the talk with the patient the following day; Schultz's story aired on WAMU on Wednesday.

Roberts, spokeswoman for the VA, said the reporter "took advantage of the patient" in approaching him for an interview, causing "total disorientation." In addition, she said, Schultz did not identify himself as a reporter.

Schultz maintains that he told the interviewee and VA officials he was a reporter.

Schultz's tape will be returned if the patient signs the consent form, Roberts said. The VA is willing to accommodate media requests, she said, "but [WAMU journalists] just refuse to talk with us about the consent form process."

What's the VA trying to hide? According to 56 year-old Tommie Canady, the veteran who Schultz was interviewing when Hairston entered the picture, the issue is race. From Schultz's WAMU reporting:

A former soldier from Prince George's County is accusing the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Washington of mistreating him and other minority veterans.

Tommie Canady is admitted to the hospital several times a year for treatment of a terminal pancreatic disease and he claims the care he receives is atrocious. On two occasions, he says the same nurse administered an overdose of morphine to him and is still working at the VA.

He says he's alive because he's developed a high tolerance to pain medication. He also says he's been denied disability benefits because he is black.

ABC's Jake Tapper has also been following the story, and highlights the same pertinent questions: why did Gloria Hairston get ugly? And what is the VA Medical Center trying to hide? From Jake Tapper:

"What I mostly feel bad about is Mr. Canady," Schultz told WTOP-AM radio here in DC. "He was trying to tell his story, he has an amazing story and he was denied a chance to tell his story to the media because of these tactics."

He added that "the story is not about me versus the hospital. It's about why is the hospital taking these measures to prevent Mr. Canady from speaking. What are they trying to hide?"

Comments

[AN2009]

Gloria Hairston must have thought very highly of herself when she said "I'm going to get ugly." Looks like she's also going to get fired. That's what you would call karma.

[MarsAmbassador]

Doesn't the phrase 'It's A Free Country' mean ANYTHING to these people anymore? It's not like the VA is a prison or anything. Anyone outside of a prison should be allowed to say anything they want to anyone they want, at any time, anywhere, as often or as little as they choose. Or am I reading the Constitution and the Amendments wrong?

[Harrier]

In earlier time film would be returned exposed. In this case a SD card was returned intact because it should have never been taken away.

[PoliSciJunkie]

Thirty years ago as a novice counseling psychologist with an offer to join the staff at a major VA hospital, I asked a professor why would I want to work in the VA (he was a big league consultant to them in mental health). He said that I would get to see very interesting clients and have an opportunity to help some people with major needs. He also told me that the VA paid extremely well with the built in promotions for staff into their mid-career levels, but that it was an administrative nightmare with a terrible bureaucracy and abysmal funding, in complete keeping with the treatment of the physical health of veterans. He said that must be recognized at the outset because in five years I could be financially trapped if I wasn't careful.

I have had many professional colleagues in the VA over the years and their experiences of the way veterans are treated and the management have always affirmed for me the correctness of my choice to follow a different career path in psychological practice. There are a lot of ugly administrators in the VA whose treatment of veterans and others is as ugly as their Grinch-like hearts. Why this has been allowed to continue has always baffled me. A class action suit for misfeasance is decades overdue.

[Majus]

I have a relative who tried to get treatment from the VA for very serious medical problems related to serving twice in Iraq. He was repeatedly stonewalled by the bureaucrats who run the hospital in his area. He finally was able to find (and afford) private treatment which he is still getting.

I am a veteran; I have never, and would never, let the VA treat me for anything. Those hospitals are hellholes I wouldn't take a dog to.

'nuf said.

[oldguru]

UM, Do we still have a first amendment?

[sviolette]

Why isn't anyone defending the veteran's rights? He has the right to speak to anyone that he wants to.

[frantaylor]

Whoever said anything to the contrary?

[Taughtology]

Good thing that reporter got robbed. Reporting from inside a D.C.-area veterans' care facility has never helped veterans.

[Beninn]

The VA system is essentially an efficient system with low administrative costs that is chronically severely underfunded. If it were properly funded, there would be no problem.

What happened here is one of the unintended consequences (and an indirect cost) of a underfunded system breaking down.

Hairston's job is to keep complaints about the care veterans are receiving from becoming a problem for her boss. It becomes a problem for her boss when members of Congress call the boss. Or the boss's boss. Members of Congress do that when they get phone calls from their constituents who have seen or heard reports like David Schultz's. So logically in Hairston's mind, stopping Schultz from being able to report about the care becomes the way to do her job and circumvent this becoming a problem for her boss, who will undoubtedly come down hard on her if he's bothered by members of Congress.

[Beninn]

There is no money. Bush, and now Obama, have spent it all. Veterans' care is just one of many services that will be eliminated. Life in America is going to change radically in a very short time.

I knew that when I didn't vote for Bush. I knew what 'tax breaks for the rich' and "We have to get the money out of Washington or else it'll get spent" meant. I knew what not putting the surplus into a 'lockbox' meant. I knew what "getting government small enough so that it could be drowned in a bathtub" meant. I knew what a 'preemptive war' against Iraq meant, and would cost ($12 billiion a month) and would last (many years beyond my lifetime). I knew that it would do to hasten the bankrupting of the US so that all social programs that conservatives hate would have to be eliminated. I knew that it would hasten the selling off of US resources and infrastructure to private and foreign entities.

Why didn't everyone else? Because of Gloria Hairstons in place throughout the country, intimidated by superiors to "make sure this doesn't become a problem for me".

Because those who wanted it knew that an informed American people wouldn't go for it. By suppressing and preventing stories from being published or broadcast, and disruptive and disinformation campaigns, they could keep the public from learning and reacting until it was a fait accompli. Until it was too late.

[Graywolf48]

I agree with almost all you say. But the biggest problem is that the main stream media, the corporate media, refused to do its job. Anyone who bothered to read and do a little research knew what Bush was before he threw his hat in the ring. But the MSM covered for him and portrayed him as a "compassionate conservative" while savaging Gore as a liar and an intellectual snob. The people bought into Bush because they thought "he is just like us" and he'd be a great guy to "have a drink" with after work. If Bush's actual record of accomplishments had been routinely and accurately reported, maybe things would have been different. Then again maybe not, since Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" gave the facts, but was largely ignored. Then there was the theft of Florida and Bush's final appointment by the Supreme Court. All the while the American voter sat idly by, doing nothing. They even reelected him knowing full well what a complete idiot he was during his first term.

[sviolette]

IMHO I think that if the VA is underfunded than it's the responsibility of the administrators to run the department in the red. We should be doing everything for these people that they need. If money is the reason that someone is not treated than someone should be fired.

These people never said well i'm not going to fight for my country today because I don't make enough money.

[Beninn]

David Schultz should be screaming to his elected representatives in Congress about this, and they should be demanding that Hairston be fired.

This is a simple story, and there's no need to make a big tsimmes beyond this. She was totally out of line and it is a fireable offense. She's management, not union, and she is in the wrong job.

[thaneb]

I am more forgiving with ground-level people like Ms. Hairston. I think re-taking the course on HIPAA would be appropriate. Many health care providers have their people re-take one each year (an on-line refresher is fine) because of the complexities of that patient information privacy legislation. Maybe she was having a bad day. It certainly ended up that way. All the brouhaha will give her plenty to think about and make her a better person, I would hope.

[thaneb]

I think a private apology is appropriate but the rest would be draconian. I do not believe Mr. Schultz is looking for this kind of response from the VA.

[thaneb]

This was posted to NestorDorfund, below. Do not know how it ended up here.

[kdogg]

For all the people posting in support of the VA actions, you should be very chilled by any government officials confronting unarmed journalist with armed police. Even if the journalist should not have been there, he posed no threat and the theft of the gear was completely over the top.

[bygollymissmolly]

And you know he was approached by "armed police" how? Because he said so? So far, all I have read is what Schultz says happened. If there were other reporters there, why are they not backing up Schultz' story? I have read numerous articles about this incident and every one of them refers to Schultz saying what happened. Not one had another reporter or VA staff member backing up Schultz' version of what went on. Why is that? Isn't it possible that Schultz was after his "15 minutes of fame"?

[PapaJim]

Are you really Hairston's office assistant?

[kdogg]

I don't know what your personal emotional involvement in this incident is but we know for a FACT that this government official demanded the memory card from the journalist camera before he could leave. The VA has admitted this. There is proof that he called his station manager to discuss if he should give the memory card to the government official. THE VA STILL HAS THE FLASH MEMORY CARD. I have no personal vendetta against the VA but this situation is unacceptable. I don't care if the reporter was not suppose to be there or this the journalist is some type of jerk looking for fame. THE SITUATION IS UNACCEPTABLE.

[Beninn]

"In a written statement to The Associated Press, VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts said the department "regrets this incident occurred" and as a result would hand back the flash drive that it took from WAMU reporter David Schultz at the VA Medical Center in Washington."

That's how you should know for certain that Schultz's story is what happened.

[thaneb]

Your how do we really know is absurd: Schultz reported it. It was published. That is, aired to the public. No one, not the VA, no reporter nor anyone present has refuted it though the story has aired for well over 24 hours. The burden of proof is on you to provide such contradictory evidence if you are to continue with your multiply-posted "15 min of fame" allegation. Provide your evidence: intuition does not count.

[NestorDorfund]

hairston should be forced to make an apology in public, and then fired and stripped of pension.

[bygollymissmolly]

For what? Doing the job she was hired to do?

[kdogg]

I don't know why you are trolling this story but you have, as of yet, not explained to me how it was justified for the government employee in question to intimidate the journalist into handing over his private property. Care to explain?

[NestorDorfund]

what if the lady had shown her nether parts to him and sat on his fffacee?

[Pete2069]

Seems as if their staff members are working this aritcle to blur the facts..

[bygollymissmolly]

You mean the staff members of the newspaper Schultz worked for? That makes sense to me.

[PoliSciJunkie]

May God bless you with an understanding of the situation much greater than the one you are currenlty operating with.

[Bitsko]

Reminder to the VA: Bush and Cheney are gone.

[frantaylor]

Nobody has ever gotten computer equipment back from the government in usable condition. It's always smashed or broken or taken apart or missing pieces. What a joke.

[bygollymissmolly]

Except that the VA did not take "computer equipment". They took his flash card out of his camera.

[kdogg]

yeah and they very easily could have erased it. they had no justification to take the memory card in the first place. none of the posts you have made so far have justified this theft either.

[kdogg]

also i think most people could easy classify a flash memory card as "computer equipment". stop splitting hairs.

[frantaylor]

You know, your pictures will fade away if you don't feed the little gremlins inside those memory cards.

[frantaylor]

"You have to give me all of your equipment or I'm going to get ugly"

[bygollymissmolly]

BTW, people should think about the fact that all the "proof" we have about how Gloria Hairston acted and what she said comes from Schultz who appears to be looking for his 15 minutes of fame. If he really is a reporter and he doesn't know the rules of "consent", then he needs to go back to journalism school for a refresher course.

[erinaceus]

With respect to proof, the VA would have been saying something to the contrary if there were anything contrary to say. Only the inferentially impaired would not understand that Hairston's silence is an admission that she screwed up royally. (Or that her superiors have gagged her to prevent even worse abuses from becoming public.)

With respect to consent, the reporter asked for it, and he got it. The vet not only agreed to give him the story, but made sure that he got the story even after this recording equipment was confiscated.

He simply did not get a signed consent form. While a no-no, and technically (emphasis on technically) a breach of protocol, that doesn't mean that he didn't get consent. He obviously had the full and willing cooperation of the participant. This kind of distinction (between consent and the written proof of consent) matters mostly to lawyers and authoritarians.

To me, in this context, it really seems like you're splitting hairs (or perhaps, splitting Hairston). The event was billed as a PUBLIC FORUM, not a patient care discussion forum. If they had been at a school board or a town council meeting, nobody would have been able to say anything.

A police officer may follow protocol perfectly and to the letter when he shoots someone, but that doesn't mean that particular instance of use of force was either appropriate or justified. Just that it followed protocol.