Top Aide to FCC Commissioner Pai Says Press Release Was Blocked (It wasn't)

Matthew Berry, Chief of Staff to Commissioner Ajit Pai of the Federal Communications Commission, took to Twitter to suggest "FCC leadership" was attempting to prevent the Commissioner from posting a press release excerpting critics of network neutrality regulation. Asked what Berry meant by a Feb. 18 tweet saying "FCC leadership now trying to block Commissioner Pai's press releases from FCC website. So much for Open Internet!," Berry said that the FCC's Office of Media Relations "told us that the Office of General Counsel had directed that our statement be removed from the website."

FCC spokeswoman Kim Hart suggested that, rather than "blocking," the FCC was "clarifying."“The FCC’s Office of Media Relations serves the entire agency -- including all Commissioners," she said in a statement. "In this specific incident, OMR promptly posted a release from Commissioner Pai to the website as received, according to standard practice. Once the release was live, it became apparent that the release, as crafted, appeared to represent that it was from the entire Commission, not just Commissioner Pai. Commissioner Pai’s office agreed to clarify the release, and OMR worked to post the replacement as quickly as possible.”