Biden's Office Apologizes to Student Reporter

The vice president's office apologized to a University of Maryland journalism student after he was forced to delete photos of a Joe Biden event.

Biden's office said Thursday it apologized to Jeremy Barr, a master's candidate. Barr, a student reporter for the school's Capital News Service, was covering a Biden appearance Wednesday in Rockville, Md., when he said he was asked to delete about 25 photos he had taken.

Barr indicated he was a reporter when entering the event but was not sitting in a section reserved for media. University of Maryland's journalism school dean, Lucy Dalglish, sent a letter demanding an apology. Within minutes the vice president’s press secretary was on the phone apologizing, News4’s Mark Segraves reported.

A spokeswoman for Biden said in a statement the incident was an “unfortunate mistake by a staffer who does not regularly interact with the press.”

“[The staffer] was very direct,” Barr told Segraves. “She seemed like she knew what she was doing, and I wanted to comply. I never covered a VP visit before. I took her authority. I probably should have pushed back a little bit more.”