TV crew ban was 'misunderstanding'

FINDLAY, Ohio (AP) -- A city councilman wasn't instructed to prohibit television news cameras from recording a public meeting on a proposed smoking ban in the city's public areas, the city's law director says.
Law Director David Hackenberg said he told Councilman David Cliffe that the city had no obligation to record the meeting Tuesday night. But Hackenberg said he didn't tell Cliffe to keep TV crews from taping.
"David and I have had a slight misunderstanding on this. ... There was never any discussion about excluding the media video cameras," Hackenberg said Wednesday.
Cliffe halted the meeting of the council's smoking committee after a television news crew from Toledo refused to remove its camera. Cliffe said he did not want the meeting taped because the committee members are private citizens and not politicians.
"I thought I had a pretty clear understanding that I was not supposed to let cameras in," Cliffe said Wednesday.
David Marburger, legal counsel to the Ohio Newspaper Association, said the TV crew should have been allowed to tape the meeting.
Cliffe said he will let cameras into the committee's May 25 meeting, and another one to be held next month to make up for the canceled meeting.