Or else it won’t go over well with the reporter

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon’s first gubernatorial news conference, which he held to sign three executive orders geared at economic reform, got sidetracked Tuesday by his staff’s efforts to ban reporter cell phones.

Nixon press secretary Scott Holste said initially that the cell phone ban was a security matter, though that was later recanted. The ban was later said to be a product of the Nixon team’s transition from the attorney general’s office, where cell phones are not allowed past building security.

When at least one reporter threatened to boycott the news conference if reporters were forced to relinquish their cell phones, Holste went back into the governor’s office and returned rescinding the cell phone ban.

Lovely that the combination of an attempted ban and the reaction overshadows the real news here. How about a compromise: Just keep your cell phone on silent when you’re at a press conference.