One Maryland journalism student got a real education on how the current White House administration views “freedom of the press”.

The Daily Caller’s Eric Owens has this report on the actions taken by a staffer for Vice President Joe Biden at a recent event.

A press office staffer for Vice President Joe Biden forced a credentialed reporter from the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism to delete photos taken Tuesday at an event in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Rockville, Md.

Vice President Joe Biden’s press secretary, Kendra Barkoff, has since apologized for the thuggery.

The University of Maryland’s student-run Capital News Service has the story.

The reporter, Jeremy Barr, showed up to cover an event related to domestic violence. Biden, Attorney General Eric Holder and Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin were on hand.

The trouble began when he unintentionally took a seat in an area that wasn’t specifically designated for members of the press.

“I didn’t see any demarcation that would have designated a press entrance versus a general entrance,” Barr told Capital News Service.

Once the event started, Barr said, he snapped a few photos of each speaker.

“People a few rows in front of me were also taking photos,” he added.

When the event ended, Biden press staffer Dana Rosenzweig questioned Barr about his photos, according to the New York Daily News.

“She said, ‘I need to see your camera right now,’” Barr told CNS.

“I assumed that I’d violated a protocol,” the student reporter added. “I gave her the benefit of the doubt that she was following proper procedures.”

…Biden’s staffer then made Barr delete all the photos from his camera. She watched him the whole time to make sure he obeyed. She also scrutinized his iPhone to confirm that he didn’t save any photos.

The dean of Barr’s journalism school took a dim view of the matter:

Lucy A. Dalglish, dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, later filed a formal complaint with the vice president’s press office.

Dalglish informed Biden’s press secretary that her staffer had broken a federal law (the violation of the First Amendment notwithstanding).

“This was pure intimidation,” Dalglish told CNS. “It’s clear from the circumstance that the journalist did nothing wrong.”