Shawn Towle

A noble debate on the virtues of freedom of the press and open government it was not. A hearing on a proposed rule change to allow online media workers press access to the state House of Representatives, which was scheduled at the last minute, ended just as abruptly today — before it started, in fact.

The state House of Representatives still excludes online media outlets from getting access to the House floor. But at noon today, that policy was scheduled to get a hearing, as online journalists were to testify before the Minnesota House rules committee to lobby for a change of policy.