Adam posted earlier on the Fed asking news organizations whether there was an early leak of the FOMC statement, in response to questions raised last week.
So, just how is Federal Reserve information released to the public?
- The release takes place first inside a room on the top floor of Fed headquarters in Washington D.C., the William McChesney Martin, Jr. building.
- Reporters are invited into the room, and the doors are locked at 1:45 p.m (15 minutes before scheduled release time)
- Fed staffers hand out copies of the FOMC statement at 1:50 p.m
- This allows reporters a few minutes to digest the information in the document before reporting
- Fed officials instruct reporters not to send information about that decision to the outside world before precisely 2 p.m.
- At 1:58 p.m. television reporters are escorted out of the room to a balcony where cameras are prepositioned.
- The Fed’s security rules say that television reporters are not allowed to speak before precisely 2 p.m.
- Print reporters are told they are allowed to open a phone line to their offices a few moments before 2pm, but are not allowed to interact with people on the other end of the line until precisely 2.
Gotta say … this doesn’t sound very secure to me.
