We’re starting to get some more color on what happened in the Eagles’ press box today. Inquirer beat writer Jeff McLane was kicked out by Eagles VP of Communications Anne Gordon for violating a supposed code of conduct during a dispute which apparently escalated into a contentious conversation with PR staffer Zach Groen, who apparently told McLane and other members of the media that they were speaking too loudly, an admonishment that may not have been a first this season from Groen. McLane denies a claim by the Eagles that he told Groen to “shut up,” according to Philly.com. McLane and Groen talked things out in private, and then about 15 minutes later McLane was escorted out by security.

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Zach Groen

From Philly.com:

Gordon said: “I asked for security to eject Jeff from our press box, a press box that has a standard code of behavior that every reporter understands and actually participates in endorsing and policing. . . so that people can watch the game and can follow and do their jobs carefully.”

[Inquirer Executive Editor] Wischnowski said the move was unnecessary.

“To prevent him from doing his job for something this petty is outrageous,” he said. “It could have been easily resolved in several ways without ejecting him from the press box.”

McLane said that while other members of the press box were objecting to his ejection, Gordon threatened to throw them out, as well.

Interestingly, Gordon, listed fourth on the Eagles’ org chart behind Jeffrey Lurie, his ex-wife, and a lawyer, had previously held almost the exact same role as Wischnowski at the Inquirer, where she was managing editor from 2002-2007. She then went to work at a private investment firm before joining the Eagles in 2012. We commended her and her team for their work on some marketing initiatives in 2014. Some say she is a bit overzealous in her efforts to control the message (go figure…).

It’s unclear whether she has a history with McLane, but it seems her decision to have him escorted out over such a trivial, though apparently ongoing issue between Eagles PR and some members of the media was a massive overreaction and has resulted in the exact opposite of favorable coverage.

McLane, meanwhile, has been hinting that there may be a bit more to the story. He’s been harshly critical of the Eagles all season, particularly Doug Pederson and Howie Roseman. We’ve noted this before. He’s tweeted out some not so subtle reminders:

Yeah, I’d be willing to bet that had more than a little something to do with it.

The Eagles look downright petty here. You can’t win this. McLane isn’t some inflammatory radio host or, gasp, blogger– he’s the beat writer for the Inquirer. He didn’t do anything remotely in violation of whatever code teams impose on credentialed reporters, like saying a player needs to be tested for a deficiency. Worse, the Eagles are already perceived as being overly sensitive, controlling, petty and at times inept. This doesn’t help. I can’t fathom how or why Gordon, whose job it is to literally prevent this sort of PR mess, thought it was a good idea to have McLane kicked out and threaten other journalists coming to his defense. This makes the Eagles looks so pathetic and small on what should’ve been an otherwise upbeat day for coverage surrounding the team.

Further, this matter is made all the more laughable because the local media will be very careful about how they talk about this, which is to say, they won’t:

Huh. It’s almost like CBS has a broadcasting agreement with the Eagles. Pathetic. Cutting edge sports talk… if it’s sanctioned by the teams.