Keeping Journalists Out

Homeland Security saved from insidious European tech reporters

Matt Welch | May 20, 2003

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The expulsion of the French television reporters could well have been a case of a lone LAX officer having a zealous day. (Since no one from the BCIS, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the Bureau of Consular Affairs, or the LAX Customs and Border Protection Inspection was willing or able to confirm any of the details, we'll just have to guess.) In the scheme of things, preventing a half-dozen Europeans from covering a videogame conference ranks a bit low on the list of perceived Homeland Security overreaches. And who can blame the government for trying to rationalize the famously Byzantine immigration system?

Still... TV reporters?

"The chilling effect this could have, depending on how it is implemented, feels un-American," Brand said. "We're used to regimes like North Korea and Saudi Arabia denying legitimate journalists entry to their countries because they have something to hide. Why would we want to keep legitimate journalists away from the story?"