Reporters sans frontires is protesting on behalf of some videogame journalists who were detained and deported from Los Angeles as they were en route to report on E3 last week: "Six French journalists detained on arrival at Los Angeles, sent back to France."
Journalists who cover videogames would seem to have it easy - gameplaying, junkets, exciting events. But here's a rude bit of geopolitics and paranoia for them to cover. I wonder if they will report on the experience themselves?
Alexandre Alfonsi of Tl 7 Jours, Stphanie Pic of Tl Poche and Michel Perrot of TV Hebdo, Thierry Falcoz, editor in chief of Game One cable television, and two of his cameramen, Laurent Patureau and Alex Gorsky - I apologize to you on behalf of my government.
From Ben at Serious Games.
OK, from this it sounds like they were detained and sent back to France because of visa problems. The issue is where, again? Do we have reports that other journalists with similar visa problems were allowed through? IOW, is there ANYTHING other than conjecture that says they were targeted because they were French?
(not rhetorical, BTW. I'd just like more information before I go jumping down TSA's throat on this one.)
Posted by: Sal M | 05/21/2003 at 04:06 PM
I dunno... do visa problems warrant SIX body searches? Seems really over-board, and quite sickening.
Posted by: nowak | 05/21/2003 at 05:53 PM
While I am French and I am aware of the stupid discrimination that has been going on in the States against the same guys who gave them the Statue of Liberty as a present, I must clarify an important thing. When you enter the States as a French (or European), you have to fill a green "visa waiver" form, where it clearly states that you do not need a visa as long as you are not in the country as a news reporter for a foreign news company. Since I never entered to the country as a reporter, I never paid attention to it. Even if the body searches are definitively an excess, I must admit that the text on the forms is quite clear. Were the guys held because they were French? The answer is probably yes. Should journalists be allowed to cover whatever they want? Of course, yes. But technically, the gov had legal grounds to deny their entry (well, of course the law stopped being applied in the States at the moment Bush gave a coup d'etat and people lost the right to public trials and a long etcetera, but that's another story). It still sucks that these guys were sent back, since this doesn't help the relationship with France and the States -and my fellow Frenchmen could not enjoy the E3 coverage. Merde!
Posted by: Gonzalo | 05/21/2003 at 06:56 PM
Sal and Gonzalo, you make good points. This story caught my eye because of other recent singling out and abuses I've read about as Americans try to balance safety and respect. Also, I've been a travelling journalist and I've had to fill out forms and decide what level of disclosure to follow - when I was going back and forth to Japan, being a freelance journalist was tough.
But if these guys were green, then they may not have been following the right rules and regulations. It's strange that a few got through, and not all of them. And the searching seems a bit extreme. I still want to hear from them!
Posted by: justin | 05/21/2003 at 11:32 PM
it also sounds as though only one of each group had a visa issue, and the others were detained when they were trying to find out what happened to their colleague.
technically, i believe any nation reserves the right to refuse entry to anybody for any reason. it's just sad when that discretionary power is used in what seems an unjust case.
Posted by: jane | 05/21/2003 at 11:38 PM
I'm very impressed that you picked up this article. Here's a really good breakdown on the incident and its ramifications:
http://www.reason.com/links/links052003.shtml
I was never a huge fan on how the Dept. of Homeland Security came into being in the first place, and lately it seems as though its powers can and will be abused for political purposes (e.g., hunting down missing Texan Democrats). As far as the E3 connection to homeland security - well, I didn't see that one coming.
Keep up the good work!
Posted by: Handel | 05/22/2003 at 07:38 AM
I though the decision to deport them was merely stupid until I saw the list of other countries that do the same thing in Handel's link. Now it looks downright criminal. When did the "all men are born equal with inalienable rights (e.g., freedom of the press)" from my American history classes suddenly define "men" as "U.S. Citizens Only"?
Posted by: ragmana | 05/25/2003 at 08:55 AM
At the time, "men" likely meant property-owning white American males.
Posted by: defenestrati | 06/06/2003 at 11:13 PM
maybe they were detained for visa problems? and if not? do i care? sadly no....and skippy brings up a interesting point...french people gave us a statue and then we had some fun with them in vietnam....wait it wasnt fun....hahah oh the irony.
Posted by: exeter blue | 07/10/2003 at 01:55 PM
Think simple. Learn different. Macinstruct.net
Posted by: Geoffrey | 07/06/2004 at 07:29 AM
Think simple. Learn different. Macinstruct.net
Posted by: Geoffrey | 07/06/2004 at 07:31 AM