Summit Press Pass System Leads to Protest

The much criticized media “pool passes” for the Asean Sum­mit finally tried the patience of some 20 foreign journalists on Tuesday, resulting in a tussling match with security and a shouted protest that echoed through the Hotel Inter-Continental conference center.

The noisy stand-off with summit security erupted when pool passes—which allow a limited number of the media to attend a particular event—were switched at the last minute for Prime Min­ister Hun Sen’s final summit briefing and a news conference with Phi­lippine President Gloria Ma­ca­pagal Arroyo.

Both events were to be held separately but due to delays in the summit timetable, anxious mem­bers of the media were told they would be held simultaneously.

Already past the scheduled time for Arroyo’s news conference, some 20 members of the me­dia began shouting at security guards who blocked their entry to the hotel’s upper floors.

Unable to understand why the security guards were blocking the stairwell, the irate members of Western and Philippine media or­ganization began to chant loudly, “We want in, We want in,” and “Philippines, Philippines.”

The raucous chanting and one Western television cameraman’s at­tempt to forcibly push through the security men brought a dozen more security men, some armed, rushing to the scene of the fracas.

Heated verbal exchanges continued and so did the chanting—which was heard on several floors of the hotel—until an Eng­lish-speaking member of the Cambo­dian summit protocol section arrived.

The angry media mob were quelled when the protocol officer announced that the Arroyo press conference had not begun and the security men could not allow ac­cess until the upper floors were cleared of visiting dignitaries.

Commenting on the summit screaming match, Information Ministry Secretary of State Khieu Kanharith said, “I don’t know why it finished so badly.”

Khieu Kanharith said he had no responsibility for events in­side the hotel, which were under the jurisdiction of security personnel.

More than 1,000 members of foreign and local media were ac­credited to cover the three days of talks, and while there was little criticism of the official media center, the “pool passes” caused considerable confusion.