CNN producer removed from Hu photo-op after asking question

[sabra]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/04/21/friday/index.html

CNN producer removed from Hu photo-op after asking question

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (CNN) -- A CNN producer was removed from covering a private meeting Friday at Yale University after calling out a question about whether Chinese President Hu Jintao had seen protesters lined up outside.

The producer, Joe Vaccarello, directed his question to Yale President Richard Levin because Hu does not speak English.

Vaccarello was told he had broken a rule against asking questions at the "photo op," during which Hu and Levin exchanged gifts and Hu met with four students. Vaccarello was escorted from the building.

He said he had not been told he could not ask questions at the event.

"Every other reporter knew the ground rules" of the photo op, Yale spokeswoman Helaine Klasky told CNN. "This was a very intimate event -- it wasn't the speech."

[400Years]

1. oh that bow down to authority thing

such bullshit.

[partylessinOhio]

2. Oh, Bull! Why is everyone tiptoeing around this communist?

[Dunvegan]

3. Do you mean Hu or Bush?

[xultar]

5. ...

:spray:

[LostinVA]

18. giggle

[SlavesandBulldozers]

28. lol

pwned.

[VegasWolf]

33. Jay Leno: President Who meets President Huh? nt

[lapfog_1]

4. I think it's because his government owns over $1T of our debt

and it's the only really active buyer of those T-bills that float the huge deficits we are running up.

[Frank Cannon]

6. Hu and the Gang basically funded this idiotic war in Iraq

not to mention all of Halliburton's no-bid contracts and every other treasury-robbing debacle Bush has been involved with over the last five years.

Bush should be kissing Hu on the lips instead of that despot from Saudi Arabia that he usually snuggles up to.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

29. Hu and the Gang. LOL n/t

[BR_Parkway]

10. Exactly - in many respects, he really is the most powerful man in

the world. All our fancy military gadgets wouldn't be any use if we didn't have the money to put gas into them. One word from him to stop buying at the next T-bill auction, and we would have an instant depression.

China plans for centuries - the US is currently planning for the next fiscal quarter.

[NYC]

39. More than that. China makes our missiles.

That was a greatly shortened subject line.

China Sole Manufacturer of Material for U.S. Missiles

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_diane_m__060419_china_sole_manufactu.htm

...the U.S. now remains totally dependent upon China for key rare earth metals and their production necessary in the manufacture of the most crucial of U.S. military warfare.

...Producing powered neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnets is critical to enabling control of aircraft and more specifically cruise missiles guidance systems as well as the Joint Direct Attack Munition or JDAM bomb, used prominently in the 2003 bombing of Baghdad, which preceded arrival of U.S. ground troops there. Magnequench UG, although still headquartered in Indianapolis, IN, is the sole provider of specialized magnets for military aircraft systems. But it closed down its manufacturing arm permanently in 2004 and finished relocating operations to China at that time, with its operations now solely controlled by Chinese companies with direct ties to the Chinese government.

[Sequoia]

7. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Americans should watch what they say and do.


Ah they days of yore: Better dead than red.


Don't fool with China or no plastic toys for the kiddies.

[Rose Siding]

12. Oh, don't worry. The US really isn't big on that whole diplomacy thing

Statesmanship is so 90s whether it would help us or not.

[IndianaGreen]

32. Hu is a communist in name only, a CINO. Hu is a "red capitalist"

and he is part of an authoritarian regime that has introduced class differences and exploitation in China, all in the name of Mao. This is similar to Bush invoking freedom and democracy while suppressing them at home.

BTW, China does own $1T of our debt and they will surpass our GDP by 2045. They are the rising hyper-power in the world while the US is in rapid decline under Bush.

[Amonester]

36. Link to the video clip: 'Ha Ha Ha America' here:

http://festival.sundance.org/2006/watch/film.aspx?which=402&category=DOC

[gtar100]

37. OMFG

[TexasLawyer]

8. We can't have the press asking questions,

you know. Who knows where that might lead?

[Voltaire99]

23. Bad CNN producer! Bad!

Go sit in the corner.

[pinto]

9. God forbid a member of a major news org. asks a effin' question!

Geez, this arrogance of control burns me up.

[Bush_MUST_Go]

13. And what did bush say to HU, right before they arrested the reporter?

Mr. bush: "China can grow even more successful by allowing the Chinese people the freedom to assemble, to speak freely, and to worship."


:wtf:

[SlavesandBulldozers]

30. it was neither the time nor the place.

he should have spoken up when the rest of the rabble had an opportunity. who exactly does he think he is anyway?

[Rose Siding]

11. Wonder if they'll charge him with that new felony against disruption

of an official.

CNN mentioned the possibility of it being used agianst the woman yesterday. Was that part of the new patriot act? If it was applicable there, why wouldn't it be here?

[kurth]

14. Ya can't question the Emperor of China

In the olden days you couldn't even look at them without getting your head chopped off.

[Rex]

15. Yales head moran just wanted to show Hu how like China

America has become.

[NVMojo]

16. gee, Hu is probably a model for Bush afterall!!!

[Up2Late]

17. I don't mean to offend any Yale grads here, but I'm beginning to...

...understand what "Mr Howell" from "Gilligan's Island" meant when he would gasp after hearing someone was "...a Yale man!"

Yale Sucks. Just about everyone of the RW weasels in our current government went to Yale, and Yale has a long history as a friend of China too.

[grasswire]

19. indeed

the fortunes of many a Yalie were made in the opium trade. My only Yalie ancestor was class of 1748.

[nattydreds]

25. how 'bout Yale students?

Yea, most of the RW "weasels" in our current government went to Yale, as did many of the LW "weasels" and non-weaselian politicians. Bill and Hilary met at Yale Law. John Kerry and Howard Dean were both undergrads.

Yale does also have a fairly close relationship with China. I don't claim to know a whole lot about this sort of thing, but it seems to me that a US institution having close connections with China would be one way to help keep China from walking away from US investments. While I wish we were not dependant upon foreign money, the fact is we are, and at any moment they could walk away and start a depression.

Yale also is very progressive on many other fronts. Yale recently divested from Sudan. Yale has a sustainable food program with a farm on campus, which is supplemented by purchasing food from local farmers. Yale recently set long term renewable energy and gas-reduction goals. And while this one incident in a private session with the "president" of China might point otherwise, Yale actively fosters an environment of free speech and discussion on campus.

I've seen a lot on DU about Hu's visit and the "suppression of free speech". I agree that China has a terrible record on human rights, and that many horrible violations are probably going on right now, but, unfortunately, the US is not in a position to simply tell China to "cut that out." If we are interested in seeing serious long-term progressive change in China, it means fostering a closer relationship with them. Having been on campus yesterday, I'm sure Hu did see the protesters. They were hard to miss. And I bet that he understood their signs (because they were in Chinese). What did this reporter think the Hu would say?

"Yes, I saw the protesters. Their beautiful signs have made me decide to make massive changes in how China relates to its people."

Unlikely.

Sometimes the perfect is the enemy of the good. In a perfect world, we could stop the terrible abuses in China with a snap of our fingers. This is very far from a perfect world. If we wish to use the small influence we have with China to make a difference, it will take more than the an open press briefing.

[Toucano]

20. If there were "rules" like that, the press shouldn't have covered it

rather than agree to be muzzled.

Photo-op indeed!

[truthisfreedom]

21. when is the press not the press?

when the Chinese president is in town.

[FredScuttle]

22. Tricky Dick must be rolling over in his grave

Why is this man laughing?

[fujiyama]

41. Nixon and Kissinger

knew full well what they were getting the US into into when they opened relations...

Those two were thugs and they knew the opportunity it held for US multinationals...

[depakid]

24. And yet CNN will continue its shamless whoring

despite the continual abuse....

[Eric J in MN]

26. We pay the salaries of the Secret Service.

We employ the Secret Service to protect Bush from physical threats.

Not to protect the Chinese President from hearing a question.

Yanking a man out of a room for asking a question is completely outside what they should be doing.

[Evergreen Emerald]

27. In the real world versus the through the looking glass world

the "photo op" would be boycotted by real journalists. What is the point of having the press there? They can hire their own damn photographers.

[niallmac]

31. Reporter escorted from building for asking question.

But hey, making Nazi analogies to this bunch is way over the top..:sarcasm:

[zann725]

34. Since when is having Press present a reason for silience? "Intimate?"

Were their cameras just there for silent propaganda? Puppets?

[BuyingThyme]

35. The Chinese Commies have more rights than US reporters.

[cassiepriam]

38. We lost our first amendment rights a long time ago under BushCo... nt

[fujiyama]

40. Didn't Yale also admit

the 'former' Taliban guy into their program?

Then again, considering Bush went there...

The student body there from what I've heard is pretty liberal, but I have a feeling there is a strong sense of arrogance and elitism embedded there. The people heading the school sound like real ass holes.

[LeftistGorilla]

42. Bush doesn't want to anger...

the guy you owe billions and billions and billions and.....