News & Politics - Fee Upsets French, Germans At G-8 Summit

Arch-Rival · 06-09-2004, 12:12 AM

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/nation...mit%20Notebook

Quote:

Fee upsets French, Germans at G-8 summit

By JOHN LEICESTER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- The G-8 summit is barely under way, and already the Europeans and the Americans are trading barbs.

French reporters, backed by French diplomats, have protested the $350 fee charged by summit organizers for use of press facilities at the main press center for the Sea Island summit in Georgia. The Germans also have complained.

For their money, reporters get a worktable, chair, light, use of printers and high speed Internet access in the main press room. Such facilities, excluding communication costs, cost nothing at previous summits and generally are provided without charge at other major events.

Barry Bennett, spokesman for organizers of the Sea Island summit that runs Tuesday through Thursday, said American taxpayers would be outraged if facilities at the press center in Savannah, Ga., were free. He insisted that $350 "is a very fair price."

"It's kind of a culture clash," said Bennett. "A U.S. reporter wouldn't accept a free gift from the government, yet the French demand it."

"There's no need to subsidize the press, and the American press would not regard it as ethical," he said.

The French presidential press corps wrote a letter of protest to the U.S. Embassy in Paris, and the French Embassy in Washington raised the issue with the White House, said a French diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A spokeswoman for the German Embassy in Washington, who also refused to be identified by name, said she, too, complained to the White House because such fees are unprecedented at G-8 summits.

Bennett said organizers would not budge. They are losing money on the summit despite the $350 fees, he said. The food at the cafeteria at the press center, where reporters eat for free, is being paid for with private funding, he said.

"For 350 bucks you've got everything you need for a week, including food," he said. "By American standards, it's quite a bargain."

*Lauren · 06-09-2004, 12:48 AM

I guess we should do three cheers for capatilism, right?

Arch-Rival · 06-09-2004, 01:17 AM

$350 would be the price of a pair of Gucci shoes, so I don't see how they could complain about it.

StellaSlight · 06-09-2004, 04:23 AM

Quote:

"It's kind of a culture clash," said Bennett. "A U.S. reporter wouldn't accept a free gift from the government, yet the French demand it."

Ha! Such hypocrisy is really baffling.
My best-friend's future husband, who's in the Army, was in charge of the communication department during the last G8 summit in Evian, and he can tell you that American officials and reporters, among with other nations, would take whatever's free.

It is a fact that during other summits, those fees were either null or very low, and now the Americans are charging $350 for something that they got free the precedent years.
Well, if they're this cheap, they shouldn't be surprised that other people are complaining.

SuperDeluxe · 06-09-2004, 07:03 AM

Good lord..talk about a bunch of whiners.

they dont get free food and free space so they complain

Hey, if the G8 summit was in france then complain.

Why should US taxpayers have to pay to feed journalists?

ceilirose · 06-09-2004, 07:21 AM

I heard this news last night and it's really a silly thing. I worked in event planning and I don't know who these 'organizers' are but if they thought they would ever make money from a government event..well then they come from another planet. Make money off of the government? Not going to happen in anyone's lifetime. Breaking even would be a gift. Everyone knows that if you want to make money you go for insurance or drug companies..they're the ones with the big bucks.

I'm guessing for such a high-level event that they received a detailed list of what was supposed to be included and had to bid appropriately. On the surface if food was included in prior G-8 meetings then I'm not sure why they wouldn't do it for this meeting. You can be sure that Blair's staff, Schoeder's staff and all the others aren't dishing out money for their meals either..if the US Government sponsors this meeting then the money comes from the Treasury. That's usually the way it works.

Since I've been to a fair amount of these things I'll tell you that when there's free food and drink people will stand for hours to get it - no matter their nationality.

A rather stupid and petty article to put out there when one of the main objectives of this conference was to mend the fences between the US, France and Germany.

StellaSlight · 06-09-2004, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by SuperDeluxe
Good lord..talk about a bunch of whiners.

they dont get free food and free space so they complain

Hey, if the G8 summit was in france then complain.

Why should US taxpayers have to pay to feed journalists?

Cause last year French/Swiss taxpayers paid for the American journalists, and those journalists found the way to complain over the AC, the food, the security and all those petty things that you find silly today, when the positions are reversed.

I guess the Americans are okay to have things free, but are less willing to return the favour. Go US!

n e r b l e · 06-09-2004, 07:55 AM

it's $350. not like $350 million or even $350,000 hell if i had to I could afford that. this is not even remotely news.

Katis · 06-09-2004, 03:10 PM

Our government doesn't fund reporters, why should we change that now? If we go somewhere where it is the custom for those things to be provided, fine. If it is not the way it's done here we shouldn't have to fund foreign press when we don't even do it for our own.

StellaSlight · 06-09-2004, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Katis
Our government doesn't fund reporters, why should we change that now? If we go somewhere where it is the custom for those things to be provided, fine. If it is not the way it's done here we shouldn't have to fund foreign press when we don't even do it for our own.

Actually your governement did. The United States has hosted the Summit four times before: in Puerto Rico (1976), Williamsburg, VA (1983), Houston, TX (1990), and Denver, CO (1997). Each time, the 'custom' has been the same : free fees. You're wondering why change a system that's been working for decades. Well, if someone changed it, it's Bush and his administration.
Just because the current government is cheaper than the precedent ones doesn't make it an unusual diplomatic custom among the G8, USA included.

pacifierrocks · 06-09-2004, 03:46 PM

Ok, American reporters wouldn't accept anything free? I seriously doubt that.

And people wonder why most of the world doesn't like us.

mh67511 · 06-11-2004, 09:23 AM

Everybody want's something for free in this day and age. It's like my dad always told me, "Free lunch is never free."

I say $350 is nothing. I doubt that the reporters themsevles would have to pay it anyways...why don't they just send the bill to whatever news agency they represent?

AlexEvans · 06-11-2004, 04:11 PM

In Canada, reporters have to pay their own way onto campaign buses and planes - and seats on those are pretty expensive. So I don't see this policy as unusual.

I don't think governments should be funding the press, anyway.

*Lauren · 06-11-2004, 05:13 PM

Quote:

So I don't see this policy as unusual.

In Canada. Since this is at a G8 summit, where things have traditionally been free, then yes, it is unusual.

SuperDeluxe · 06-11-2004, 07:23 PM

This is a non issue. The only reason its a issue is because it happened on american ground.

If this happened anywhere else it wouldnt have been brought up.


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