The
following is the text of a letter sent by Charles
D. McLean, Director of Communications of the World
Economic Forum, on March 29, 2002.
I
would like to correct the record regarding the relationship
between the Earth Times and the World Economic Forum
during the Forum's recent Annual Meeting in New York.
In copies of the newspaper produced by the Earth
Times during the meeting and in subsequent articles
that appeared in the Earth Times monthly magazine,
false allegations were made about the Forum's alleged
mistreatment of the publication and its reporters.
Now that a couple of months have passed and some
of the dust has settled, I wanted to set the record
straight on some specific issues.
Early
in the fall of 2001, the editor of the Earth
Times
informed the World Economic Forum
that he intended to produce a daily newspaper
during the Forum's Annual Meeting. To accommodate
his intentions, the Forum initially offered the
Earth Times two badges for participating media
(giving the newspaper access to the meeting in
the Waldorf) and four badges for reporting press
(who would be able to cover all press conferences
and monitor plenary sessions from press rooms
in the Intercontinental Hotel across 49th St.).
In offering these accreditations, the Forum made
it very clear that one badge - the white badge
- would provide access to the meeting, while
the other - the orange badge - would not. We
were given a list of names to apply to each category
and among those listed for "white badge" accreditation
were Mr. Jack Freeman and the editor of the Earth
Times, both of whom we agreed to accredit.
At
no point during the months leading up to the
Annual Meeting
did the Earth Times challenge
the system we proposed for coverage of the meeting
(a system the newspaper later decried in bold
headlines as "Media Apartheid"). But
disagreements soon arose over the total number
of badges - white and orange - the Forum should
issue for the Earth Times. On December 18th the
editor of the newspaper rudely informed us that
the number of accreditations we were offering
was unacceptable. In an e mail he wrote, "Why
don't you take the badges and, you know, stuff
them?" We took the editor at his word and
cancelled all badge allocations for the Earth
Times.
I
subsequently received a personal e-mailed apology
from the
editor of the Earth Times. "This
is a formal apology to you for the strong words
I've used in our communications," he wrote. "There
is no malevolence nor disrespect intended of
any sort to you or the Forum. You can always
count on my total support," he said.
Following
this apology, I asked my team to reinstate
the media
accreditations for the Earth Times.
Unfortunately, in the midst of this confusion,
the accreditation for Jack Freeman did not get
re-processed, which led to his receiving false
assurances that he would be given a media participant's
badge, only to find himself not on the list when
he appeared at the Waldorf on January 31st. We
were able to correct the error and get a badge
for Mr. Freeman that same day, but the mix-up
caused aggravation and embarrassment. For this
I apologized to both Mr. Freeman and the editor
of the Earth Times. In an e-mail to the editor,
copied to Mr. Freeman, I wrote, "The error
was on our side. We had intended for Jack to
have a white badge from the beginning, but through
miscommunication on our side, he was not put
on the list. I take the blame for this and I
apologize to all - and especially to Jack - for
this error."
The
Forum also bears responsibility for another
error widely
reported in the Earth Times: the "confiscation" of
copies of the Earth Times on February 3, the
penultimate day of the Annual Meeting. On that
morning I had seen many copies of the newspaper
stacked on tables in the Waldorf lobby. As no
publications were to be displayed in the public
areas of the hotel, I instructed members of my
team to "pick up the Earth Times copies
from the public areas." This was misinterpreted
by one colleague to mean, "pick up all copies
of the Earth Times," and resulted in collection
of some copies of the newspaper from outside
participants' hotel room doors and an order to
the Waldorf Hotel to stop deliveries of the newspaper.
I
was attending events outside the Waldorf until
mid-afternoon
on the 3rd and was initially unaware
of these incidents. After learning what had happened,
I directed that the collection of the papers
be stopped and I asked a colleague to inform
the hotel to continue deliveries of the Earth
Times. (Note: when I was first asked by a New
York Times reporter whether the Earth Times had
been banned by the Forum I replied "Of course
not!" As I collected more information, I
made three subsequent calls to the Times to update
them on the facts). The Earth Times was successfully
delivered the following morning, February 4,
and the incident was thoroughly explained to
the media in a press conference that afternoon.
Another
issue repeatedly raised in the Earth Times
is the
allegation that an Earth Times reporter
and photographer were "barred" from
covering a breakfast with Bill Gates, the Microsoft
Chairman. As the editor of the Earth Times is
well aware, the World Economic Forum's Communications
Department sponsors a series of breakfasts, lunches
and dinners with key participants every year
at our Annual Meeting. These events are part
of the Annual Meeting programme and are open
to registered media participants. Jack Freeman,
as an accredited media participant, was welcome
to attend the Bill Gates breakfast. But instead
of sending Mr. Freeman, the Earth Times sent
an unaccredited reporter who was, of course,
denied access to the event. The Earth Times photographer,
who also did not have a white badge, was similarly
denied access. (In fact, no photographer from
any publication was permitted to cover the breakfast).
If
the Earth Times had had a genuine interest
in reporting
on the Bill Gates breakfast, the
editor could have dispatched Mr. Freeman to cover
it. In fact, the editor himself could have attended
the breakfast and reported on it for the newspaper.
Instead, the editor chose to send an unaccredited
reporter and photographer, and to then report
on their being "barred" from covering
the Gates breakfast. By deciding that controversy
was more interesting than content, the Earth
Times denied its readers coverage of an interesting
and stimulating Annual Meeting event.
It
is also worth pointing out that the World Economic
Forum
had granted a third white badge
to the Earth Times following a request by the
editor to accredit Mr. Tom Wicker, an esteemed
journalist and an editorial contributor to the
newspaper. Perhaps Mr. Wicker's presence would
have eased the reporting burden on Mr. Freeman.
Unfortunately, however, Mr. Wicker was unable
to attend the Annual Meeting for personal reasons,
a fact that was misreported in the Earth Times.
In an e-mail headed "Urgent message for
Charles McLean," dated February 2, Mr. Wicker
clarified the situation:
That is an absolutely false quotation attributed
to me in today's Earth Times, suggesting you
lied and did not provide me with a white badge.
I said no such thing and have no idea where that
quote originated. In fact, I was told you had
issued a white badge for me, and I did not come
to New York for the Forum for strictly personal
reasons having nothing to do with access. I repeat:
that quotation is false. I said no such thing.
Similar "phantom" reporting appeared
in other articles in the Earth Times. After a
particularly scathing attack on me that appeared
in the paper on March 3, for example, Mr. Roman
Rollnick, the purported author of the piece,
personally apologized to me for its content. "Those
things that were said about you in my piece -
I didn't write them," he told me. "They
were inserted after I submitted my copy." I
also received apologies from reporter Preeti
Dawra and from Amarjit Sidhu (the photographer
who had been "barred" from covering
the Bill Gates lunch) for the coverage that appeared
in the Earth Times. "It isn't us, it isn't
personal," they said. These unexpected and
extraordinary apologies - all greatly appreciated
- served, nonetheless, to undermine my confidence
- and the confidence of my Forum colleagues -
in the editorial integrity of the Earth Times.
They also suggested that at least some of the
Earth Times staff were as appalled as we were
by the "attack journalism" that was
being practiced by their newspaper.
In conclusion, all of us at the World Economic
Forum were indeed disappointed, frustrated and
disturbed by the coverage of our Annual Meeting
in the pages of the Earth Times. We had expected
substantive coverage of the meeting that would
draw attention to the many dimensions of the
World Economic Forum and to the commitment of
our members, partners and participants to improving
the state of the world. Instead, what we read
in the pages of the newspaper were articles that
drew attention to the Earth Times. The real losers
in all of this, in our view, were the Earth Times'
readers. It was an incredible Annual Meeting.
It's too bad the Earth Times missed the story.
Sincerely,
Charles D. McLean
Director of Communications
World Economic Forum
Geneva, Switzerland
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