| The
World Economic Forum has banned The Earth Times
from being distributed at its 32nd Annual Meeting
at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. The
Earth Times, a not-for-profit newspaper in existence
since 1991, has published print and Web dailies
covering the Forum's annual meeting since January
29, in cooperation with TimesDigest, a company
of The New York Times, and Foreign Affairs, the
magazine of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Each
morning's paper has been delivered to all rooms-
with permission from the Forum and the hotels
themselves--at the Waldorf, the Intercontinental
and some 15 other
hotels in Midtown Manhattan.
Aaron
Ide, Director of Guest Services at the Waldorf, told
Mitchell Newman, vice president of Mitchell's--which
delivers papers, including The New York Times, to
all 1,500 rooms at the Waldorf--that he would be
barred from distributing The Earth Times at the hotel
on Monday morning. The Waldorf's room have been entirely
taken over for the Forum's participants. Mr. Newman,
who's been doing business with the Waldorf for more
than two decades, said he had no choice but to follow
the directive not to distribute The Earth Times.
He said that Mr. Ide told him that the Forum was
upset over an article appearing in this morning's
Earth Times about media complaints over lack of access
to the conference.
Mr. Ide subsequently confirmed this to The Earth
Times, saying that he received his orders from
Valerie Weinzierl, a Forum media officer. Contacted
by The Earth Times, Ms Weinzierl confirmed that
the decision concerning banning The Earth Times
from the Forum was taken at a meeting of Forum
officials Sunday morning.
"Whatever games you are playing are just
not cool," Ms Weinzierl said, before hanging
up the phone.
"This is completely outrageous," said
Theodore W. Kheel, publisher and chairman of
The Earth Times. "Does the Forum forget
that the First Amendment is still in effect in
America? This is a country which still enjoys
freedom of the press."
Meanwhile, The Earth Times's Jayanti Gupte--wife
of Editor-in-Chief Pranay Gupte--who was assisting
with hand-distributing Sunday's Earth Times at
the Waldorf, reported that each time she placed
papers in locations around the Waldorf, they
would be picked up security personnel or Forum
officials and taken away. Copies of The Earth
Times have also been taken away without distribution
at the Metropolitan Hotel, where many Forum staff
are staying.
Amarjit Sidhu, a photographer for The Earth
Times, was prohibited from covering a press event
at the Metropolitan Hotel featuring Bill Gates.
He was told by Charles D. McLean, the Forum's
spokesman, that the action was taken because
of this morning's article in The Earth Times.
Roman Rollnick and Preeti Dawra, both Earth
Times correspondents, were warned late Sunday
afternoon by Forum media officials that if they
distributed The Earth Times or any press release
at the Forum's media center at the Intercontinental
Hotel, they would be thrown out of the premises.
"I am surprised to hear that the Earth
Times newspaper has been banned from the Forum," said
Sreenath Sreenivasan, a professor of journalism
at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. "There
can be no justification for such a stand. If
the organizers disagree with any paper's editorial
content, they should respond by issuing a press
release, not a press ban. This is unacceptable
anywhere, especially at such a high-profile event," said
Professor Sreenivasan.
The Earth Times is published by the Earth Times
Foundation, a not-for profit organization duly
certified as tax-exempt under Section 501 (c)
(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. The Foundation
also produces books under the imprint of Earth
Times Books. And it published a magazine, The
Earth Times Monthly. Theodore W. Kheel, the mediator
and labor lawyer, is chairman and publisher;
Louis Silverstein, former assistant managing
editor of the New York Times, is executive editor.
Staff contributors include Tom Wicker, Paul Hofmann,
Selwyn Raab and John Corry, all formerly of the
New York Times; and Michael Littlejohns, a veteran
diplomatic correspondent at the Financial Times.
The
Earth Times as appeared as a daily newspaper
at most major
UN conferences since 1991, and
at other global meetings, including the World
Trade Organization's ministerial meeting in Qatar
recently. It published a daily newspaper at Davos
2001 in Switzerland, where Professor Klaus Schwab--founder
and president of the World Economic Forum--hailed
the newspaper as "unique and contributing
to the enhancement of the Davos Experience."
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