no "foreign media" allowed

Last week, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign staff excluded reporters for the Bay Area's two largest Chinese-language newspapers, Sing Tao and the World Journal, from a fundraiser at the Sheraton Palace Hotel: Clinton staff's gaffe with local ethnic papers

Reporters from Sing Tao and Chinese-language daily World Journal, as well as the smaller China Press were denied entry to the noon fundraiser.

It turned out that the three papers had not been included in the mailing list for a press advisory sent out two days ahead that instructed media representatives to check in by 11:45 a.m. World Journal reporter Portia Li said she arrived about 10 minutes before noon.

Li, a prominent journalist who has worked for more than two decades in the Bay Area, said she knew such events routinely begin late and that reporters often are allowed in after they start.

But a staffer told her she was too late to get in. When Li argued, the staffer explained that because she was considered "foreign media" -- which were limited to a single pool reporter -- she could not go in.

The thing is, Sing Tao and World Journal are not foreign media. They're as local as the San Francisco Chronicle. Their stories may be printed in Chinese, but they serve the local Chinese-speaking population. But hey, when a Chinese(-looking) reporter shows up at your event, they must be foreign, right? Foreign reporters who can't follow American instructions. More here: Chinese Media Denied Access to Clinton Fundraiser. But after World Journal and other Chinese media ran stories about being excluded, the campaign apologized. I guess they realized it's not a good idea to get on the bad side of Chinese-language media. Clinton's campaign has pledged to improve its press list and promises that Clinton will meet with Chinese-language media and Asian Americans during her next Bay Area visit.