CNN Staffers Kicked Out of Thailand After Reporting From Scene of Daycare Massacre (Video)
thewrap.comWFMZ. CNN’s article about the visit, on which Coren shares a byline, was still online.Both CNN reporters were in the country on tourist visas and were not authorized to work in Thailand, according to the Bangkok Post.
National police chief Damrongsak Kittiprapas told the Post they were fined 5,000 baht ($131.68) each for violating tourist visa regulations.
They will not face criminal charges and have not been put on an immigration blacklist. Coren and Hodge left on a Thai Airways International flight bound for Hong Kong on Monday.Mike McCarthy, executive vice president and general manager of CNN International, said in a statement provided to TheWrap that the crew didn’t know the daycare center was restricted.
McCarthy also said there was no police tape on the scene when Coren and Hodge entered the building. They worked “carefully and respectfully inside the building for around 15 minutes,” during which police tape was put up, McCarthy said.“The team entered the building in good faith, to gain a fuller impression of what transpired inside and to humanise the scale of the tragedy for their audience,” McCarthy’s statement to Vice said.
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