Grand Hotel Taipei rebuts CBS broadcast ban report

Taipei, May 16 (CNA) The Grand Hotel Taipei has rejected media reports claiming that the hotel had prevented CBS from broadcasting coverage of the Beijing summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on its premises.

Media reports alleging that the hotel owner, dissatisfied with CBS's coverage, prohibited the network from broadcasting political content on the hotel premises, are not true, the hotel said in a statement issued to local media Saturday evening.

The reports were "inconsistent with how the hotel actually handled the matter," it said.

The hotel said it received a refund request from a guest who complained that the CBS team's live news broadcast operations had generated noise that disturbed nearby guests at 6 a.m on Thursday, the day the summit took place in Beijing.

The hotel said that its staff informed the interpreter hired by CBS that, because the filming had not been applied for in advance and had already disturbed other guests, permission to shoot inside the hotel would not be granted.

On Thursday in the United States, the New York Post reported that CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil faced several setbacks while covering the summit.

The newspaper said Dokoupil was first denied a visa to China, with sources speculating that CBS News' "poor planning" left the network scrambling to get Dokoupil to China's capital.

A separate report in Semafor cited sources as saying it was unclear whether the block came from a late application or another issue.

The Post report then said that once in Taiwan, Dokoupil was blocked from broadcasting at his Taiwan hotel after the owner "frowned on his coverage," and he then broadcast from Taipei's Liberty Square for his second and final program in Taiwan.

In that segment, shown on X, Dokoupil concluded his report on how people in Taiwan followed the Trump-Xi summit by saying, "Either way, the threat of China is felt all over this island."

"One woman slapped her husband's arm when he started to talking to us about independence. Another woman asked that her words not be used, telling us 'we cannot speak freely,'" Dokoupil said.

"And even at our hotel ... after seeing our broadcast last night, the manager told us we can't cover anything political on their property."

According to the statement by the Grand Hotel Taipei, CBS staff made a reservation by phone on Wednesday through an interpreter, and later checked into the hotel that evening.

The Grand Hotel Taipei respects press freedom and has hosted international media, but guest comfort and privacy come first, the statement said, adding that future arrangements will balance media needs with its commitment to guests.