Vacation pictures invaded privacy, says Clinton

WASHINGTON, Jan 6: United States President Bill Clinton on Monday said that he felt his privacy was invaded when cameramen hid in bushes to take pictures of him and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton during their vacation in the US Virgin Islands.

Two-person television crews for NBC and CBS and a photographer for Agence France Presse (AFP) hid in bushes and captured the President and First Lady in swimsuits at a beach on Magens Bay. During a photo opportunity with his economic advisers, Clinton was asked if the pictures taken during his vacation, which ended on Sunday, violated his privacy “and where should the press draw the line?” “The answer to the first question is yes,” Clinton replied. “And you get to decide the answer to the second question,” the President told the CBS reporter who asked the question. When asked for his thoughts on one of the pictures, which showed a slimmed-down Clinton dancing on the beach in blue swim trunks with his wife, Clinton replied: “Actually, I liked it quite a lot, but I didn’t think I was being photographed.” The picture, published in many American newspapers, was also printed in Tuesday’s edition of The Indian Express.

White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry made it clear that he was unhappy with the pictures. “We try and work in an amicable environment where we help you do your jobs and you respect certain ground rules that we set and that didn’t happen,” he said. “There’s nothing we can do about it,” he added, “except to encourage people to just think about whether we want to live in an environment in which people are sneaking around and taking pictures surreptitiously.”

Mike Sargent, Washington photo editor for AFP, praised the efforts of his photographer, Paul Richards. “The photographer was doing his job as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “The picture shows the President and his wife enjoying a vacation day on the beach … the White House ought to be happy,” Sargent said. Julia Moffett, a spokeswoman for NBC News in New York said that, “Our coverage was consistent with the way we have covered all of the Clintons’ previous vacations. As with all pictures of the First Family, we exercised discretion and good taste in the pictures we chose to air,” she said.