The Canadian media pool is staying in Chur, just over an hour away from Davos, tucked in the Swiss Alps.
When we arrive in Davos every morning, it’s hard to miss it – the world economic forum is huge. Twenty-five thousand of the world’s economic elite have taken over Davos. The town’s population is usually 11, 000; during the World Economic Forum it’s three times that.
There’s security everywhere — no surprise considering the number of high-powered people descending on the tiny town. 1000 police officers and 3000 soldiers are constantly roaming the streets.
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You’d think all of this makes for an access-challenged media environment, but the opposite is true.
Yes, as a reporter with a videojournalist by my side, we need to be ‘accompanied’ by media handlers on site. But they’re actually really helpful in guiding us around the maze that is the WEF.
As a result, I’m able to roam the halls and can literally run into anyone. Just during the course of today, that included US Secretary of State John Kerry (didn’t take my questions), Ariana Huffington (didn’t take my questions), Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg (didn’t take my questions), Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (took my questions!) and yesterday I was a foot away from Kevin Spacey.
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All this to say, for the world’s most powerful networking event, it’s pretty open. I’ve never been able to get that close to question a world leader visiting Ottawa. And the Swiss Alps make for a pretty nice background.
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