There was,however, a bit of undiplomatic hubris on the part of the Chinese IMHO.

- Badtux the Snarky Penguin

The media that travels with POTUS can be an ungainly herd, but a selected group among them, known to themselves as the 'death watch', normally is included in presidential motorcades. They need to be off the plane and into cars as quickly as possible. Normally, this group flies in AF-1, deboards through a rear entrance, and makes the connection without much problem.

The rest of the herd--who all pay the going rate for their transportation and other costs, btw--normally get off their own chartered plane, get into their own chartered buses, then head off either to their hotel(s) or the first stop of the visit. They are, to a large extent, spoiled by very convenient arrangements, so get prickly if they have to contend with the hoi-polloi in a commercial terminal.

Luckily for embassy personnel, when something gets screwed up (in the journalists' opinion) they have a group of WH staff on which to heap their abuse. Ultimately, they blame 'the Embassy' for not meeting their needs, but 'the Embassy' is anonymous and Embassy staff rarely gets the opprobrium.

Instead, Embassy staff get flack for not having a press room, with two phone lines/reporter and broadband Internet up and running when the reporters run in. They're responsible, too, for the food and drinks (paid for by the media, eventually). And there's always someone on call, 24-hours, to take care of tech problems that may arise... like figuring out how to use a thermostat or set up an Internet connection through the hotel's switchboard.

Sometimes, depending on just what the trip is about and where, the Embassy might be required to obtain cell phones that work locally/internationally for the reporters. Always, the Embassy is responsible for obtaining transportation, though not private taxis and the like.

The host country generally takes for granted that presidential security has vetted the luggage and equipment, at least for the airport. But not always. Some countries insist on doing their own baggage checks, as is their perfect right. The country's security services also do checks if the press is going to be interacting in any way with high level host country officials. That bums out some reporters, but nobody loses any sleep over their unhappiness on this count.

I suppose it's too much to hope that Helen Thomas was on board.

Then they'd be accused of stealing the corpse of Mao Tse Tung.

I blame Bush.

I know you meant that as snark, but there might be some truth in it:

BANGKOK, Thailand — With all eyes on Beijing, President Bush bluntly told China that America is strongly opposed to the way the communist government represses its people, a rebuke delivered from the heart of Asia on the cusp of the Olympic Games.

link

Since the Chinese seem to think that the press is just another arm of government (from their own experience, of course), somebody probably thought they'd could stick it to the president by hassling the press corps. They're all suffering from POS over there.