ST. LOUIS -- Officials of the Miss Universe beauty contest revoked the press credentials of two Kansas City newspaper reporters for asking pointed questions and having an 'anti-pageant' attitude.
The credentials were restored Thursday only after St. Louis Mayor Vincent Schoemehl intervened.
He urged Miss Universe Inc. President Harold L. Glasser to apologize to the reporters.
Pageant officials revoked the credentials of Kansas City Star reporter Claudia Kuehl and Kansas City Times reporter Karen Uhlenhuth after Glasser objected to their questions concerning the pageant's finances and other matters.
Glasser specifically was upset by a question asking him why Astrid Klotzsch, who is white, was selected as Miss Namibia, a country with a black majority population.
'These reporters had a mental fix which was anti-pageant,' Glasser said. 'They were only interested in financial details and digging up things that happened 20 years ago. They had no interest in reporting how the pageant represented international friendship.'
Star-Times Editor Michael J. Davies, in a statement, said lifting credentials merely for asking pointed questions 'is bizarre and obviously counterproductive, and we will protest vigorously.'
Schoemehl's intervention prompted pageant officials to announce they were 'happy to restore' the credential of the two reporters. The mayor, who was in Kansas City Wednesday night on business, said he had apologized to the newspapers and the residents of Kansas City for Glasser's actions.
