If you live outside the US and plan to visit, check the small print on your I-94W (visa waiver) form very, very carefully. If you’re a journalist, even a casual freelance contributor, you are liable to be detained, interrogated, strip-searched, handcuffed, frogmarched through the airport, locked up, and deported. Read this Salon story carefully, and then Elena Lappin’s account in the Guardian of how she was treated when she recently flew in to Los Angeles.
Apparently if you’re a “nonthreatening” reporter (whatever that means) you may be allowed to use a visa waiver – just once. After that, you need a special “I-visa”.