UNITED NATIONS
GATE, February 14 – When Amazon,
then on its way to the
Queens riverfront in New York
City, scheduled a
screeing of its Amazon Studios' movie
"Beautiful Boy" with Steve Carrell on
January 23, Inner City Press was
invited and was told to come pick up
its ticket in a United Nations
Development Program building before
six pm. It arrived and a handler in a
black suit confirmed Inner City Press
was on the list - but said that the
actual ticket couldn't be found.
Another Amazon production rep same and
said "UN Security" was behind the
disappearance of the ticket. Then
Security grabbed
Inner
City Press' phone to stop it
from live-streaming (to not give in to
censorship, interviews
continued outside.)
Now on
February 14 the Amazon
Queens
boondoggle is
dead, and perhaps a
few political
careers
with it. We
propose this
lesson:
censors are
not welcome in
New York.
Now to get the UN
to change or
hit the road,
go the way of
the League of
Nations.
On
January 25, YouTube
reversed its seemingly
automatic
de-monetization of
Inner City Press'
video of the
UN guard grabbing its
phone to stop
filming: "Hi
Inner City
Press, Great
news! After
manually
reviewing your
video, we’ve
determined that
it is suitable
for all
advertisers:
"Amazon
Bans Press
From Beautiful
Boy Screening
in UN Has
Guard Grab
Phone To Stop
Recording"
Thanks,
The YouTube
team." So
which were the
advertisers it
was not,
initially and
automatically,
appropriate
for -
Guterres'
Gulbenkian
Foundation?
CEFC China
Energy? Then
there's the longer
video of
interviews of
attendees ("What
do you think of
the UN?" "Not
much") here.
On January
24 Inner City Press in writing
asked UN Secretary
General Antonio
Guterres, his Under
SG for Global
Communications Alison
Smale,
deputy spokesman
Farhan Haq and lead
spokesman
Stephane Dujarric
some questions,
including:
"January 24-2:
On last night's
Amazon Studios
film screening
that you
promoted in
yesterday's
briefing, please
immediately
state who in the
UN approved the
use of UN
premises for a
for-profit
company's
for-profit film,
any and all
transfers of
funds in
connection with
the event, the
basis on which
despite an
accepted
invitation Inner
City Press are
barred from the
screening, and
the specifics of
the security in
the lobby of
DC1, one of whom
grabbed Inner
City Press'
phone and
stopped it from
filming. Are
these guards
employed by the
UN? Are they
trained by the
UN, since they
are the face of
the UN / UNDP
there? Do they
have immunity?
On deadline."
But three
hours later
there were no
answers at
all. The UN
has become entire
corrupt, roughing
up and censoring
journalists
and refusing
to answer
Press
questions
about it. Today's
UN should not be
partnered
with,
particular by
those claiming
to care about
freedom of the
press and of
expression.
Inner City Press asked the basis,
noting that Amazon and Jeff Bezos
either shouldn't be involved in
censorship or should at least explain
it. The Amazon rep went out on the
sidewalk to make a call; the rep in
the black suit whispered to others
that Inner City Press had started
recording, which it had,
openly.
Other
tickets were given out, including to
people not on the list, to one
Elizabeth Dujarric, to another UN
correspondent. Finally the Amazon rep
came in front the sidewalk and said
she had nothing to add, no
explanation.
A guard came over and grabbed Inner
City Press' phone, stopping it from
filming, turning it dark. Who do you
work for, I asked. The guard refused
to answer. Video here.
Another blue shirted UN Department of
Safety and Security officer refused to
answer if those guarding UNDP work for
the UN, or some outside firm. The
handlers came over, once the camera
had been stopped by the guard, to
insist they were not from Amazon but
Amazon's production company. Is that
better?
The guards filmed Inner City Press out
on the sidewalk as it ask some of
those leaving the UNDP building what
they thought of UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres and his censorship. His
spokes- / hatchetman Farhan
Haq opening promoted this Amazon
Prime for profit film, here.
We'll have more on this.
***
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-303,
UN, NY 10017 USA
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2015 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com for
,
