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UN Confirms and
Defends Deletion of Ban Statements from Transcripts, What Else Gets
Erased?
Byline: Matthew Russell
Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
April 21 -- At the UN statements, like
web sites, can be made to disappear. While the range of web sites
blocked inside
the UN, which Inner
City Pres first reported on earlier this month, includes
watchdog
sites like GlobalCompactCritics.net,
on Monday UN
Spokesperson Michele Montas defended the omission from the UN's online
transcript of Ban Ki-moon's April 16 Q&A session with the press of
an
answer he gave about Iran.
According to, yes, the UN's
transcript, at Monday's noon
briefing Inner City Press asked
I noticed last week when there was a stakeout by the
Secretary-General,
he made a statement about Iran, and when I read the transcript, it
wasn't in
the transcript. There was a whole paragraph where he said that he
welcomed
cooperation by Iranian authorities with the IAEA.
Spokesperson Montas: It was simply that the question was
about Iraq and
he answered on Iran so on the transcript, we put his answer on Iraq.
Inner City Press: Okay, I guess I am saying, the thing on
Iran stands.
That is his position on Iran.
Spokesperson Montas: Yes.
Inner City Press: I guess I am wondering, has there been a
thought on
whether the transcript should be changed in that way?
Spokesperson Montas: No, because he was not asked that
question. The
transcript is supposed to reflect really the questions asked and the
answers
that occur at a stakeout or a briefing.
But the answer that actually
occurred was excised from the transcript. On
April 15, Ban was asked a question about the situation in Iraq and an
upcoming
meeting in Kuwait. Video here,
at Minute 13:25.
Ban responded about Iraq's neighbor, Iran, that "Iranian authorities
should fully comply with the most relevant Security Council
resolutions,"
adding that he is "satisfied with the progress" of Iranian
authorities in complying with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Video
here,
from Minute
13:35. Then his spokesperson Michele Montas whispered that the question
had
concerned not Iran but Iraq.
Ban Ki-moon and microphone, but will
transcript reflect it?
Ban gave a brief
answer, which is the only
part of the answer that the UN's
transcript includes:
Question: What are your comments on the situation in Iraq,
and what
would be your message to Iraq's neighbors who are meeting next week in
Kuwait?
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: This is going to be a
very important
meeting. Unfortunately for me, I will not be able to participate in
person,
because of a scheduling problem. As I said, I am going to visit African
countries exactly on that day, therefore I am going to dispatch
Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Mr. B. Lynn Pascoe. But
I am
going to convene, and myself preside over an International Compact with
Iraq
[meeting] in late May, May 29th , in Stockholm.
Ban's responses about Iran, clearly
visible on the video, are simply excised from the UN's written
transcript. If
"the transcript is supposed to reflect really the questions asked and
the
answers that occur at a stakeout," why erase the answer that actually
occurred? Anyone can make a mistake. But since this got deleted, what
else is being
concealed?
* * *
These reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017 USA
Tel: 212-963-1439
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.
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2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
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