On
DRC &
Sudan, After
Ban Ki-moon
Spoke to
UNCA's 13
Opaque
Apostles, No
Transcript?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 9 –
The day after
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
refused
to provide any
transcript
of Ban's February
7 session
with 13
members of the
UN
Correspondents
Association
Executive
Committee, one
of member was
asked by FUNCA
to release his
tape to all
reporters
accredited at
the
UN.
Nesirky
acknowledged
that beyond
the
four-paragraph,
three issue
highlighs
belated
provided to
reporters
beyond the
UNCA 13, Ban
spoke about
the Democratic
Republic of
Congo
and about
Sudan. But
neither was in
the
highlights.
The omission
or withholding
of DRC
information
echoes the
UN's January
25 doling
out of
anonymous
quotes
essentially
declaring war
in the Congo
with a "peace
enforcement"
batallion that
those media
running the
quotes said
would be
approved that
weekend in
Addis Ababa.
That did
not happen,
but there were
no
corrections,
no
accountability.
What did Ban
say this time
on DRC?
But
Nesirky replied,
“no, we will
not provide a
full
transcript.
Part
of the
conversation
was on the
record, part
of the
conversation
was
off the
record.”
This implies
that Ban
and/or Nesirky
only trusts
these UNCA
Thirteen to
abide by off
the record
requests.
But
are these 13,
the apostles
of opacity,
the only ones
who could be
trusted? And
should they be
trusted?
As
noted, Inner
City Press had
rushed to the
day's noon
briefing, to
ask the
transcript
question on
behalf of the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access,
arriving just
at noon from
an
11 am off the
record
briefing at a
Security
Council's
member's
mission
There, and
subsequently
on an anonymous
social media
account
involving
UNCA Executive
Committee
members and in
a flyer posted
on the door of
Inner City
Press' cubicle
at the UN, a
woman who
before the
off the record
briefing
alleged past
sexual
harassment was
mocked,
with
involvement of
at least some
of the 13.
We
add “some of,”
because UNCA
Executive
Committee
member Denis
Fitzgerald
wrote it to
state that he
was not at
briefing at
the
mission and is
not “part of a
fake social
media
account.” His
statement
was added
less then 20
minutes after
he sent it.
Fitzgerald
was
in the UN
Photo of the
13 with Ban,
re-tweeted by
UNCA President
Pamela Falk.
Ban
Ki-moon's UNCA
Lunch of the
Lost, Feb 7,
2013, credit
Evan
Schneider,
UNPhoto. From
left: OSSG's
Del Buey;
Denis
Fitzgerald of
Saudi Press
Agency; OSSG's
Nesirky;
Melissa Kent
of CBC;
Sylviane Zehil
of
L'Orient le
Jour; Tim
Witcher of
AFP; Ali
Barada of
An-Nahar; Ban
Ki-moon,
Kahraman
Halicelik of
Turkish Radio
& TV;
Pamela S. Falk
of CBS; Lou
Charbonneau of
Reuters;
Bouchra
Benyoussef of
Maghreb
Arab Press;
Yasuomi Sawa
of Kyodo News;
Masood Haider
of Dawn;
Unknown;
Zhenqiu Gu of
Xinhua;
Stephane
Dujarric of UN
DPI
Others
in the photo
who WERE at
the referenced
mission's off
the record
briefing
included Louis
Charbonneau
of Reuters;
Tim
Witcher of
AFP;
Ali Barada of
An-Nahar;
Kahraman
Halicelik of
Turkish Radio
& TV; and
Masood Haider
of Dawn, as
well as several
members of the
board of
UNCA's
affiliate the
Dag
Hammarskjold
Fund for
Journalism.
After
Fitzgerald's
statement was
added, less
than 20
minutes after
he sent it,
Fitzgerald was
directly
asked, by the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access, three
questions
including to
“release any
and all
recordings of
the
February 7
session with
Ban Ki-moon to
all reporters
accredited at
the UN.”
We
believe the
request is
fair for the
following
reasons:
While
Fitzgerald is
employed by
the Saudi
Press Agency
and also
maintains a
small blog
named UN
Tribune (the
last post on
which is an
uncritical
transcription
of the UN
Peacekeeping
chief on
drones), it is
clear he was
only at the
Ban
Ki-moon
February 7
briefing
because he is
an UNCA
Executive
Committee
member.
Of all
reporters
covering the
UN, only the
15 UNCA
Executive
Committee
member were
invited.
Thirteen went.
The
UNCA Executive
Committee
purports to
represent and
serve at least
the
other UNCA
members, if
clearly not
the resident
correspondents
who
are not
members of
UNCA, nor the
vast majority
of other
reporters who
cover and even
enter the UN.
But
the UNCA
Executive
Committee
members did
not distribute
the
information
they obtained
even to other
UNCA members.
Now the
request has
been formally
made – and the
response,
disingenuous,
is
only, Who is
FUNCA? Who
indeed.
The
UNCA Executive
Committee not
only
communicates
through an
anonymous
social media
account and
counterfeit
FUNCA flyers
and grafitti –
they often
send out
e-mail
messages
signed only
“UNCA Office.”
When one
checks that
out one finds
an individual,
employed and
paid
by whom it is
not clear, but
with a “P”
journalist's
pass from
the UN.
In
the parlance
of the UN
Accreditation
Guidelines, on
which we will
soon have more
to say, is
UNCA a “bona
fide
media
organization”?
Watch this
site.
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