In
UN, a Diplomatic Cesspool in Illegal Pipes, Flip Flops on Making the
Press Pay
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, June 3 -- Deep in the third sub basement of the UN's
Headquarters east of First Avenue in Manhattan, there are toilets in
trailers with otherwise illegal white plastic PVC pipes, the effluent
of which, sources show and tell Inner City Press, collect in septic
tanks full of excrement.
Twice
during even this initial phase of the
UN's Capital Master Plan, the septic tanks have been threatened with
being broken, by jackhammers and otherwise. A "diplomatic
cesspool," one UN staff member called it to Inner City Press.
The
head of the UN's Capital Master Plan, Michael Adlerstein, took eight
questions from Inner City Press on June 3, along with a lengthy but
still unresolved back and forth about the UN's attempt to
charge the Press
$23,000 to maintain office space to cover the UN (click here for
Inner City Press' May 30 story.)
On the PVC
pipes,
Adlerstein said, "I saw your blog
this morning, PVC is illegal
in any permanent building in New York... our engineers are looking
into it, if any violation."
But
why did it go in, before the UN had even checked on its ability to
use otherwise illegal materials? Perhaps the equally troubling
cesspool or septic tank is in furtherance of the UN's argument that
these super wide trailer toilets, to be used for five years, are
"temporary."
On
the pre-press "swing space" called ill-smelling and unsafe
by those moved there, Adlerstein said that people will be rotated in
and out of there. He dismissed the concerns of the Security Council
interpreters, saying that asbestos abatement takes place all over and
is safe.
Regarding asbestos
removal in the library, he said "the
picture on your blog is erroneous." But how can an undoctored
photograph be erroneous? Click here for
Inner City Press' May 28 story. Adlerstein said he will post
counter-photos
on the CMP's web site, to which we'll link when possible.
Inner
City Press asked Adlerstein about litigation against Skanska for
asbestos. Adlerstein claimed that the case(s) had been resolved when
he'd said there was not open litigation, but that then the case
re-started. Video here,
from Minute 53:08. We'll have more on this.
Digging at the UN: watch out for septic tanks, cesspools
Much
of the press corps focused on Adlerstein's unilateral announcement
last week of charges of $23,000 and $70,000 to maintain closed office
space in the UN. More than one reporter asked, why were previous
agreements violated?
Inner City Press
attended previous meetings with
the Department of Public Information in which correspondents were
told that the decisions would be up to DPI. Then Adlerstein changed
what DPI had said. But for whom? Adlerstein said, like you, were are
a team.
Inner
City Press asked about a memo, by staff of the Department of
Management's Angela Kane, that Kane wanted to collect precedents of
other institutions which charge the media for space. Inner City Press
asked Adlerstein if this memo, which Inner City Press had published,
was related to the switch to impose charges, and that the survey had
found.
Adlerstein
said he hadn't seen any detailed results, and
resisted answering for Kane. She indicated -- in the hallway, we
might add -- that she is willing to give more press conferences. Her
predecessor Alicia Barcena aimed for a briefing once a month. Ms.
Barcena also promised a UN freedom of information act. Under Ms.
Kane, neither has happened. Adlerstein said he will make his next
presentation on charges to the press in writing, watch this site.
As
the last questions allowed, Inner City Press asked Adlerstein why the
Security Risk Assessment are not yet completed, since staff has
already been moved to the so-called swing spaces, and if the Madison
Avenue swing space will be protected from foreseeable attacks.
Video here,
from Minute 1:17:36.
Adlerstein said
that the RSAs are up to the Department of Safety and
Security, adding that a June 24 completion had been projected by
former chief David Veness.
But Veness
resigned and left; his
successor Gregory Starr has yet to speak to the Press. The DSS
official at the root of the problem, sources say, in Bruno Henn. When
asked about SRAs, Henn
told Inner City Press, "no comment."
Adlerstein
concluded by saying that he, the CMP and UN are "very
transparent," while telling Inner City Press that the Security
Risk Assessments are confidential. As with PVC and septic tanks in
midtown Manhattan, only at the UN.
At
UN, Wasted Paper and PVC Pipes, Master Plan Flushes Out the Press
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, June 2 -- Down in the bowels of UN headquarters, a trailer
of toilets with white plastic PVC plumbing illegal in New York has
been constructed. In the nearby Publishing unit of the UN, enormous
rolls of recycled paper previously stored in climate-controlled rooms
stand open to the elements -- "getting destroyed,"
whistleblowing staff members tell Inner City Press. Pre-press
specialists have been relocated down a long hallway from the machines
they are in charge of, to a room with little ventilation that smells
of chemicals.
All
this is in the name of improving the UN, the so-called Capital Master
Plan, in which asbestos removal is being done on the weekend in
spaces adjacent to and not separated from the library where staff and
reporters use computers. Both the UN's general contractor Skanska,
and its putative asbestos expert ATC, have been sued for asbestos
handling or Clear Air Act violations.
CMP director
Michael Adlerstein
initially claimed to reporters that all cases against Skanska had
been resolved, that admitted that a major civil suit continues.
Staff, speaking on condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation,
say that all Adlerstein cares about it trying to get back on
schedule, not safety, nor reason (as in the case of waste in the
Publishing Division).
Most
recently, Adlerstein and his boss Angela Kane, director of the UN
Department of Management, have told the Press that to maintain
similar office space in the UN during the CMP, $23,000 will have to
be paid. On May 29, Inner City Press called Adlerstein and his
spokesman for an explanation of what Adlerstein had told other
reporters. Neither even responded, four days later.
Angela
Kane was approached on June 2 by Inner City Press and two other
reporters. In a discussion that all three journalists agreed
was not off the record, as Ms. Kane never made any such request, Ms.
Kane veered from what Adlerstein had said only the previously week,
and said that the goal was not to collect the $23,000 what Adlerstein
requested, but to convert the whole press corp to "the open
plan," cubicles without doors or privacy.
CMP reaches into ceiling, basement PVC and asbestos
not shown
One of the
reporters
noted that journalists compete and therefore need privacy. Inner
City Press said that for the journalism of accountability -- a word
Kane uses much -- whistleblowers must be able to approach the Press
without being subject to surveillance by authorities. Kane shrugged
and said we are going with an open plan.
RIP:
we note, as her
staff complain that Ms. Kane hasn't, the passing away on May 5 of
previous Under Secretary General of Management Connor. Inner City
Press spoke with a range of longtime UN staff members, and heard much
praise of Connor as a man "who listened to everyone," who
was always "open to a new idea," contrasted with the
present. DM insiders say that Ms. Kane promised to "do
something" for Connor, which they took to mean at least have
prepared an article and memoriam for the UN's in-house iSeek web
site. Twenty six days later, nothing has been done. We are working up
a more detailed obituary.
UN
Targets WSJ, Fox and Inner City Press, According to Minutes, Google
De-Listing Mulled
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, June 2 -- The day after after UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon gave a speech
about freedom of the press, minutes show that
his Spokesperson and three of his Under Secretaries General met about
"reporting by the press, particularly Fox News, the Wall Street
Journal, and Inner City Press," at which it was proposed to write
"cease and desist" and "letters before action" and, "with
regard to Inner City Press... complaining to Google News."
At the UN noon briefing on June 2, UN Spokesperson Michele Montas
confirmed her participation, while arguing that she doesn't have to
account for her participating in such meetings. Video here,
from Minute 14:49 to 18:41.
The
minutes,
prepared by Under Secretary General Angela Kane’s Department of
Management, recite that Ms. Kane met on May 8 with "Mr. Akasaka,
Ms. Montas, Ms. O’Brien [the UN’s top lawyer and] Mr. Meyers"
[sic, chief speechwriter and
Director of Communications Michael
Meyer] to devise a strategy to counter negative coverage of the UN by
the three above-named media outlets.
"We propose
writing to professional journalistic bodies which regulate the
journalists concerned as well as letters to the editors with copies
to their companies' legal counsel," the minutes state.
"With regard to
Inner City Press, we should also consider complaining to Google News
(they host Inner City Press)," the minutes continue.
While
extraordinary, this would not be without precedent. In February
2008,
after a similar complaint, Inner City Press was temporarily removed
from Google News.
The
delisting, and the UN, were criticized
by the Government
Accountability Project, a Washington-DC whistleblower protection
organization, and were covered by
Fox News.
Since
January 2009,
Inner City Press has not only covered whistleblower
issues within the UN Medical
Service and but has persistently questioned the UN’s
and
Ban Ki-moon’s inaction as thousands of civilians were killed in Sri
Lanka, including the UN’s double
standards and withholding of satellite photos and its
estimates of civilian casualties.
This is
precisely the watchdog role
that Ban
Ki-moon’s May 7 press freedom speech praised the press and
specifically bloggers for. Ban noted that "some 45 percent of all media
workers who have been jailed worldwide are bloggers....I urge all
governments to respect the rights of these citizen journalists."
But the
next day, his highest officials met in secret to devise a strategy to
deliver legal threats to three
media organizations, and to constructively censor one of them, by
seeking to delist (or "de-host") Inner City Press from Google
News.
UN's Ban and Montas: one praises bloggers,
the other... not so much
The
section of the minutes on these senior UN officials' anti-Press meeting
of May 8 is preceded by a discussion of the suspension of
the UN's National Competitive Exam (click here for Inner City Press'
May 1 article), and is followed by a section on "business
continuity training" in light of the swine flu
/ H1N1. Click here for
Inner City Press' May 5 article on Angela Kane's space grab in the Capital
Master Plan, here for
Inner City Press article on "the wrath of Kane" on May 7, the day
before she convened the anti-Press meeting.
Ironically, in light of Kane's purported basis for attacking the Press,
that it does not quickly enough publish her response, she has stated in
writing to Inner City Press that she has no time to answer questions,
and to ask them all at the UN's noon briefing. There, more often than
not, questions are left unanswered, or not allowed at all, ostensibly
due to time constraints.
Now, as
Inner City Press exclusively reported on May 30, Kane's department is
seeking to charge the Press $23,000 to maintain office space in the
UN which has previously been given without charge, to facilitate
coverage.
Inner
City Press
requested comment on theafternoon of June 1 from Ms. Kane, Ms. Montas,
Ms. O’Brien
and Mr. Akasaka, the head of the UN Department of Public Information.
This
was the e-mail
to Ms. Montas to which she did not reply for 20 hours, but rather
prepared her statement for the June 2 noon briefing. Similar requests
for comment were sent to other listed participants in the May 8
meeting, including USG of DPI Kiyotaka Akasaka, USG for Management
Angela Kane (with additional questions), and USG for Legal Affairs
Patricia O'Brien, none of whom responded at least for the following
24 hours.
Subj:
Hi, request on deadline for comment on May 8 meeting and Press
issues, thanks
To:
Michele Montas [at] un.org, Kiyo Akasaka [at] un.org
From:
Inner City Press
Sent:
6/1/2009 4 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
Mr.
Akasaka and Ms. Montas --
Hi. I am
writing a
story about a May 8 meeting in which documents indicate you both were
involved, regarding “reporting by the press, particularly Fox News,
the Wall Street Journal, and Inner City Press,” at which it was
proposed to write “cease and desist” and “letters before
action” and, “with regard to Inner City Press… complaining to
Google News.”
On
deadline -- am
resending this to ensure receipt and response -- could you please
either deny despite the documents your participation in such a
meeting, or to explain how the above is consistent with press
freedom, Article 19 and, here, the First Amendment -- and also, for
you [Ms. Montas], your previous career as a journalist.
I'd also
like a
comment, in light of the above, on the UN’s previous denials of
involvement in a complaining to Google News and getting Inner City
Press temporarily delisted. See,
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,331106,00.html
And
http://www.whistleblower.org/content/press_detail.cfm?press_id=1310
I
appreciated and
learned from the S-G's recent trip to Sri Lanka, but was troubled to
be urgently informed of the above upon return. Also, the proposed
$23,000 charge for media wanting / needing similar office space in
the Capital Master Plan, if you have any comment on or insight into
that.
Thank you in advance, on
deadline,
Matthew
Russell Lee, Inner City Press
For 20
hours after these requests for comment or denial were submitted, no
responses were received. Given the UN's stated concern of Inner City
Press not waiting to include UN responses (which often come late if at
all), Inner City Press held off running this story until receiving
confirmation.
The following
day, June 2, Inner City Press asked Ms. Montas at the noon briefing,
and she responded with what appeared to be a prepared statement. Why
she did not email this response, to avoid taking up time in the noon
briefing, is not clear. Other reporters opined that Ms. Montas wanted
to give a "public tongue lashing." Whether that is an appropriate use
by the UN of its noon briefing is also not clear.
Ms.
Montas began by saying, "I don't have to account to you for
meetings I participate in," adding that "senior advisors"
to Ban Ki-moon can and apparently do have such meetings all the time.
We will pursue this. Video here,
from Minute 14:49. Inner City Press asked if her, Ms. Kane's and
apparently the UN's complaints have to do with Inner City Press'
coverage of the UN's role in the carnage in Sri Lanka. We will continue
on this. Watch this site.
* * *
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