After
UN Chides
Press for
Quoting UNCA's
Falk, Radio
Silence,
Absurd Tweets
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
1 – The UN
believes in
free speech,
but only for
some, and not
in freedom of
the press.
This we are
forced to
conclude
from a still-unexplained
letter sent
Wednesday
evening to
Inner City
Press by UN
official
Stephane
Dujarric.
Dujarric,
who
is in charge
of media
accreditation
for the UN,
wrote that “we
are deeply
disappointed”
with an
article Inner
City Press published
on
February 25.
Dujarric took
issue with
Inner City
Press use
of
direct quotes,
and audio
to back them
up, from
the top two
officials
of the United
Nations
Correspondents
Association.
What
is the
interest of
Dujarric, and
more generally
of the UN, in
if and
how Inner City
Press runs
admittedly
accurate
quotes from
UNCA
officials?
Dujarric's
letter
claimed,
falsely, that
the session at
which UNCA
President Pam
Falk -- who
was not named
in the
February 25
report -- screamed
that
Inner City
Press is a “mugger”
and “you call
yourself a
journalist,”
was understood
by all to be
off the
record.
In
fact, Inner
City Press
said clearly
“you are on
the record,”
and
Falk said
“he's going to
write about
this.” Click
here for audio.
Inner
City Press
replied
immediately to
Dujarric,
noting this
and that
Louis
Charbonneau
of UNCA
(and Reuters)
said that the
problem is the
Inner
City Press
website. This
is
inappropriate,
given freedom
of the
press. But you
said nothing.
Please state
whether your
formal letter
about an
article I
wrote is
intended to be
placed in some
file,
regarding
discipline or
accreditation,
and what my
due process
rights
are.
I
reiterate my
question: the
description in
the Voice
of America
document I
cited
which
says UNCA met
with the UN
"very quietly"
in the middle
of
2012 about
dis-accreditation
-- please
state who was
at the
meeting(s)
from the UN
(and UNCA)
sides. Due
process rules
are
absolutely
needed.
I
am pasting
below the 10
reforms the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access]
raised on
February 10,
to which we as
yet have no
response -
beyond
an invitation
to a meeting
to be screamed
at by UNCA's
President --
who was told,
this is on the
record, and
even said, you
will report
this -- and
now your
formal letter.
I will
appreciate
your soonest
response.
But
in the 36
hours since,
there has been
no response.
As reported
since, when
Dujarric on
June 29, 2012
offered Inner
City Press
re-acceditation
to the end of
the year, he
seemingly
conditioned it
on not
criticizing UN
Peacekeeping's
Herve Ladsous
or Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, even
on Twitter.
As the year
closed,
Dujarric
twit-icized
Inner City
Press quip
about France
and the
Central
African
Republic,
which is fine,
but see below.
One
might surmise
that the goal
of the
February 27
letter, sent
by the
official in
charge of
accreditation
to the UN and
expressing in
UN-ese “deep
disappointment”
about critical
reporting was
intended to
stop that
reporting, or
that reporter.
Well,
no.
In February 28
Inner City
Press published
an account and
video of
another
session
moderated by
Dujarric the
day previous,
this time
with the Bill
& Melinda
Gates
Foundation,
at which Inner
City
Press asked
about recent
meningitis
vaccinations
in Chad which
sickened 38
children.
An answer was
promised but,
as with
Dujarric's
letter,
there's been
no follow up
for two days.
Nor
has there been
anything from
Pamela Falk,
the UNCA
President. At
the
still only
half-quoted
session she
made many loud
claims about
social
media.
That is
increasingly
Falk's mode of
communication,
flurries of
tweets
directed at
the
spokespeople
of the
Missions to
the UN of the
United States,
UK and France
(those to
Russia were
sent from
another
account),
promoting
stories that
are sometimes
two days old.
On
February
28, Falk
tweeted about
the February
25 UN
announcement
that
it belatedly
took Osama bin
Laden off its
Al Qaeda
sanctions
list.
On
February
27, Falk
mis-tweeted
that the Iran
nuclear talks
had taken
place in Rome,
rather than
where they
actually were
in Kazakhstan.
This is the
UNCA chief who
screamed at
Inner City
Press, “you
call
yourself a
journalist.”
(We
won't here
cite, only
yesterday, to
Inner City
Press scoops
on Sudan,
UN
corruption and
union busting,
and even Palestine,
except to note
we never
mentioned Falk
in any way
until she took
the UNCA post,
apparently
without due
diligence, and
then things
got worse
under her.)
Now
to
make some
point, Falk
had made
herself into a
hashtag, lists
UNCA as
part of her
one-line
journalism
pedigree and
links to her
TwitPic
profile
sitting behind
a CBS news
desk.
But where
again were
those
Iran nuclear
talks? And is
three
day old news
Up To The
Minute?
Most
recently, Falk
has taken to
sending UNCA
promotional
tweets such a
one containing
only the
phrase, “UNCA
Executive
Committee” and
a
link to the
photographs of
the 15
members.
We were and
are tempted to
write on this,
since the
topic has been
opened. But we
continue to
await
explanation --
on the record,
of course, and
so best in
writing
to avoid the
confusion
Dujarric seems
or claims to
have had.
Watch
this site.
Footnote:
Dujarric
claims that
his goal is or
was to improve
the “climate”
in the UN and
its press
corps. But
issuing formal
complaint
letters
about
articles, when
one controls
accreditation,
and so openly
siding
with one group
over another
is not
designed to
improve any
climate. This
and the
subsequent
failure to
explain or
answer direct
questions
only worsen
things.
, 
