UN's
Censorship
Alliance Seeks
to Bury New
Media &
“In-House
Stories”
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 3 – The
UN now attempts
to censor
journalists
by falsely
claiming that
quotes, after
“you are the
record” was
clearly
said, should
not be used.
The only
free-press
response must
be to
run the
quotes, and
the on
the record
audio.
When
the false
claim states
“it is deeply
disappointing
to learn that
in
fact you
reported on
the meeting”
and comes in a
formal letter
from
the boss of UN
Media
Accreditation
Stephane
Dujarric, the
de
facto
attempt to
censor
is clear.
But
at the
referenced
meeting,
neither
Dujarric or
any other
participant
ever said it
was off the
record.
In fact, after
being compared
to a
“mugger,”
Inner City
Press said
loudly, “You
are on the
record,” and
the president
of the UN
Correspondents
Association
Pamela Falk of
CBS said “he's
going to write
this up.” Click
here for audio
of that.
Immediately
after
receiving
Dujarric's
false claim,
Inner City
Press reminded
him
of the loud
“on the
record”
statement, and
inquired into
the
purpose of the
letter and the
process to
rebut it. That
was on
Wednesday,
February 27.
Neither
on
Thursday
February 28
nor Friday
March 1 did
Dujarric
respond in
any way,
despite
inquiries by
Inner City
Press with
others in the
Media
Accreditation
chain of
command.
The
goal seems to
be to
discourage any
reporting, via
the false
claim of
the boss of
Accreditation.
This is
unacceptable.
Today,
four days
after
Dujarric's
false and
still
unexplained
complaint, we
are running audio of
another
portion of the
meeting,
which occurred
after Inner
City Press
announced, if
for some
reasons there
was any
misunderstanding,
“you are on
the record.”
In this
audio clip,
Pamela Falk
screams that
Inner City
Press should
not publish
even her name,
despite the
fact that she
chose to
pursue,
without any
competition,
the top spot
at UNCA
in the year
after it tried
to get
the
investigative
Press thrown
out of the UN.
Dujarric
cuts
off Inner City
Press'
response and
says yes, you
have the
right to
exist... "as
long as you
have an
accreditation”
-- the
continuation
of which,
of course, he
controls.
Dujarric also
to his credit
said there
should
be more
reporting on
how the money
flows at the
UN, on how the
deals
are made, and
on Haiti,
where the UN
recently
dismissed
claims it
introduced
cholera which
killed 8,000
people.
Inner
City Press
covers all of
those issues.
But apparently
Dujarric's
only
threat-letter
went to Inner
City Press,
and not to the
UNCA “leaders”
for establishing
anonymous
Twitter
accounts to
try to
undermine
not
only Inner
City Press but
also the new Free UN Coalition for Media
Access
with counterfeit
messages to
countries'
missions to
the UN.
Where's the
threat letter
on that?
Actually,
Inner
City Press and
FUNCA have
never asked
the UN and its
Department
of Public
Information to
send complaint
letters to any
media.
We
believe in
freedom of the
press and
freedom of
speech, which
has
included being
called a
“mugger” and
having UNCA
leaders'
insulting
graffiti on
Inner City
Press' UN
cubicle door.
The
point is, what
Inner City
Press does is
on the record,
for
attribution.
The same is
true for the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access.
By
contrast, UNCA
leaders
conduct their
campaigns
anonymously,
then
when they
shout insults
after they are
told, and
acknowledge,
that
they are on
the record,
they try to
use the UN's
Media
Accreditation
machinery to
discourage any
reporting.
Also
in the
meeting,
Falk's first
vice president
Louis
Charbonneau
of Reuters
said the
"fundamental
problem" is
the Inner City
Press website.
Click
here for audio
of that.
That's
why it's
called the
UN's
Censorship
Alliance. And
it is not
acceptable.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
Also
on this
audio clip,
UNCA's Pamela
Falk bemoans
that “our
media” can't
do “in house
stories” which
she then
conflates
with “personal
attacks.”
This might be
a subset of
the new media
- old media
dynamic: but
only at the UN
do the old
media think
they
should be able
to use
officials like
Dujarric to
get the new
media
thrown out, or
to limit
reporting by
threats to
accreditation.
Inner
City Press
said, and
says: when the
UN offers a
privileged
position
to an
organization
which openly
tried to get
other critical
Press
thrown out, it
will be
opposed, now
by the Free
UN Coalition
for
Access.
The need for a
new
organization
to stand up
for the right
of
access to the
UN and to
freely
reporting in
and on the UN
is ever
more clear.