Post
Sandy,
Shifting Spin
to Justify UN
Press Delay,
Favoritism in
Move-Back
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 16 --
What has been
Hurricane
Sandy's impact
on the
UN in New
York, and why
was it
announced on
January 11
that the UN
press corps
will be
delayed two
months in
moving back
into the
renovated UN
headquarters
building?
After
the
announcement
of delay,
Inner City
Press, on
behalf of the
Free
UN
Coalition for
Access, immediately
inquired with
the UN Capital
Master
Plan, in
charge of the
renovation,
and was told
"The
decision to
change the
move-back date
to April was
caused by
collateral
impacts
of Hurricane
Sandy,
especially by
a lack of
adequate labor
due to
increased
demand for
overtime-paying
construction
repair jobs.
This
affects the
new Permanent
Broadcast
Facility in
the Conference
Building,
whose
completion is
necessary for
the new press
offices to
function."
To
better
understand the
argument used
to delay the
move by two
months,
Inner City
Press went to
the next
UN noon
briefing on
January 14 and
asked:
Inner
City Press: We
had been told
that the press
corps was
going to move
in February,
now it’s going
to be April,
and the
Capital Master
Plan, I asked
why and they
said it’s due
to lack of
adequate labor
due to the
increased
demand of
overtime
paying
construction
repair
jobs after
Hurricane
Sandy. So, is
Skanska using
union labor?
Does
Skanska have
its own work
force or
people just
brought in on
an ad
hoc basis? And
what’s
specific about
this permanent
broadcast
facility that
requires
overtime or
sort of ad hoc
construction
labor?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Eduardo Del
Buey: Well,
I’d have to
refer that…
I’ll have to
ask the
Capital… the
people who run
the Capital
Master Plan
for an idea of
that, I don’t
exactly know
what their
contractual
obligations
are. What I do
know is that
normally,
contractors
contract. And,
if the market
has grown
significantly
since
Hurricane
Sandy in terms
of
construction,
the prices
have gone
up, all of
these things
have to be
factored in.
But, I will
find out
from the
Capital Master
Plan.
Inner
City Press:
Thanks, it
seemed to say
that this
permanent
broadcast
facility,
because it
can’t be
completed the
press can’t
move. And this
wasn’t
explained
either, does
this involve
this piping in
the television
to the offices
or is it only
some people
that would be
affected?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
No, it
involves
basically… I
believe it
involves the
press theatre.
Inner
City Press:
Say again?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
The press
theatre. Where
we hold the
press
conferences
and the press…
the daily
briefings. We
have to have
that set for
everybody to
move.
Inner
City Press:
So, people
could move
their offices
and come back
here for the
briefings?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, all of
this is being
taken a look
at, Matthew, I
don’t have
anything for
you right now,
but we will
find out.
Two
full days
later, there
had been no
answer through
this channel.
In
the interim, a
senior
Department of
Public
Information
official told
Inner City
Press that the
UN has the
same number of
construction
workers, they
are just
having to be
diverted to
deal with
damage to
the UN from
Hurricane
Sandy.
In
preparation
for a FUNCA
interchange
with DPI,
Inner City
Press asked
the Capital
Master Plan
and learned
this is not
the case: it's
that
other work
sites in the
region are
paying more,
after Sandy,
so fewer
construction
workers are
coming to the
UN. We can't
pay more, the
CMP
explained.
Can't
or won't,
that is the
question.
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon has
already moved
back in the
renovated
building, as
have DPI's top
officials.
Inner
City Press
also learned,
on behalf of
FUNCA, that
only a
relatively
small
percentage of
UN
correspondents
would be
impacted by
the delay
in the
Permanent
Broadcast
Facility -
only those
that "need big
pipes," as the
CMP put it.
So
why can't the
other
correspondents
move back in,
out of the
windowless
cubicles
(where every
phone call can
be overheard)
to which
they have been
confined
during the
CMP?
In
fact, some in
the Japanese
press who used
to have office
space with
windows will,
under the
current plan
agreed to or
acquiesced in
by
the censoring
and decaying
UNCA,
return to
windowless
offices; some
have been
denied office
space while
others who
rarely come
have
gotten it.
Other
non-western
wire services
have not
gotten their
own space,
unlike for
example State
Department's
Voice of
America.
Click here for
VOA
disaccreditation
bid, here
for UN's thank
you.
Photographers
with Agence
France-Presse
or Reuters
who rarely
come to the UN
are given
white full
access passes,
while non-wire
photographers
more often
here must go
through metal
detectors with
green passes.
Journalists
from
and on the
Arab Spring
are without
office space;
some have been
denied even
accreditation.
Watch this
site.
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