By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 24,
2014 -- In the
small world of
journalists
covering the
UN from
within, Stewart
Stogel
stood out as
combative,
dogged,
critical,
unique. He
staked out
Kofi Annan
outside his
UN-provided
Sutton Place
townhouse; he
shouted
questions at
diplomats
entering the
Security
Council while
others
mouthed,
“Hello,
Ambassador.”
On
November 24
the UN's Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit
announced:
“It
is with great
sadness that
my office just
learned that
U.N.
correspondent
Stewart Stogel
passed away
from
complications
of diabetes.
Stew was a
veteran
journalist who
had been
covering the
United
Nations, its
Secretaries-General
and the
activities of
the Member
States for
many years. He
worked for
several media
outfits and
his stories
appeared on
ABC News,
Press TV and
NBC News but
also in
Newsweek, The
Miami Herald,
The Washington
Times and
World Net
Daily. He was
60 years old.”
Often, those
Stogel was
covering
including in Mount
Vernon
where he
lived, would
try to
undermine his
connections to
the
above-listed
publications.
The UN itself
made Stogel
re-apply for
credentials
and, according
to him, did
not make his
work easier.
Inner City
Press and the
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
offers a few
anecdotes,
links and Rest
in Peace
wishes.
In 2008
UNICEF's Ann
Veneman agreed
to essentially
rent out the
UN's North
Lawn to an
event by
Madonna, or
really, Gucci.
Stogel
registered to
cover it;
Inner City
Press
investigated
it from
outside.
Ultimately
many in the UN
stepped away
from the
flawed event.
But Stogel
kept digging,
even as a
public
relations firm
tried to
complain
against him.
His story is here.
Stew Stogel
was a working
journalist. He
will be
missed.
Stogel in his
reporting on
the UN had a
love - hate
relationship
with some in
UN Security:
some were
sources,
others went
after him.
He reported
critically on
UN Security
official Bruno
Henn - who,
Inner City
Press today
reports in
Stogel's
spirit, has
been acted in
the most
recent
Department of
Safety and
Security
promotion /
demotion
exercise - and
was known for
his reporting
on a so-called
“riot” last
time the UN
changed
catering
contractors,
as it is
slated to do
again on
December 31, click here
for that.
Stogel
likewise had a
love - hate
relations with
the
Accreditation
unit: he liked
and was liked
by some.
Another Stogel
story, in
2010, involved
the reduction
in
journalists'
access at the
UN Security
Council, citing
then “French
ambassador
Gerard Araud,
who had been
growing
increasingly
frustrated
with
unwelcomed
ambush
interviews.”
Precisely the
kind of
blacklisting
which BuzzFeed
faced this
year from the
UN World
Health
Organization,
and which when
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
asked UN
spokesman
Dujarric
about,
Dujarric said
the UN doesn't
do, Stogel
faced from
Dujarric's
predecessor.
Also in 2010,
even while
accredited
through other
media, Stogel
joined the
campaign for
bloggers'
rights at the
UN, writing to
the same UN
office which
eulogized him
that
“ICP
is reporting
that the
media/accreditation
status of
bloggers is
still being
debated within
DPI. Why? Ban
Ki-moon is now
in office more
than three
years and this
question still
remains? The
White House
addressed the
issue of
bloggers more
than 6 years
ago, yet at
the UN it is
still debated?
Why?
“It
becomes an
important
issue because
of the
repeated
confrontational
positions DPI
has taken with
press
especially
since Ban
Ki-moon
arrived. DPI
has taken the
outrageous
position of
contacting
various news
organizations
and
occasionally
'advising'
them on who to
assign to
cover the
United
Nations. It is
tradition
going back
more than 50
years of
accrediting
news
organizations,
not
individuals.
The
Organization
has often used
credential
accreditation
as a
"political"
pressure
tactic to
retaliate for
news coverage
it took
exception to.
This is a
department
that is quite
literally
spinning out
of control.
How long will
this
continue?”
In the
spirit of Stew
Stogel, these
questions will
continue to be
asked. Watch
this site.
, 
