On
UN's Banning
of Press from
SC Stakeout,
Adlerstein
Tells ICP “In
Evolution”
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
25 -- As the
UN Security
Council
prepares to
move back to
its renovated
chamber, the
question of
whether the
press will
have the same
access it had
before, and
even had in
the basement
during the
renovation,
has yet to be
answered.
In
April 25,
Inner City
Press asked UN
Capital Master
Plan chief
Michael
Adlerstein
about the
so-called
Turkish Lounge
which has been
installed in
an area of the
stakeout to
which the
media used to
have access. Video
here.
Adlerstein
began
by telling
Inner City
Press, “we
offered a
series of
rooms for
gifting,”
based on a
resolution by
the General
Assembly.”
Of the
Security
Council
stakeout
Adlerstein
continued,
“One of the
areas we
offered,”
which he said
“used to be a
coffee bar...
the Turks
asked for that
area. They
furnished it,
their
architect came
in.”
Inner
City Press
asked, who
decided that
the press
would not have
the same
access it had
before?
Adlerstein
paused;
there was
laughter.
Inner City
Press said,
“It's a press
conference” --
albeit about
the re-opening
of the
Trusteeship
Council
Chamber.
Adlerstein
then
told Inner
City Press,
“this was a
discussion
which is still
ongoing. As
the building
opens, I think
that dialogue
with the press
will evolve.”
While
Inner City
Press didn't
say it, the
UN's dialogue
on press
access,
accreditation
and other
matters can no
longer by
limited to the
old UN
Correspondents'
Association.
UNCA
has been
ineffectual;
worse, it has
tried to get
the UN to
throw out
media that the
wire services
that dominate
the UNCA
Executive
Committee
don't like. It
has become, at
least at the
level of the
Executive
Committee, the
UN's
Censorship
Alliance.
And so, here,
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
which has
been advocating
on this and
wider needed
reforms.
Inner
City Press
asked
Adlerstein if
Turkey would
have a say in
whether the
space would be
accessible to
the press, as
it was before
the renovation
and Turkish
“gifting.”
Adlerstein
said,
“it's not
their area...
it will be
managed by who
uses it.”
But
wouldn't that
be the press?
Watch this
site.
Footnotes:
Adlerstein
offered a
detailed
explanation of
the re-designs
of the
Trusteeship
Council
Chamber, from
a horseshoe
facing front
to a lower one
facing
outward, only
two steps high
to allow a
ramp for
accessibility.
Inner
City Press
asked why the
coffee loft in
the Delegates'
Lounge was
taken out.
Adlerstein
explained that
its single
staircase did
not comply
with fire code
-- which the
UN
“voluntarily”
allows
“visits” to
assess -- and
the cost of
installing an
elevator would
be
prohibitive.
So now you
know.
, 
