UNITED
NATIONS, May
31 -- With the
UN Security
Council
already moving
from
the basement
back to the
second floor,
and the media
table in front
of it already
gone, Inner
City Press at
Friday's noon
briefing asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey for
the status of
the draft rule
which would
for the first
time ban media
workspace in
front of the
Council. Video
here, from
Minute 10:04.
Inner
City Press for
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
was shown,
"for
comment," a
draft Media
Access
Guideline on
May 20 which
along
other things
would provide:
"f.
The Security
Council
stakeout area,
including the
Turkish
Lounge, is
not to be used
as a permanent
workspace for
the media.
When the
Council is not
in session,
correspondents
should
minimize the
amount
of time in the
area, unless
interviewing
or conversing
with a U.N.
delegate or
official."
As
FUNCA
commented on
May 21, and
Inner City
Press has
reported
in stories
since, this
proposed rule
would reverse
the media
workspace
-- a work
table -- that
existed in
front of the
Security
Council
before its
temporary move
to the
basement, and
that continued
in the
basement,
until today.
A
week ago, Del
Buey claimed
that the rule
would not
reduce media
access. Now he
has been
repeating to
Inner City
Press that it
can
only ask the
Department of
Public
Information,
whose Stephane
Dujarric has
not provided
the date of
implementation,
nor acted on
or
even provided
a substantive
response to
other
complaints
lodged with
him.
(Beyond
those
complaints,
including
involving a UN Security
camera
about
Inner City
Press' and
FUNCA's office
door, other
FUNCA members
have
raised their
banning as
non-resident
correspondents
from the
Delegates'
Lounge; the
rules would
also trample
on free speech
rights.)
Del
Buey on Friday
again said,
"Ask
Stephane,"
saying that
while Ban's
Office of the
Spokesperson
is listed as a
party to the
Guidelines --
tellingly, so
is the old UN
Correspondents
Association,
although no
membership
meeting on
these has been
held -- it is
DPI
which
"implements"
the rules.
So
it's DPI
banning media
workspace and
access, using
or being used
by the Gulf
& Western
wires who run
the UNCA
board? UNCA's
2013 president
Pamela Falk of
CBS claimed to
UNCA members
who asked that
she hadn't
seen the Media
Access
Guidelines. (One
member
specified, the
most recent
version.)
More recently
the spin is
that it is up
to Security
Council
members.
Two anonymous
social media
accounts
associated
with UNCA / Reuters,
and now
analogized by
one observer
to "Mean
Girls," have
opposed the
press for
maintaining
media
workspace by
the Security
Council. And
Ban's DPI?
The
incoming
Security
Council
presidency has
acknowledged
that having a
media table in
front of the
Council hurts
no one, and
helps
coverage.
So by what
right would it
be eliminated?
The
issue of the
impending and
unnecessary
banning of
media
workspace in
front of the
Security
Council has
been raised
above
Dujarric,
politely, with
the offer of
any additional
information
necessary.
Watch this
site.
, 
