Ethiopian
Blogger
at US Mission
to UN, While
UN in Addis Is
Silent on
Censorship
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May 4
-- When
Ethiopian
blogger
Soleyana
(Soli)
Gebremichael spoke
on May 4 at
the US Mission
to the UN
for World
Press Freedom
Day, the first
question from
the audience
was from a
fellow
journalist
from Uganda,
asking what
the African
Union with its
headquarters
in Addis does
for press
freedom there.
Soli
contrasted the
ideals in the
speeches given
at the AU,
including on
civil society,
to how little
her native
Ethiopia is
held to them.
Inner City
Press ran to
cover the
event, eager
to ask about
the role of
the UN, which
has a large
presence and
regional
center in
Addis. In New
York, Inner
City Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson
about the year
in jail of the
Zone 9
Bloggers
-- without
answer. Some
tell Inner
City Press
that there is
surveillance
of the UN, of
which the UN
does not
complain.
Ambassador
Samantha
Power, who put
questions to
Soli and to
Kenan Aliyev
of a US State
Department
affiliated
radio station
in Azerbaijan,
asked of the
critique that
development
and health
come before
freedom of the
press. Her
remarks should
go
online here.
Soli
said this is
just what the
new government
in Ethiopia
says, but it
is not an
either / or.
To be afraid
of bloggers in
a country with
2% internet
penetration
shows fear.
The third and
last question
taken noted
that at
Colombia
School of
Journalism
it's said that
bloggers are
not
journalists.
This outmoded
view has crept
into the UN,
for example
when State
Department
affiliated Voice of
America asked
the UN to
review the
accreditation
of “that
blogger” Inner
City Press,
triggered by
its reporting
on Sri
Lanka and
conflicts of
interest
involving the
UN
Correspondents
Association.
UNCA's then
and now
president
rented one of
his Manhattan
apartments to
Palitha
Kohona, then later
screened a war
crimes denial
film at
the request of
Kohona as Sri
Lanka's
ambassador.
And so the Free UN Coalition for Access has been
formed, and in
for
World Press
Freedom Day
2015 as
regards the UN
is demanding
that
“alongside the
UN's selected
advocacy
for some but
not all
journalists
under attack,
the UN
Secretariat
should be
pressed to
speak up for
media freedom
everywhere it
has
peacekeeping
missions or
regional
offices, at a
bare minimum.”
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
while the UN
itself was not
raised at the
May 4 event at
the US
Mission, the Washington
Times in a
World Press
Freedom Day
article noted
that UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous blocked
the Press'
camera to
avoid a
stakeout about
Sudan, here.
Vine
here. Word
is getting
out. What will
be done?
, 
