UNITED
NATIONS, May
21 -- On what
basis does the
UN, after cutting
off the
UN Television
broadcast of a
speech by
Palestine's
negotiator
Saeb
Erekat but
saying
the video
would be put
online the
next day,
not
follow through
or explain?
Inner
City Press
asked the
first question
on May 20
right after
the
cut-off,
and seven and
a half hour
later was told
by the chief
of
UNTV Stephane
Dujarric, "Due
to a clerical
error the
meeting was
listed as
closed and not
available to
UNTV. However,
we will have a
recording made
available to
us tomorrow.
It will then
be posted on
the UN webcast
page."
In
its second
story on the
UN black-out
of Erekat,
Inner City
Press
published
that response
and concluded,
"We'll have
more on this
tomorrow."
That was
supposed to
mean, about
the substance
of
what Erakat
said.
But
24 hours
later, the Erekat
video was still
not on the
UN's website.
At a Tuesday
evening event
of the
Permanent
Forum on
Indigenous
Issues in the
General
Assembly
lobby, another
delegation --
not
Palestine --
expressed
outrage at
the blackout,
saying "you
know
who's behind
it."
Actually,
we
don't. But the
UN should take
this more
seriously. If
no video
exists, it
should say so
publicly and
give a full
accounting. If
the
video does
exist, it
should post it
online. From
both sides of
the
issue there is
interest in
what Erekat
said. Watch
this site.
Footnote:
we
note because
we must that
this same
Stephane
Dujarric is
involved
in a proposal,
apparently
agreed to by
the old
UN
Correspondents
Association,
to try to ban the
press from
using the
Security
Council
stakeout as a
workspace,
as was allowed
in front of
the old
(pre-renovation)
Security
Council, and
in front of
the interim
Security
Council in the
basement under
the General
Assembly.
It
is there, at
the "stakeout
workspace,"
that the
Observer
Mission of the
State of
Palestine
often
delivered its
news, which is
now being
blacked-out
for whatever
reason by UN
DPI. Ban the
press from
using the
stakeout
as a
workspace?
Especially in
this context,
we (and the Free UN
Coalition for
Access)
think not.
, 
