For
Softball Q to
Hillary, 1st
Chance Given
to UNCA,
Campaign
Contributions
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
11 -- Many
have now noted
that the
set-aside first
question
to Hillary
Clinton at the
UN
Security
Council
stakeout
position on
March 10
was a
softball,
beginning with
“it's
wonderful to
see you” and
ending with an
invitation to
blame the
inquiry into
privatized
State
Department
email on
sexism.
But there's
more.
To defend the
setting-aside
of this
question, it
has been
falsely
claimed that
there is a
“tradition” of
the UN
Correspondents
Association
getting the
first question
in such
setting.
A simple
review
on the UN
Television
online
archives
of the last
ten, or
twenty, or one
hundred
question and
answer
sessions at
the Security
Council
stakeout
position where
Hillary
Clinton spoke
shows there is
no such
tradition. So
why was this
"tradition"
invented and
invoked?
And now,
there's more.
The head of
UNCA Giampioli
Pioli, to whom
it's said the
first question
was to be
given, is a
Democratic campaign
contributor.
To the tune of
at least $800.
This
too is online,
here --
and has been
raised, along
with other
conflicts of
interest,
but UNCA has
not adopted
any policy
against it.
This is why
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
opposes
privileges for
and use of
UNCA, for
softball
questions at
the UN.
The Washington
Post's Al
Kamen In the
Loop reported:
“by
tradition, the
first question
at a U.N. news
conferences is
asked by the
president of
the U.N.
Correspondents
Association.
But UNCA
president
Giampaolo
Pioli, of the
Italian paper
Quotidiano
Nazionale
(National
Daily) wasn’t
in town
Tuesday. We
reached him in
the Central
African
Republic and
he said
protocol would
dictate that
one of the
other UNCA
officers would
do the honors.
They did
indeed follow
protocol and
the next
officer in
line,
UNCA first
vice president
Kahraman
Haliscelik,
the New York
correspondent
for the
Turkish Radio
& TV
network,
opened the
questioning”
And here was
the question:
"Madam
Secretary, on
behalf of the
U.N.
correspondents
association,
thank you very
much for your
remarks and it's
wonderful to
see you here
again.
Madam
Secretary, why
did you opt
out using two
devices at the
time?
Obviously, if
this hadn't
come out, it
probably would
not have been
an issue. And
my second
follow up
question is, if
you are a man
today, would
all this fuss
be made?"
The question...
speaks for
itself.
The pretext
for setting
aside this
first question
doesn't hold
up. Again, a
simple search
of UNTV's
online videos
of the last
week or month
or year of
question and
answer
sessions at
the Security
Council
stakeout where
Hillary
Clinton spoke
shows there is
no such
tradition,
whatever UNCA
and perhaps
others claim.
But this
Pioli, flying
along with
Security
Council
members for
quick visits
to the Central
African
Republic and
Burundi, about
which Pioli
has never
asked the UN a
question nor
apparently
written any
articles
(unlike US
politics), is
a Democratic campaign
contributor.
Whatever one's
political
affiliation,
is this
appropriate?
Watch this
site.
, 
