UNITED NATIONS
GATE, September 21 – When Nigeria's
Foreign Minister Geoffrey
Onyeama held a press
conference in the UN on 21
September 2018, unlike last
year Inner City Press
was unable to enter and ask
him any question, as he ask
him about Cameroon and Paul
Biya's internet cut last
year. We'll have more on
that - but thankfully
another journalist, Simon
Ateba of Today
News Africa,
asked Onyeama four real
questions, including on
planes bought from the US,
China and IPOB. Onyeama,
always long winded, said
that he read on the internet
that an IPOB leader is safe
in London. He justified
taking a loan from China by
saying Switzerland's law on
the return of Abacha loot is
so bureaucratic that such
borrower is still necessary.
Of course, in other
countries China is
foreclosing on the media
companies it lent to. But
Ateba is a breath of fresh
air in the UN. We'll have
more on this. For now, since
banned from the UN by UN
Secretary
General
Antonio Guterres
on September 21, Inner City
Press covered and spoke out
a Cameroon / Ambazonia event
outside the gate at which
the failure of the UN to
address the roots of the
conflict were decried. On
what, we will definitely
have more - and this: As Guterres prepared
to hold his September
20 press
conference seeking
to make his
tenure look
effective
despite failures
from Yemen to Cameroon
to mounting corruption
scandals,
he had so little
confidence that he
had his UN
Security rough up
and oust Inner
City Press and his
bureaucracy ban it
from the building
for life, with
no hear or
appeal. Ban
letter here;
US Press
Freedom
Tracker here.
His
press conference
had no
questions
about
Cameroon or
Burundi or the
misuse of
public funds
for personal
travel, by UNEP's Erik
Solheim,
UNDP and of course
Guterres himself,
nothing on
the expanding
China Energy
Fund Committee
UN bribery
scandal,
with one
defendant now
flipping to
cooperate.
Instead his
spokesman Stephane
Dujarric hand
picked
the
questions on September
20, just
as he
handpicks which
media
can('t) be
there. On
September 20
he gave the
first question
to South Africa Broadcasting,
which asked about South Africa;
then Al Arabiya,
which trashed
the Houthis.
Then Voice
of America,
which which
Dujarric has
previously
corresponded, here; Dujarric's
favorite
Al
Jazeera; Reuters
to ask about
itself
(Guterres' hypocrisy
ignored);
Italy's ANSA
to ask about
Italy, capped
by CBS,
constantly
gushing praise
of Guterres. Dujarric
has
reversed course:
on August 27 he
said Inner
City Press' ban
is about
creating a
"hostile environment
for
diplomats;" on
September 17
he said it was
the decision
of Guterres'
Secretariat
without "any
inputs from
any member
states." Video
here.
Dujarric
had
told another
reporter back
on July 11
that Inner City
Press' “status is
being
reviewed. My
understanding is
that he will be
having discussions
with various parts
of this
administration."
In fact, other
than a
single
basement
interview by
UN Security
before
Dujarric said
that, there were no
discussions,
no due
process by
Guterres'
Global Censor
Alison Smale,
ironically a
former Berlin
Bureau Chief
for the New
York Times.
Dujarric mis-spoke,
to be diplomatic
about it.
And Guterres
is a censor,
for corruption.
Did he
disclose his
son's business
links in
Angola, Namibia, Sao
Tome, Timor
Leste and Cabo
Verde? Are
there recusals
in
place?
Amid
these questions
Inner City
Press was
unjustly,
and increasingly
violently, ousted
from the UN on
June 22 (during a
Guterres speech
bragging about
Mali) and July 3,
during
consideration of
Guterres' budget
and reforms, with
mixed results.
Fox News story
here,
GAP blogs I
and II.
The
first question
was handed to
UNCA, become
the UN's
Censorship
Alliance. Guterres
smiled for the
camera with the
Press violently
excluded on July
12. Since
Inner City Press
alone has asked
Guterres and his
spokesman dozens
of questions about
the killings by
Cameroon's
government, it
seems clear the
goal of banning
Inner City Press
is to avoid those
questions. What
about the China
Energy Fund
Committee scandal
of UN bribery of
Presidents of the
General Assembly
Sam Kutesa - with
whom Guterres
still deals - and
Vuk Jeremic? No
one else asked.
And what about
Guterres' “Global
Service Delivery
Mechanism” plan,
to fire American
UN staff in New
York (and others
in Geneva), and
move the jobs to
Mexico City and
Budapest,
respectively? Guterres
the way he and
Dujarric and
Alison Smale have
set it up may get
a question about
Western Sahara -
but it would be
from the many
Morocco state
media to which
they give office
space and full
access. There is a
lot of that -
watch this site,
and
@InnerCityPress on
Twitter. The
UN has banned
Inner City
Press from
entering its
campus since
July 5, claiming
that its Lieutenant Ronald
Dobbins
targeted
ouster of
Inner City Press
from a speech
by Secretary
General
Antonio Guterres
on June 22
then from a
meeting about
his budget on
July 3 were
"altercations."
Now this ban
has been extended
beyond
the UN campus
to the Pierre
Hotel on Fifth Avenue,
for a July 10 press
conference by
the UN
affiliated but
ostensibly
independent
World Intellectual
Property
Organization
(WIPO) which
as Inner City
Press has
previously
reported helped
North Korea
with its
cyanide
patents and
retaliated against
it staff and
media. Inner
City Press
was e-mailed
an invitation
on July 2 and
replied with an
RSVP to cover
it.
Marshall
Hoffman of WIPO's
public
relations
firm Hoffman
PR wrote back,
"Thanks. We
will see at
the press
conference."
After that, Guterres
spokesman
Farhan Haq was
asked why
Inner City
Press is
banned and said it
is pending a
review of two
"altercations"
- both of which
were improper
and unilateral
ousters of Inner
City Press by
UN Security's
Dobbins and
officers, four
of whom
refused to give their
names. Soon,
there was this
follow up e-mail
from WIPO's flak
Marshall
Hoffman: "Dear
Matthew, It
has come to my
attention that
your
accreditation
to the UN has
been suspended
pending an
investigation
into an
incident.
Given the
suspension, I
regret you
will not be
able to attend
the WIPO press
conference."
This is more
than a little
strange - the
press
conference is
not explicitly
limited
to UN
accredited
journalists,
and Inner City
Press has
not been
contacted once by
the UN about
the review or
any suspension,
it was only
told at the
46th Street gate
that its
banned for
some undefined
time. But now
also banned
from a press
conference at
a hotel in
Manhattan by
an agency for
which Guterres
spokespeople
have refused
to
answer, saying
Francis Gurry
(who will speak at
the Pierre
Hotel press
conference
along with
Soumitra Dutta
from Cornell
University and
Bruno Lanvin
from INSEAD) has
his own
governing
board? Something
stinks here.
We'll have
more on this - and
on this: how
untransparent
and
inaccessible
is Antonio
Guterres, as
UN Secretary
General? The
day he canceled his
first UN
Headquarters
press
conference in six months, he was ironically the
guest of honor of the United
Nations Correspondents
Association. He was scheduled
to make remarks at 6 pm - but
it was not in the UN Media
Alert. Inner City Press, whose
RSVP to UNCA was never
responded to, streamed the
event from the tourists'
balcony, edited here.
Then Guterres' UN Security
guards physically ousted Inner
City Press from covering the
UN Fifth Committee's July 3
meeting on his proposal to
fire UN staff and move the
jobs- then on July 5 banned
Inner City Press from entering
the UN.
Fox News story
here,
GAP blogs I
and II. While
Guterres' UNCA fan club said
nothing, others did. Guterres
blathered on about how he
supported the media in
Portugal - dubious - and then
cuts a cake for his UN
Censorship Alliance. Earlier
Inner City Press asked
Guterres' lead spokesman
Stephane Dujarric, who
previously lent the UN Press
Briefing Room to UNCA, if the
event was open press but he
refused to answer and ran off.
Inner City Press asked the
spokesman from the President
of the General Assembly, who
is listed as attended but will
not speak, why it is not in
the UN Media Alert. The
spokesman said to ask UNCA.
But UNCA never responded to
the RSVP of Inner City Press
through the Free UN Coalition
for Access. In the middle of
the event the claim was that
UN correspondents didn't have
to RSVP - not what the notice
said. The event was not even
in the June 26 UN Media Alert.
Last
week, Dujarric
spoonfed sound
bytes to a
prominent UNCA
members and
is working with
them to try to
further restrict
Inner City
Press, here -
Inner City
Press was in
fact ousted on
June 22, video
here,
story here).
The
Free UN Coalition for Access
questions this and the
propriety of this explicit
focus by the UN Correspondents
Association on the UN's
"causes" rather than simply
covering the UN as it is; it
and corruption are among the
reasons Inner City Press quit
UNCA (and co-founded FUNCA).
On June 25 Inner
City Press asked Guterres'
Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq
about it, video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press:
on Friday there was the Eid
event in which António
Guterres gave a speech, and I…
I want… I guess I want to put
this in a general way because
I don't understand it.
During the event, as the event
went on, I was required to
leave by a Lieutenant Dobbins
and the emergency response
unit. And it seemed
strange, because there were
many other non-resident
correspondents at the
event. So, I wanted to
know… to know, one, what are
the rules? Number two,
is it acceptable for a… a… UN
Security to… to single out and
target a specific
journalist? And I did…
and I ask this because I've
previously written a story
about promotions in DSS
[Department of Safety and
Security], including Mr.
Dobbins, and whatever that is,
what are the provisions in the
UN to make sure that security
cannot abuse its powers?
So those are… I… I… I'd like
you to answer that, and also
they didn't give their
names. The other
individuals refused to give
their names. Is that UN
policy?
Deputy Spokesman: UN
Security has their
policies. Your concerns
with them need to be addressed
to UN Security. I'm not
going to comment on your own
problems with UN
Security. Brenden, come
on up.
Inner
City Press: I
don't understand. This
happened at a speech by the
Secretary-General.
Deputy Spokesman: No,
I'm sorry, your security
issues are things you're going
to have to deal with.
Inner City Press: It's not a
security issue. It was
done in the name of the
Secretary-General. Is he
speaking tomorrow at 6 p.m.
somewhere? Can you say where
the Secretary-General is
speaking tomorrow at 6 p.m.?
Deputy Spokesman: I’m
not going to argue with you on
this." There was more - video
here.
FUNCA
timely sent this: "This is a
timely response to your
statement that 'The event is
open to all UN correspondents,
Please RSVP by FRIDAY, June
22nd to
RSVPUNCAEvents@gmail.com...
Opening Remarks byUN
Secretary-General António
Guterres, 6:00 pm (LOCATION
TBC).' A UN correspondent, by
choice not a member of UNCA,
is hereby timely requesting to
be informed where SG Antonio
Guterres will be making
remarks, and to cover it.
Please confirm receipt and
provide response. On deadline,
thank you in advance." Five
days later on Tuesday June 26,
no answer at all. So it is not
true, the claim that "the
event is open to all
correspondents"?
Five UN Security
officers, led by UN Lieutenant
Ronald E. Dobbins, pushed
Inner City Press' reporter out
of the UN on June 22. Inner
City Press was live-streaming
Periscope and preparing to
write about Secretary General
Antonio Guterres' claims about
his visit to Mali, where he
didn't even inquire into a
recent case child rape by a UN
Peacekeeper. With the event
still ongoing, Inner City
Press was approached by
Lieutenant Dobbins and told
that since it was just past 7
pm it had to leave the
building. Video here.
That is not
the rule, nor the practice.
But Inner City Press under
Guterres and his head of
Global Communications Alison
Smale has inexplicable been at
the "non-resident
correspondent" level lowered
from that of no-show state
media like Akbhar al Yom's
Sanaa Youssef, assigned Inner
City Press' long time office
despite rarely coming in and
not asking a question in ten
years.
While
Guterres and Smale have
created and encourage the
atmosphere for targeting the
Press, Dobbins had and has his
own reasons. Inner City Press
previously exclusively
reported on fraudulent
promotions in the UN
Department of Safety and
Security, beginning of series
here
with a leaked document
with Dobbins own name on it,
under the heading "Possible
Promotions... if Dobbins does
not want Canine / ERU."
Document here.
Since the publication, Dobbins
and a number of UN Security
officers have openly targeted
Inner City Press. This has
been raised in writing to
Smale (for eight months), for
almost 18 months to Guterres
and his deputy Amina J.
Mohammed, whose response has
been to evade questions on
Cameroon and now an ambiguous
smile while surrounded by UN
Security. On June 25 Inner
City Press asked Guterres'
Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq
about it, video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press:
on Friday there was the Eid
event in which António
Guterres gave a speech, and I…
I want… I guess I want to put
this in a general way because
I don't understand it.
During the event, as the event
went on, I was required to
leave by a Lieutenant Dobbins
and the emergency response
unit. And it seemed
strange, because there were
many other non-resident
correspondents at the
event. So, I wanted to
know… to know, one, what are
the rules? Number two,
is it acceptable for a… a… UN
Security to… to single out and
target a specific
journalist? And I did…
and I ask this because I've
previously written a story
about promotions in DSS
[Department of Safety and
Security], including Mr.
Dobbins, and whatever that is,
what are the provisions in the
UN to make sure that security
cannot abuse its powers?
So those are… I… I… I'd like
you to answer that, and also
they didn't give their
names. The other
individuals refused to give
their names. Is that UN
policy?
Deputy Spokesman: UN
Security has their
policies. Your concerns
with them need to be addressed
to UN Security. I'm not
going to comment on your own
problems with UN
Security. Brenden, come
on up.
Inner
City Press: I
don't understand. This
happened at a speech by the
Secretary-General.
Deputy Spokesman: No,
I'm sorry, your security
issues are things you're going
to have to deal with.
Inner City Press: It's not a
security issue. It was
done in the name of the
Secretary-General. Is he
speaking tomorrow at 6 p.m.
somewhere? Can you say where
the Secretary-General is
speaking tomorrow at 6 p.m.?
Deputy Spokesman: I’m
not going to argue with you on
this." There was more - video
here.
Even if Lt
Dobbins and his team and
commanders wanted to interpret
and twist the existing rules
in a way they are not enforced
against any other non-resident
correspondent at the UN, the
Guterres Eid al -Fitr event
listed in the UN Department of
Public Information was still
ongoing, making it
unquestionable that Inner City
Press had a right to be in the
UN and cover it.
But
even as Inner City Press
dialed DPI's Media
Accreditation and Liaison
Unit, getting only voice mail,
Dobbins made a call and UN
“Emergency Response Unit”
officers arrived, with barely
concealed automatic weapons.
One of them repeatedly pushed
Inner City Press' reporter in
the back, forcing him through
the General Assembly lobby
toward the exit. Video here.
UN
Under Secretary General
Catherine Pollard was told the
ouster and did nothing, as was
a Moroccan diplomat. The
heavily armed UN Security
officers refused to give their
names when asked. Lieutenant
Dobbins, with no name plate on
his uniform, refused to spell
his name. He said, I have my
orders. From who - Guterres?
His Deputy SG or chief of
staff, both of whom were at
the event? DSS chief Drennan?
DPI chief Alison Smale?
Inner City Press repeatedly
asked to be able to get its
laptop computer, which was
upstairs - there was no way to
have known it would be ousted
during Guterres' event.
But
Dobbins and the others
refused, as did the UN
Security officers at the gate.
Inner City Press remained
there, with dwindling cell
phone battery, raising the
issue online to Smale, under
whose watch Inner City Press
has remained in the
non-resident correspondent
status it was reduced to for
pursuing the Ng Lp Seng UN
bribery case into the UN press
briefing room where Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric
ordered it out, then had it
evicted. A DPI representative,
whom Inner City Press asked to
call Smale, was unable or
unwilling to even let Inner
City Press go in escorted to
get its laptop.
Just
in the past week, when Inner
City Press complained of
Dujarric providing only to Al
Jazeera the response of
Antonio Guterres to the US
leaving the UN Human Rights
Council, Dujarric and the Al
Jazeera trio claimed
to MALU that the coverage was
“too aggressive.” Journalism
is not a crime? Next week,
Antonio Guterres is set to
give remarks, to which Inner
City Press has requested the
right to cover response, to
the UN Correspondents
Association, which not only
has not acted on this
censorship, but has fueled it.
Inside the
UN the Eid event continued,
alongside a liquor fueled
barbeque thrown by UN
Security. This DSS sold
tickets to non resident
correspondents, and allowed in
people who had nothing to do
with the UN, including some
seeming underage. When Inner
City Press audibly raised the
issue to UN Safety and
Security Service chief Mick
Brown, he did nothing.
The
Moroccan diplomat emerged and
chided Inner City Press for
even telling him of the
ouster, claiming that “25% of
what you write is about
Morocco.” Some Periscope video
here.
Pakistan's Permanent
Representative, who hosted the
Eid event, said she would look
into it. Sweden's spokesperson
asked whom to call in DPI and
when Inner City Press said,
Alison Smale, responded, Who
is Alison Smale? Indeed.
Smale has
refused to respond in any way,
in the eight months she has
been Guterres' “Global
Communications” chief, to a
5000 signature petition to
restore Inner City Press to
its unused office S-303 and to
adopt content neutral media
access rules going forward.
That, and appropriate action
on Lt. Dobbins and the others,
must be among the next steps.
Watch this site.
***
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