UN
Blacks Out
Syria's
Speech, Ban's
Amateur Hour
& Minute
of Silence?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 5 --
When Kofi
Annan gave a
briefing by
video to the
UN General
Assembly
Thursday
morning,
though the
press was not
allowed in the
conference
room, the
speech was
broadcast on
UN
Television. So
too the
speeches by
the Qatari
President of
the GA Nassir
Abdulaziz
Al-Nasser, and
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon.
But
just as
Syria's
Permanent
Representative
Bashar
Ja'afari took
the floor to
respond,
UN TV went
dark. To some
it seemed,
especially
with regard to
the
speeches of
Ban and the
PGA, like
hearing the
prosecution
but blacking
out the
defense -- and
thereby even
giving the
defense an
issue. Welcome
to amateur
hour.
Inner
City Press
asked the
spokeswoman
for the PGA
why UN TV had
stopped
broadcasting.
It was agreed,
she said.
Inner City
Press asked,
"Agreed by
whom?"
Through
the
windows of the
ECOSOC
chamber, the
Press could
see the
Permanent
Representative
of Saudi
Arabia
speaking, then
another
country which
"raised its
flag" or asked
to speak but
was not
permitted.
Meanwhile,
despite the
argument that
it was a
closed
meeting, the
French Mission
to the UN was
tweeting from
inside,
decrying the
"rant" of the
Syrian
Ambassador.
When French
Permanent
Representive
Gerard Araud
left
mid-speech,
Inner City
Press asked
him about the
curtailed UNTV
coverage but
he did not
answer. Cradle
of media
freedom?
When
the session
was over
several
Permanent
Representatives
were critical
of what they
called "the
PGA's use of
the UN for
Qatar's
foreign
policy."
As Ban Ki-moon
swept out and
into the
elevator up to
his third
floor
office, Inner
City Press
asked why UN
TV, which the
Secretariat
controls, was
turned off.
Thirty
minutes
later at the
noon briefing
by Ban's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky, Inner
City Press
asked why the
cameras had
been turned
off. Nesirky
said,
as the PGA's
spokeswoman
had at some
length, that
it was an
informal
meeting,
therefore not
televised.
Inner
City Press
asked, but why
then was a
portion of the
informal
meeting
televised?
Nesirky
said,
because there
was public
interest in
it.
But
there was some
interest in
hearing from
Syria, too,
Inner City
Press asked,
trying
to understand.
You're
not trying
very hard to
understand,
Nesirky said.
Moments later
when Inner
City
Press asked
him what Ban
thought of
Ja'afari's
request that a
moment
of silence be
observed for
"all" the
victims in
Syria, and
if Ban had
observed it,
Nesirky
referred the
question back
to the
PGA's
spokeswoman.
But
it's a
question
for Ban: did
he observe the
requested
moment of
silence or
not?
Inner
City Press
recounted that
in the
untelevised
portion of the
meeting Saudi
Arabia's
Permanent
Representative
said that if
the Syrian
government
cared about
victims, it
would stop
killing, and
asked if Ban
shares
that view.
Nesirky
said that
Ban has spoken
about the dead
of Syria.
Again, it's a
question for
Ban: did he
observe the
requested
moment of
silence or
not?
Once
the noon
briefing was
over,
Nesirky's
office
announced that
Syria's
Ja'afari
would now hold
a press
conference at
3 pm. Watch
this site.
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