UN's
Censorship and Press Punishment Slammed by Staff Union, From Google to
Photos of the Dead
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, March 13 -- As UN
attacks on freedom of the press have spread this year from UN
Headquarters to the highlands of Nepal, the UN Staff Council on Thursday
called on officials of the UN
system including funds
and programs like the
UN Population Fund
and the
UN Development Program
to cease from "censorship,
harassment,
intimidation or punishment,
or the threat or implication thereof."
The injunction on threats of punishment is a direct reference to
statements last month to Inner City Press by Assistant Secretary-General
Michael Adlerstein
about coverage with which he disagreed, "How should you be punished?"
Click
here for
transcript. The reference to
censorship echoes
the
critique of
the UN Development Program or its U.S. Committee for UNDP levied by the
Washington-based Government Accountability Project.
Press stakeout at UN,
"censorship,
harassment,
intimidation and punishment"
not shown
The
resolution,
pending for three weeks, also refers to the incident in Nepal ten days
ago in which UN personnel
seized the video footage shot
of the remains of the downed UN helicopter contracted from Russia-based
Vertical T. While the
UN has belatedly
apologized for
the last of these limitations of journalistic freedom, claiming it was
only to prevent the
filming of dead bodies,
it is not clear what safeguards have been instituted to prevent future
attempts at
censorship,
exclusion or
punishment.
An
event is upcoming in Washington DC
on the UN and free press. Interest is growing on Capitol Hill, as these
acts contrary to the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution are
carried out with U.S. taxpayers' funds. Inner City Press weeks ago asked
UNDP to disclose payments it has made to influence coverage of UNDP's
performance; UNDP has yet to respond. Watch this site.
* * *
These reports are
usually also available through
Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here for a
Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army.
Click
here
for an earlier
Reuters AlertNet
piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's
$200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.
Video
Analysis here
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-453A,
UN, NY 10017 USA Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile
(and weekends): 718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner
City Press are listed here, and
some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com -
