Before
Gallach Got
DPI, Beaten
Out by Aido,
Now Retaliates
on Press, Leon
Link?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
3 -- The
decision to
throw Inner
City Press out
of the UN
on February
19, on only
two hours
notice, was
made by
Spain's
highest UN
official,
Under
Secretary
General of
Public
Information
Cristina
Gallach. Audio
here.
With seeming
disdain for
due process,
Gallach never
once spoke to
Inner City
Press before
signing the letter to
throw it out,
to hear its
explanation of
why it sought
to cover an
event in the
UN Press
Briefing Room
three weeks
earlier on January
29.
After now
setting in a second
letter a
final eviction
date, April 6,
Gallach has
twice
approached
Inner City
Press in the
stakeout area
to which it is
confined. March 30 video / audio here; March
31 audio here.
On March 30
she told Inner
City Press it
photographs
things that
are not newsworthy.
On March 31
she declined
to take
seriously the
targeted
censorship she
has unleashed.
We have
previously --
after the no
due process
ouster --
covered how
Gallach was
given the job
by Ban
Ki-moon. Since
then more
information
has come in
from her
native Spain,
beyond expressing
outrage at
Gallach's censorship of Inner City Press'
coverage of
Western
Sahara, to the
point of
Banning it
from Security
Council
meetings as on
March 21
and requiring
minders as on
March 24.
Gallach's
claim to fame,
such as it is,
was as
spokesperson
for Javier
Solana; she
re-tweets
Solana still.
We'll have
more on that
tenure -- but
what Spanish
sources are
detailing is
Gallach's
previously
thwarted desire
for a UN post.
Spain threw
money at UN
Women; Gallach
wanted a post
there. But
there was
Bibiana Aido
-- Inner City
Press interviewed
Aido at the UN
in 2009, here
-- and then
there was
resentment,
including
about who had
better
familial
connection to
Zapatero.
Other sources
speak of
retaliation
for critical
Press coverage
of Spanish
official
Bernardino
Leon's
sell-out to
the United
Arab Emirates,
alongside
the David Ng
Lap Seng /
South South scandal
in which Gallach
plays a role,
on which Inner
City Press questioned her before her
no due process,
no recusal
ouster and
eviction
orders. We'll
have more on
all this.
It is telling
that Spanish
"UN" official
Bernardino
Leon's
outrageous
sell-out of
the UN
resulted in no
punishment or
even criticism
from Ban
Ki-moon, while
the Press
which
aggressively
covered it is
being evicted
by Spain's
highest UN
official.
After
throwing Inner
City Press in
the street on
February 19
without once
asking it
about its
attempt to
cover the
January 29
event in the
UN Press
Briefing Room,
Gallach first
dissembled to
Nobel Prize
laureate Jose
Ramos Horta,
that she'd
done nothing
to Inner City
Press - then
came up with a
new strategy.
Gallach would
try to use
Inner City
Press' fight
back against
being censored
as the
rationale for
what she had
done.
Inner City
Press, even
after being
forcibly
thrown out of
the UN on
Gallach's
orders on
February 19,
and being told
it was Banned
from all UN
premises on
February 22,
tried to speak
with her on
the evening of
February 22.
With witnesses
present, Inner
City Press
urged a
creative
solution, with
flexibility on
both sides.
But
there was
none.
Now,
Gallach is
telling her
interlocutors
that it is
Inner City
Press'
fight-back
since,
including
tweets, that
justifies what
she did before
Inner City
Press issues a
single tweet
mentioning
her.
This
is
Kafka-esque,
and it is
censorship.
This should
NOT be atop
the UN
Department of
Public
Information.
Gallach
followed and
fed an
anonymous
troll twitter
account which
more than 150
times parroted
her position.
But she is not
responsible
for it? This
is the face of
UN censorship.
How was such a
decision,
contrary to
due process
and press
freedom, made
by the UN's
communication
chief? How did
she get this
job?
When Spain put
Gallach's name
in contention
for the USG
DPI position,
Inner City
Press reported
on her and two
other
short-list
candidates,
then acting
chief Maher
Nasser of
Palestine and
Romania's
Permanent
Representative
Simona
Miculescu.
At the time,
many said
Nasser was the
most
qualified. But
because Saudi
Arabia put
forward its
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
and used the
muscle it is
showing on
Yemen, Iran
and now
Lebanon to
demand
support,
Nasser was not
about to get
the support of
the
Organization
for Islamic
Cooperation
(OIC) or the
Arab Group.
But many said
Gallach was
the worst
interview, and
had the least
experience.
They say - and
Inner City
Press has a
question
pending to
confirm or
deny - that
prior to Spain
putting
Gallach
forward to run
the UN
Department of
Public
Information
with some 700
staff, the
largest team
Gallach had
run had
consisted of
one-hundredth
of that, more
like SEVEN
people.
In most
organization,
such a person
would never
get the job.
But this is
the UN. Spain
was about to
take a
two-year seat
on the
Security
Council, and
the Ban
Ki-moon
administration
has a pattern
of doling out
high jobs to
some of the
countries
coming on to
the Council
(less so the
African
countries), as
a way of
getting
support for
proposals it
will have
before the
Council.
And so
Gallach,
described as
underprepared
and the “worst
interview” of
all the
candidates,
was given the
job by Ban
Ki-moon.
Miculescu was
given a
consolation
prize with the
UN in Serbia.
Nasser stayed
on as a deputy
to Gallach,
seemingly not
consulted even
when Gallach,
on February
19, decided to
have a long
time UN
journalist
thrown to the
curb, on two
hours notice.
Prior to that
- and
separately
requiring
Gallach's
recusal -
Inner City
Press had
accurately
reported the
Gallach
hobnobbed at
the "South
South Awards"
with Frank
Lorenzo, photo
here, just
before he was
indicted for
bribery at the
UN.
This is why
senior UN
officials
telling Inner
City Press to
"stay in touch
with Cristina
Gallach on
this matter.
She will keep
me informed"
is both
Kafka-esque
and indicative
of the UN's
inability to
clean up or
even look into
corruption.
There are a
number of
connections
between those
indicted for
bribery and
DPI and its
partner in
this, the UN
Correspondents
Association
who event
in the UN
Press Briefing
Room Inner
City Press was
seeking
to cover on
January 29,
on corruption
related
issues: how
indicted Ng
Lap Seng was
given a photo
op with Ban
Ki-moon by
UNCA,
after UNCA
took money
from Ng's
South South
News. This has
yet to be
answered
either.
Or perhaps the
ouster is the
answer.
When Ban
Ki-moon
imposed his
most recent
budget cuts,
the Department
hardest hit
was Gallach's
DPI. Staff
complained she
didn't fight
for them;
those to whom
she made
presentations
in the UN's
budget process
called her
woefully
unprepared, “a
joke,” one of
them said.
But to throw
an
investigative
journalist
into the
street,
without even
coat or
passport, to
refuse to
reconsider it
even when
contacted as
Gallach was by
such people as
Nobel Peace
Prize winner Jose Ramos
Horta (she
dissembled
to him), a
range of
Ambassadors
and even,
privately and
publicly,
by the
President of
the Security
Council,
is not a joke
at all.
When Business
Insider
wrote about
the ouster,
published on
February 26,
Gallach
couldn't (be
bothered) to
give a quote:
an unnamed DPI
spokesperson
said it was
fine to throw
out Inner City
Press without
even speaking
with it or
allowing an
opportunity to
be heard:
“When
contacted for
comment, the
Office of the
Undersecretary
General for
Communications
and Public
Information
did not deny
that Lee had
never been
questioned
over the
incident
before his
pass was
revoked. 'In
conducting its
investigation
into the
incident on 29
January,
[Department of
Public
Information]
reviewed
several videos
of what
happened,
including
footage that
was taken by
Mr. Lee and
posted on his
website,' a
representative
of the office
wrote in an
email to
Business
Insider. 'DPI
also spoke at
length with
the Office of
the
Spokesperson
for the
Secretary-General
and officers
from the UN
Department of
Safety and
Security who
were in
attendance on
29 January.
These steps
were
sufficient to
determine that
Mr. Lee's
actions
clearly
infringed the
guidelines
that apply to
all
correspondents
at the United
Nations.'”
Inner City
Press asked UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
this quote; he
has yet to
answer. In
writing, Inner
City Press has
asked both
Dujarric and
Gallach about
this: but
questions
submitted back
on February 20
have yet to be
answered.
Both Gallach
and Dujarric
are, however,
among the
handful of
followers of
an anonymous
troll Twitter
account
which is
defending both
of their
actions,
including
interestingly
to journalists
in Spain.
Ban Ki-moon is
slated to be
in Spain on
March 1. We'll
have more on
this.
, 
