Amid
Lanka Threats,
UNCA President
Who Took
Kohona's Rent
Suspends
ICP
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 8 -- Amid
gleeful
coverage in
Sri Lankan
state media
and apparent
happiness at
the highest
levels of the
UN, the UN
Correspondents
Association
Excutive
Committee on
Friday voted
to
reject a
proposed
two-sided
clarification
drafted by
Inner City
Press, and
voted,
including with
the votes of
members not
even
present to
hear the
proposal, to
suspend Inner
City Press.
Now
they say
begins a
ten-day "Board
of
Examination"
process to
"investigate"
Inner City
Press, based
on a file held
by UNCA
President
Giampaolo
Pioli but
never shown to
Inner City
Press.
Pioli has
proposed as
chairman of
the Board of
Examination a
staff
member work
for a state
media member
of the
Executive
Committee
who's already
voted against
Inner City
Press
without being
present.
The
issue centers
around Pioli
having by his
own belated
admission
accepted rent
money from
Palitha
Kohona, the
Permanent
Representative
to the UN of
Sri Lanka.
The
Sri
Lankan Mission
to the UN, run
by Pioli's
former tenant
Kohona and
his deputy
Shavendra
Silva,
continues to
act as though
it has a
special
relationship
with Pioli,
sending
complaint
letters about
Inner City
Press to
Pioli's UNCA
unlike any
other member
state at the
UN. Therefore,
it would seem
clear that
Pioli had a
duty to recuse
himself from
decisions
about Sri
Lanka's media
access.
But
Pioli did not
recuse
himself, and
without
notifying
other
Executive
Committee
members like
Inner City
Press, granted
Kohona's
request to
screen a
government
denial of war
crimes called
"Lies Agreed
To."
It
purports to be
a rebuttal of
UK Channel 4
documentary
called
"Killing
Fields of Sri
Lanka," which
itself was NOT
shown in the
UN due
to a
celebration
for Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon.
Once
Inner City
Press reported
on this, Piolo
as president
of UNCA demand
that it be
taken off the
Internet. He
shouted at
Inner City
Press,
I'll
have you
thrown out of
the UN.
And now he is
trying to do
it.
Pioli's
Vice
President, Reuters' Lou
Charbonneau,
filed a
stealth
complaint
against Inner
City Press
with the UN
Media
Accreditation
Unit, which
controls
access to the
UN, sending
copies to
Pioli, Voice
of
America's
Margaret
Besheer and Agence
France
Presse's
Timothy
Witcher.
Last
week MALU,
after three
times saying
it would renew
Inner City
Press'
accreditation
on June 4, refused to
follow
through.
Notably, MALU
gave four
re-accreditations
and even new
accreditations
to Reuters'
"technicians"
in June 1,
when Inner
City Press was
told the
office was too
busy to look
at its
request.
Inner
City Press at
Friday's
meeting passed
out a copy of
a June
7 article
in Sri Lanka's
pro government
Daily Mirror that
"The
United
Nations
Correspondents
Association
(UNCA) is
investigating
the
unethical and
unprofessional
behaviour of
well-known
Inner City
Press
correspondent
Matthew Russel
Lee, who has
on several
occasions
attacked Sri
Lanka over
alleged war
crimes... Mr.
Pioli admitted
accepting rent
from Dr.
Kohona but
denied the
accusation he
was
biased in
favour of Sri
Lanka and
while Mr.
Pioli demanded
the
article be
removed from
Lee’s blog, he
had refused
calling it
censorship.
"If
Mr.
Lee is
impeached, he
would be the
first UNCA
journalist to
be
expelled from
the
association.
He has also
being critical
of Major
General
Shavendra
Silva-the
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
of Sri
Lanka at the
UN. Mr. Lee
has criticized
the UN for
appointing
Major
General Silva
to the UN
Advisory Panel
on
Peacekeeping."
The
connection to
Inner City
Press'
reporting on
Ban Ki-moon
and his
French chief
of
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
accepting
Shavendra
Silva,
given his
record, as a
"senior
adviser" and
these moves to
suspend,
impeach and
expel Inner
City Press
will be the
subject of
forthcoming
reports --
ALONGSIDE, we
emphasize,
Inner City
Press'
regular
reporting,
such as just
today before
the vote for
the next
President of
the General
Assembly
having publicly
predicted,
based on
polling of
sources, that
Serbia's Vuk
Jeremic would
win with 97
votes.
Jeremic won
with 99.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
Indicative
of the
lawlessness of
Pioli and his
big media
coterie,
while they
said they
"suspend"
Inner City
Press, there
is
no provision
for that in
UNCA's
Constitution.
There is a
provision to
"investigate"
with a "Board"
to consider
"impeachment."
If you can
just suspend
an Executive
Committee
member who was
elected by the
general
membership,
why even
have a Board
or Rules?
Perhaps the
flow with Sri
Lanka is two
way...
, 
