At
CPJ Event in UN Reuters Adler
Cited Crack Down on Press
While Colluding With It
By Matthew
Russell Lee, CJR PFT NY
Post
UNITED NATIONS
GATE, September 28 – For
an event in the UN about press
freedom, with presentations by
the heads of the Committee to
Protect Journalist and
Reuters, Inner City Press
submitted an RSVP and was told
"You are confirmed to attend
Press Behind Bars: Undermining
Justice and Democracy this
Friday, Sept 28. The event
will be held in the United
Nations Headquarters ECOSOC
chamber from 11-12:30 PM... we
recommend you pick up your
tickets on Thursday, Sept. 27
in the lobby of Reuters at 3
Times Square 4 p.m.-7 p.m.
(7th Ave. and 47th St.). There
will be a table on the left."
But despite CPJ's
confirmation, there was no
ticket for Inner City Press at
Reuters nor an hour before the
event, and 14 hours after
informing the chiefs of CPJ
and Reuters, at the Olympia
Cafe on Friday morning. Video
here.
Inside the
event Inner City Press was
banned from, both Joel Simon
of CPJ who has done nothing
about censorship by the UN and
Reuters' Stephen Adler spoke
about the importance of
allowing critical reporting,
something UN Sec-Gen Antonio
Guterres does not allow. The
German representative said We
have to right back against
attempts to exclude particular
journalists from press
conferences - precisely what
Guterres has done to Inner
City Press for 87 days. Adler
cited "a chilling warning to
other journalists worldwide.
Myanmar is not the only
country where attempts are
made to deter investigative
newsgathering, scare sources
and whistleblowers, dim the
spotlight of reporting, and
thereby allow officials to act
in darkness with impunity."
Sounds like Guterres' UN. But
he and CPJ do nothing about
the UN. Instead, at the same
time as the event, a
journalist on Africa asked
Guterres spokesman by what
right he banned Inner City
Press. That's solidarity;
that's Protection of
Journalists. We'll have more
on this.
Inner City Press
has written to CPJ's Joel
Simon, Rob Mahoney and
Courtney Radsch, and Reuters'
Stephen Adler who will speak
at the event: "This is to
inform you that after RSVP-ing
and being told I could attend
CPJ's and Reuters' press
freedom event, at the Olympia
Cafe just now at the CPJ table
I was told my name was
submitted to the UN but the UN
blocked it, and CPJ accepts
that.
That is inconsistent with the
Protection of Journalists in
CPJ's name, and with claims
made by Reuters, which is on
notice of and has a role in
this. When I asked those at
the CPJ table about this they
said, “Take it up with the UN
on 46th Street.” But I cannot
get through, and my 11 emailed
to UN DPI's Alison Smale have
gone unreturned as have three
emails to Antonio Guterres -
who I'm told has ordered this
lawless ban, for my coverage -
and his Deputy.
I wrote to CPJ repeatedly
about this targeting,
censorship and lack of due
process and nothing was done.
I am at the bus stop on 2nd
Ave and 46th Street, forty
minutes before your Press
Freedom event I submitted a
timely RSVP for and was told I
could attend.
I urgently await your response
and action to reverse this."
Watch this site.
It seems
obvious that a journalist -
particularly one who has faced
hindering of reporting noted
in the CPJ affiliated
US Press Freedom Tracker
and in the Columbia Journalism
Review,
here. But when Inner
City Press went to pick up its
ticket at Reuters, it was not
there. So Inner City Press
wrote to CPJ, Joel Simon,
Robert Mahoney and others.
This has been the response:
"Hi Matt, We submitted all the
names of those who RSVPed to
the UN on Tuesday, including
yours, as required. We were
given the tickets today and
were informed by Reuters after
you went there to lick up your
ticket that there was no
ticket for you. CPJ was not
informed of which RSVPs were
denied tickets. We support the
right of journalists to cover
UN activities. I can only
assume this is due to the
withdrawal of your
credentials, but I will email
the UN and would suggest you
do the same. However, please
understand that we do not
control the tickets and can
only make a request to the UN.
Best,
Dr. Courtney Radsch
Advocacy Director
Committee to Protect
Journalists"
Inner City Press replied: "Hi
- even before writing to you,
I wrote to the UN, to the very
top: Deputy Secretary General
Amina J. Mohammed and her
chief of staff, see below. It
will be an outrage if I am
barred from attending and
covering an event about press
freedom - even as a private
citizen like many others who
RSVP-ed. So I ask you / CPJ
again to ensure that I can
attend. Would you hold an
event where critical
journalists were denied access
with no due process, no
appeal, nothing in writing,
simply "disappeared"? That is
what this is, at this moment.
Encouraging you / CPJ to
ensure this does not happen.
You have been told enough in
advance. I will respond and
try to help this be solved at
any hour until the event."
CPJ replied,
deferring entirely to the UN
in a way they would not, or
one hopes they would not, to a
country: "Dear Matt, We have
reached out to the media
liaison office to inform them
about this and ask if they can
assist. I'm afraid we have no
control over which tickets the
UN grants, and we were not
informed of any names on the
submitted list who were not
granted tickets. I'll keep you
informed if we hear back. If
this is not resolved, I invite
you to watch the livestream at
https://cpj.org/blog/2018/09/live-stream---press-behind-bars-undermining-justic.php.
Best,
Courtney " UNacceptable - Joel
Simon and Mahoney are on
notice of this issue. More to
follow.
In an abundance
of caution, Inner City Press
earlier on the afternoon of
September 27 wrote to the UN
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' Deputy Amina J.
Mohammed - and this and the
non response hours later has
been raised to CPJ: "DSG
Mohammed: I just witnessed -
well, watched on UNTV because
I remain banned from the UN -
your stakeout with Neven
Mimica at which the two of you
received only one question.
Last year, before being
roughed up and banned, I asked
you questions, video here.
Since I wrote to you before
yesterday's "UN human rights"
event, I was removed from the
waiting line at the Visitors
Entrance by UN Security and
told I have a current and
active barred notice against
me, something I have received
no written notice off much
less any opportunity to be
heard or to appeal. I learned
yesterday that your Office of
the Spokesperson is claiming
to people who ask that I "took
a swing at a Security officer"
on July 3 - entirely false, I
was the one roughed up, it is
on video -- and saying I
remain banned because of
questioning diplomats on the
sidewalk. As should be clear,
I do that because I cannot
question them at the stakeout,
or in the briefing room which
was nearly empty today at
noon, only one question. I
believe you should answer this
/ take action so that Inner
City Press can enter the UN.
There is nothing I have done
in the past year any different
that what I did before,
including under Ban Ki-moon.
The only difference is your
Administration. Tomorrow there
is a press freedom event at 11
am I have RSVP-ed for; on
Monday Bolivia takes over UNSC
Presidency and I would like to
ask questions at the Program
of Work press conference. I
urge you to act to end these
now 86 days of exclusion, now
more than ever after your
one-question stakeout. Please
confirm receipt and act." But
five hours later, from
Mohammed and her chief of
office Nelson Muffuh, and a cc
- nothing. And when Inner City
Press went to Reuters in Times
Square (between 43rd and 42nd
Street, not 47th), the person
behind the CPJ table said
somehow the ticket was not
there but she would e-mail in
less than an hour. Nor has
that happened. We'll have more
on this. Here's their
description of the event: "The
Committee to Protect
Journalists will hold a panel
discussion during the U.N.
General Assembly to highlight
global press freedom
challenges, with an emphasis
on Myanmar, Bangladesh, Egypt,
and Kyrgyzstan as countries
where journalists are
imprisoned for their work and
denied due process. The cases
of Reuters reporters Wa Lone
and Kyaw Soe Oo are
emblematic: they were set up
by Myanmar police, falsely
arrested, convicted under
Myanmar’s Official Secrets
Act, and sentenced to seven
years of hard labor, all in a
protracted effort to silence
their truthful reporting.
Panel Event from Q&A 11
a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Featuring:
JOEL SIMON, Executive Director
of the Committee to Protect
Journalists
AMAL CLOONEY, Barrister
STEPHEN J. ADLER, President
and Editor-in-Chief of Reuters
This will be the first time
that Ms. Clooney, who is
representing Reuters and the
two reporters, is speaking on
the case. Mr. Adler will speak
about Reuters’ perspectives on
the case and how it impacts
Reuters’ global newsroom.
Mr. Simon will discuss the
cases of blogger Alaa Abdel
Fattah and photojournalist
Mahmoud Abou Zeid who are
imprisoned in Egypt;
photojournalist Shahidul Alam,
jailed in Bangladesh; and
journalist Azimjon Askarov,
who is serving a life sentence
in Kyrgyzstan.
#FreeThePress
#FreeWaLoneKyawSoeOo."
Inner City
Press is told by sources close
to Guterres that he was and is
so angry at Inner City Press'
anti-corruption questions and
reporting that he is intent
maintaining a life time ban,
even as he blathers about
human rights. His Deputy Amina
J. Mohammad and chief of staff
go along; troublingly, new
Commissioner was written to
but did nothing. Her staff
handed out tickets in chaotic
fashion on 46th Street, to
such insiders as Richard
Dicker of Human Rights Watch
which has done nothing about
the lawless "permanent ban"
list of the UN that HRW loves
so much. But for new
Commissioner Bachelet to be so
quickly corrupted or defanged?
We'll have more on this. On
September 24 for a Financial
Sector Commission on Modern
Slavery and Human Trafficking,
Inner City Press was on
September 24 singled out and
banned, despite having its
RSVP accepted by the Mission
of Liechtstein and even UN
University. Video here.
In the early afternoon of
September 25, Inner City Press
sent this to Antonio Guterres,
and also High Commissioner for
Human Rights Michelle
Bachelet: "Secretary General
Guterres: This follows up on a
telephone call I made to your
chief of staff's (and Deputy
SG's) offices yesterday
afternoon when I was blocked
from attending an event in the
Trusteeship Council Chamber
about launching an Initiative
for a Financial Sector
Commission on Modern Slavery
and Human Trafficking.
I am writing now
because I am intent on
attending, and have a right to
attend other events this week,
for example the human rights
event with HCHR Bachelet on
Wednesday, 26 September, at
1115 am in Conference Room 2,
see below. I have RSVP-ed, and
cc this message to High
Commissioner Bachelet and her
two assistants.
It is unacceptable for the UN
to have an UNdisclosed and
UNexplained "current and
active banned" list with no
due process and no appeal. It
is akin to no-fly lists with
no appeals process. This must
be resolved, in particular for
the September 26 UN "human
rights" event.
I was invited to the modern
slavery event -- I investigate
and report on the misdeeds of
banks, and did so before
I came to the UN to cover it
in 2005 -- and my RSVP was
accepted. I picked up my
ticket at 2:45 pm on 46th
Street, showed it to the
officers on Second and First
Avenues and stood in line at
the Visitors Entrance with
others going to the event.
They all were admitted but I
was singled up and told to
wait by the side. After a time
a Department of Safety and
Security official told me I am
subject to a “current and
active barred notice.”
Since all I have received from
the UN, since being assaulted
by DSS Lieutenant Dobbins and
another on 3 July 2018 as I
staked out the Fifth (Budget)
Committee meetings having been
invited there by several
member states' diplomats in
those final meetings, is an
August 17 letter stating that
my accreditation as a
correspondent is withdrawn, I
asked who is behind this
target “current and active
barred notice.”
The officer would not tell me.
I asked if it is USG Drennan
of DSS, whom I wrote to on 5
August 2018 (“REPORT OF
PROHIBITED CONDUCT
(HARASSMENT, ABUSE OF
AUTHORITY) AND ‘FORMAL
COMPLAINT’ SUBMITTED TO UN
UNDER SECRETARY GENERAL FOR
SAFETY AND SECURITY, MR PETER
DRENNAN, PURSUANT TO
ST/SGB/2008/5.” Receipt of
that was confirmed to me on 8
August 2018 by Elena
Rice-Howell, Special Assistant
to the Under-Secretary-General
of DSS.
But nothing has been done by
DSS, including about my formal
complaint of assault against
Lt Dobbins and his colleagues
who refused to give their
names. This whole sordid
descent into censorship by the
current UN was profiled, along
with SEA, Haiti cholera,
conflicts of interest and
travel cost waste, including
the issue of yours, and
whether and where you
disclosed your son's business
connections, in the New York
Post two days ago, here.
I was told yesterday I
should contact DPI - whose USG
Alison Smale never spoke to me
before withdrawing my
accreditation and has not
answer any of my ten e-mail
nor a petition with more than
5000 signatures urging her to
restore my access, my office
S-303 and stop targeting me as
I report, sometimes
critically, on the UN.
So I called your chief of
staff's (and Deputy SG's)
offices, just as the event I
had RSVP-ed to began, and I am
outraged by the lack of
response. I have written to
each of them this morning,
still no response, even as I
picked up another RSVP ticket.
This should be responded to
immediately. Matthew Russell
Lee, Esq., Inner City Press."
On September 24
the slavery bank event ran
from 3:30 to 5 pm in the UN's
Trusteeship Chamber. Inner
City Prss arrived 45 minutes
early to the NYPD security
checkpoint at 46th Street and
Second Avenue. Its ticket was
accepted by NYPD, it prepared
to audio record the event --
but at the UN Visitors
Entrance a large UN Security
Officer or Capitan nicknamed
Tiny said No, it was his
understanding that Inner City
Press is entirely banned from
the UN, not only as a
journalist. "You have a
current active barred notice
against you," he said. Audio here.
Inner City Press
asked him if this came from
the boss of the Department
Safety and Security Peter
Drennan, who has not responded
to Inner City Press formal
complaint to him that it was
assaulted by UN DSS Lieutenant
Ronald E. Dobbins on July 3.
He said it was not from chief
Michael “Mick” Brown. Who
then? He refused to say. “You
have to call DPI,” he said,
referring to the Department of
Public Information whose chief
Alison Smale has not answered
a single on of Inner City
Press' more than 10 e-mails.
Inner City Press called the
office of Secretary General
Antonio Guterres' chief of
staff Maria Luiz Viotti and
informed them; they said that
she would be told. Hours
later, nothing. Inner City
Press called the office of the
Deputy Secretary General Amina
J. Mohammed, and was told that
the head of office, seemingly
Nelson Muffuh, could or would
do nothing. Then Inner City
Press called the office of
Alison Smale, where a person
named Charlotte said she would
look into and call back. Hours
later, nothing. Audio of Inner
City Press' side of calls, here.
Inner City Press was never
given a hearing by Smale
before her August 17 letter
with withdrew Inner City Press
media accreditation. Nothing
in it said anything about a
ban from entering the UN as a
person, a tourist, or in
another other way. But this is
what happened, without any
recourse. Pure Kafka-esque
censorship, by a former New
York Times Berlin bureau chief
to hinder coverage of the
corruption of the former
Portuguese prime minster
Antonio Guterres, see
September 23 New York Post
here. What next? Watch
this site.
***
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