|
Week
After UN Raid
of Press
Office,
Anonymous
Cheers from UN
Cowardice
Association
UNITED
NATIONS, March
26 -- Eight
days ago the
UN raided
Inner City
Press' office;
the president
of the UN
Correspondents
Association
Pamela Falk of
CBS News took
photographs.
Now
the two are
blaming each
other for
being a party
to the
anonymous and
totally
improper transfer
to BuzzFeed of
photos taken
inside the
Press office
during the
raid, photos
of the stacks
of documents
that at least
the UN
personnel were
searching.
Belatedly
on
March 25 the
UN's Stephane
Dujarric
admitted to
Inner City
Press that “we
recognize that
you should
have been
called before
entering your
part of the
shared
office.”
Since
the desk
photograph was
taken from the
Inner City
Press part of
the office,
without Inner
City Press
present or
even notified,
the logical
corollary of
the admission
is the need to
disclose which
individuals
were brought
or allowed
into that
position by
the UN, which
took
photographs,
and what they
did with them.
The response
of Pam Falk of
CBS and UNCA
has been to
make a legal
threat to
Inner City
Press about
even
questioning
her role. So
what of the
rest of UNCA,
or of the
other members
of its
Executive
Committee?
There
is a reason,
beyond anonymous
social
media accounts
and comments,
that
UNCA is now
becoming known
as the UN
Cowardice
Association.
What kind of
media
organization
says nothing
-- cheers and
takes pictures
actually --
when a
journalist's
office is
raided and
searched
without notice
or consent?
This kind:
http://www.innercitypress.com/unca1banfed020713.jpg
http://www.innercitypress.com/unca1banfed020713.jpgBan's
UNCA Lunch of
the Lost, Feb
7, 2013,
credit Evan
Schneider,
UNPhoto. From
left: OSSG's
Del Buey;
Denis
Fitzgerald of
Saudi Press
Agency; OSSG's
Nesirky;
Melissa Kent
of CBC;
Sylviane Zehil
of L'Orient le
Jour; Tim
Witcher of
AFP; Ali
Barada of
An-Nahar; Ban
Ki-moon,
Kahraman
Halicelik of
Turkish Radio
& TV;
Pamela S. Falk
of CBS; Lou
Charbonneau of
Reuters;
Bouchra
Benyoussef of
Maghreb Arab
Press; Yasuomi
Sawa of Kyodo
News; Masood
Haider of
Dawn; Unknown;
Zhenqiu Gu of
Xinhua;
Stephane
Dujarric of UN
DPI
FUNCA
has proposed,
or is
demanding,
these two
(additional)
changes to the
Media Access
Guidelines
which UNCA
agreed to with
the UN, and
which provide
no due process
or other
protections:
"Even
if the UN
determines
that it must
enter an
accredited
correspondent's
office under
what it seemed
to be an
emergency, the
UN must
immediately
notify the
correspondent
and allow them
access to
witness the
entry and what
is done
inside.
"Even
if for some
reason the UN
determines to
take
photographs
inside the
journalist's
office, it is
prohibited for
the UN to
share the
photographs
with UN
personnel
without a
strictly
interpreted
'need to
know,' and it
is strictly
prohibited for
the UN to
share the
photographs
with any
non-UN
person."
UNCA,
at least its
Executive
Committee,
have done
nothing.
Apparently
they like
having no
rules, or
would like to
have a rule
which would
allow them to
throw out of
the UN anyone
they (don't)
like. But
anonymously,
of course!
That's why
it's the UN
Cowardice
Association.
Watch this
site.
Here's
from the UN's
transcript of
its March 25
noon briefing:
Inner
City Press:
Last Monday,
18 March, the
UN entered my
office, they
said it was
full of trash,
they didn’t
call me —
fine. They
took
photographs,
and it is my
understanding
that they gave
the
photographs to
other
journalists
here who they
know have
sought my
exclusion and
expulsion from
the UN, and
that these
photographs
then in turn
appeared on
the BuzzFeed
website on
Friday. So I
wanted to know
very clearly,
putting aside
for a moment
whether when
they enter a
journalist’s
office, they
should provide
at least
notice to the
journalist, by
what possible
right will the
UN distribute
photographs to
non-UN
persons?
Spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky: I
think you have
had an answer
from Stéphane
Dujarric on
this.
Inner
City Press: He
said only that
the UN did not
provide them
to BuzzFeed
and Pam Falk
of UNCA
[United
Nations
Correspondents
Association]
has denied
that she
provided them,
although she
was allowed to
take
photographs.
So it is clear
they are UN
photographs.
And I know for
a fact that
DPI
[Department of
Public
Information]
showed the
photographs to
other
journalists
here. So, the
Stéphane
answer doesn’t
cut it. All it
says is that
they didn’t
give it. So
there is a
middle man.
But the
question is,
what is the
right of UN
journalists
not to have
their own
office entered
without their
consent,
photographed
and by what
reason and for
what purpose
will the UN
give
photographs to
another
person?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well, as I
say, I think —
evidently not
to your
satisfaction —
but Stéphane
Dujarric has
replied, and I
don’t have
anything
further to say
on the matter.
Watch
this site.
* * *
These
reports
are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for Sept 26, 2011 New Yorker on Inner City
Press at UN
Click
for
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Corruption
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