UNITED
NATIONS, June
13 -- UN World
is a strange
place. Some
countries'
mission
want
journalists to
cover their
events, even
their
receptions,
and others
don't. And so
you try to ask
for and follow
the rules.
The
US Mission has
been described
by some as
quite
controlling;
most
recently, they
made clear
that the
farewell for
their
departing
Ambassador --
you see we are
not naming her
-- was off the
record and
not to be
mentioned, even the date
of the event.
Inner City
Press
agreed, and
then respected
it.
But
when the event
occurred,
there in the
front row was
the 2013
president of
the old UN
Correspondents'
Association,
Pamela Falk. Audio here
and here.
She
whipped out
her phone and
took
photographs.
Inner City
Press, also
there as noted
by the speaker
from Djibouti,
assumed these
were only
for Falk's
personal file.
Off the record
means off the
record for
all, right?
But
no! After the
event, which
many enjoyed
without
tweeting, Pamela
Falk
of CBSNews.com
tweeted her
photo of the
event, here.
Why? To show
that she
was there?
There was no
analysis, no
context.
Ironically,
Pamela
Falk also took
photographs
while Inner
City Press'
office was
subject to a
non-consensual
raised by the
UN on March
18, 2013.
But
when this fact
was reported,
she responded
with a legal
threat from
her
CBSNews.com
e-mail
address, to
cease and
desist even
asking in
writing the
question of
why she took
photographs of
a raid on a
journalist's
office.
Photographs
of
that raid, of
Inner City
Press' desk
and bookshelf,
were leaked
anonymously to
BuzzFeed
immediately
after BuzzFeed
asked the UN
Spokesperson's
office about
the raid on
Inner Cit
Press.
Falk
meanwhile
tweeted her
photograph of
the event
which USUN
said was off
the record. In
the lobby --
location
undisclosed by
Inner City
Press
-- afterward,
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous
was seen
outside
with an UNCA
Executive
Committee
member
solicitously
holding an
umbrella for
him.
Can you
say, lapdogs?
The new Free
UN Coalition
for
Access can.
And we remain
waiting for
answers.
Meanwhile
UNCA
under Falk is trying
to ban even
substantive
flyers on
journalists'
office doors,
and to ban media
workspace in
front of the
Security
Council,
presidency of
which the US
through Ambassador
Rosemary
DiCarlo will
take over on
July
1. Watch this
site.
, 
