At
UN,
Charges
Against
Investigative
Press
Undisclosed,
Scoop Stolen
by
Reuters
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 26 -- It
seems that at
the UN the
publication of
articles
critical of
powerful
officials,
coutries or
media
organization
can be construed
as
"harassment"
and used as
the basis to
seek to expel
the offending
journalist.
This
takes place
in the context
of an Inner
City Press investigative
scoop, that US
official
Jeffrey
Feltman will
come work at
the UN
being stolen
without credit
by Reuters
(unlike Foreign
Policy's The
Cable
which
did give
credit),
and a stealth
complaint of
harassment
filed by the
bylined
Reuters
correspondent
Louis
Charbonneau,
using his
position
as Vice
President of
the UN
Correspondents
Association.
Reuters'
Charbonneau's
complaint has
been put
online here.
After
being
informed in
writing Friday
afternoon that
five
UNCA Executive
Committee
members had
referred
"charges of
harassment"
against Inner
City Press
seeking to
form a "board
of
examination"
to "expel or
impeach"
Inner City
Press,
UNCA's
President
Giampaulo
Pioli has
three times
refused to
disclose
who
complained,
what
definition of
harassment
will be used,
and what
beyond written
articles and
the single
verbal word
"disgust"
Inner City
Press is
charged with.
Already
some
other
reporters,
readers and
also diplomats
have expressed
surprise
that a
purported
correspondents'
association
would try to
censor a
member
journalist or
define
critical
articles as
harassment.
By this
definition,
Inner City
Press
"harasses"
Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon
and for
example his
head of
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
every day:
it's called
investigative
journalism.
One
UN
Correspondent,
who will for
now be
nameless to
avoid
retaliation or
charges
against him,
said
No
excuse
to steal an
exclusive... I
think UNCA
should have a
'law that
"expulsion" is
"outlawed".
There is not
"expulsion" in
journalism, we
are not
Stalin's
CPSU...I
find great
help in
reading your
blog when I'm
not at the UN.
Especially I
think our job
is not
"policing"
other
journalists
but watching
the UN,
especially
when they are
not doing
their job.
Something that
I think you
are doing
better than
anybody
else in all
the press
corps. I just
reported two
days ago your
questions,
crediting that
you /
innercitypress.com
is a must read
for
all the UN
permanent
missions.
This
correspondent,
like others,
credits Inner
City Press
when using its
exclusives.
But Reuters'
Lou
Charbonneau
says he has a
POLICY of not
crediting
Inner City
Press. It is
unclear how
this could be
consistent
with a
Reuters-wide
policy.
But despite
five days of
requests, in
the United
States and
then its
headquarters
in London,
Reuters has
yet to provide
its policy on
crediting --
or on its
reporters
using their
positions in
correspondents'
associations
to
seek to have
competitors
dis-accredited.
Inner
City Press
wrote to UNCA
President
Pioli:
This
is
a formal
request to be
informed who
are the five
people
requesting
to urgently
"examine" me.
I am also
asking to to
be
informed
immediately of
the definition
you are using
of
"harassment"
and of any and
all alleged
acts of
"harassment" I
am
charged with,
particularly
since the last
UNCA meeting
on this topic
in April,
other than
material that
I have written
and published
as is
my right under
freedom of
speech and
freedom of the
press.
After
Pioli
reiterated by
voice mail his
position that
the empaneling
of a "board of
examination"
-- which is
supposed to be
impartial --
will
proceed the
next day the
UN is open,
May 29, Inner
City Press
asked again:
Hi,
at
least for now
I'm just
requesting
(and believe I
have a right
to)
the names of
those who have
referred these
charges of
harassment
against me...
For your
information,
the complaint
Lou filed with
MALU
and Dujarric I
found
outrageous; it
was baseless,
should not
have
been filed,
and I should
have been
informed.
While he says
I am
somehow making
it hard for
him and
unnamed others
to do their
work,
he was in
essence trying
to STOP me
from doing my
work, as well
in my
view stealing
my work
without
credit. Please
provide the
requested
information,
thanks.
Pioli
this time
did reply in
writing, but
without
providing any
of the
information or
charges. And
so a third
request:
Hi.
I
am asking that
you send me
the
information --
names of
accusers,
definitions
and
description of
charges -- in
writing by
email, in
part because
Lou's
complaint to
MALU and
Dujarric,
cc-ed to you,
appears
entirely based
on something I
said to him.
You should
understand I
don't want to
subject myself
to any more
such charges,
however
spurious. So I
ask again:
send it to me
in writing the
names
of accusers,
definitions
and
description of
charges. Past
deadline.
Still,
even the
identities of
those UNCA
Executive
Committee
filing changes
to expel Inner
City Press
have not been
disclosed.
Here's the online list
of Executive
Committee
members. Watch
this site.
, 
