Minutes
From Behind
Reuters
Firewall
Censor ICP on
France, Sri
Lanka
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 2,
updated below
-- In an
unfolding
comedy of
corporate
censorship
errors, ten
minutes after
Inner City
Press exposed
Reuters'
involvement in
hosting the UN
Correspondent
Association
minutes used
to indict it,
the link was
changed away
from Reuters.
But the
screen-shot
remains,
even as
Reuters brass
continues to
be
unreachable as
the company
leads a purge
of independent
media at the
UN.
Still there
has been not
response to
the May 27 and
June 2
notifications
to Greg
McCune of
Reuters
"Ethics &
Training," Top
News Editor
Walden Siew,
deputy editor
Paul Ingrassia
and big
Reuters cheese
Stephen
J. Adler, on
Twitter with a
total of four
tweets, none
since August
2011. So
much for New
Media.
Meanwhile
Reuter's
Charbonneau
slavishing
re-tweets
other Reuters'
reporters
stories. Some
hope he's paid
overtime, and
not ONLY for
his strenuous
efforts to
expel the free
Press.
Now
the the
minutes taken
out from
behind
Reuters'
firewall, here
are quick
excerpts to
show what is
going on, even
in these
inaccurate
summaries
of three of
four meetings
(the fourth
was withheld,
to somehow
serve
the French
mission to the
UN, we'll have
more on this)
--
"30
September
2011: UNCA
Executive
Committee
Meeting
Minutes
Present:
Giampaolo
Pioli, Tim
Witcher [AFP],
Margaret
Besheer [VOA],
Julia
Gronnevet, Lou
Charbonneau
[Reuters],
Zhenqiu Gu
[Xinhua],
Matthew Lee,
Barbara Plett
[BBC], Talal
Al-Haj
[Al-Arabiya]
Massood
Haider,
Marcelle
Hopkins [Al
Jazeera]
& Tala
Dowlatshahi
were absent
but gave their
proxies to
Giampaolo
Agenda:
“Inner
City Press
targeting UNCA
members”
Giampaolo
complained
about an
article
written by
Matthew, in
which HE
ALLEGED
THAT Matthew
criticized
Giampaolo for
scheduling the
screening of
Sri
Lanka’s film
on the civil
war without
first
consulting the
UNCA
board by email
and noted that
Giampaolo had
at one time
been the
landlord of
the Sri Lankan
ambassador
Giampaolo
said
linking the
two implied
that he had
organized the
screening
because
of this
relationship,
when in fact
he’d organized
it b/c he’s
the
UNCA
president. He
charged
Matthew with
“defamation”.
He also
said Matthew
was abusing
his UN
credentials by
attacking
colleagues
on his blog,
and demanded
an apology.
During the
meeting some
other
committee
members agreed
that Matthew
was abusing
his privileges
as
an accredited
journalist by
attacking
fellow members
of the press.
Giampaolo
said
that he had
verbally
informed
several
committee
members,
including
Matthew, of
his intention
to allow the
Sri Lankan
film to be
screened. Lou
said he had
been informed
beforehand and
had agreed
that the film
should be
shown. Matthew
said he had
raised his
objections
with Lou, who
confirmed that
but said he
had told
Matthew
that in his
opinion there
was no problem
with
Giampaolo’s
decision
and the Sri
Lankan film
should be
screened."
So, for
this first
installment
--
Reuters'
Charbonneau
saw no problem
with Sri Lanka
government
propaganda
denying war
crimes being
screened
inside the UN
by UNCA
with the
involvement of
a fellow
official who
had a past
financial
relationship
with Sri
Lanka's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN. Who
has lost his
way? The UNCA
crafted
minutes
continue:
"Matthew
said
there was an
apparent
conflict of
interest and
that a person
who’d
had a
financial
relationship
with the Sri
Lankan
ambassador
should
not be making
the decision
on his own
about whether
to screen the
film. This was
especially so,
he said, since
UNCA did not
screen the
Channel 4
film, which
told the other
side of the
story. He
noted that
a newspaper in
Sri Lanka had
interpreted
the matter as
a victory for
the
government. In
broader terms,
he very
strongly
objected to
what
he said was
UNCA’s
criticism of
his blogs and
its decision
to
question him
about them.
Regarding
the
screening of
the Sri Lankan
film, Lou said
UNCA had been
prepared to
show the
Channel 4
film, but the
timing
conflicted
with the SG’s
re-election,
so the film’s
makers decided
to show it in
a venue
across the
street. He
said it was a
fair point
that UNCA did
need to
establish a
formal process
for making
decisions
about
pressers.
Matthew
accepted that
he should
probably have
sent an email
making
his objections
clear to the
whole UNCA
board.
Lou
acknowledged
Matthew was
raising the
issue of
possible
conflicts of
interest which
UNCA could
look at but,
ALONG WITH
TALAL AND
GIAMPAOLO,
said in his
view the
allegations
against
Giampaolo were
unfounded and
saw no
conflict of
interest.
Others also
told Matthew
that WHAT THEY
considered TO
BE his public
attack on
Giampaolo WAS
unfounded.
Tim also
complained
of stories
that Matthew
had written
about AFP and
about Tim
&
Pierre
Antoine, after
the Inner City
Press post
mentioning the
French
mission &
French media
that Tim said
got AFP into
trouble.
Matthew
repeated
emphatically
that his
source had not
been AFP, and
again
expressed
anger that he
had not been
allowed to
attach his
dissent to an
UNCA statement
about
journalistic
best
practices,
which, he said
was against
press freedom.
Talal made the
point that
the UNCA
Executive
Committee has
never issued
dissenting
opinions and
an exception
should not be
made for
Matthew.
Lou said
that UNCA
executive
committee
members were
not trying to
censor Matthew
but
were concerned
that WHAT THEY
CONSIDERED TO
BE published
attacks on
Giampaolo, Tim
and AFP"
And so,
to end this
installment
from UN-world,
Reuters, AFP
and others
feel they can
target a
journalist for
expulsion
because they
don't agree
with this
articles
-- which, as
noted, they
steal from
without giving
credit. Only
at
the UN - and
in these
corporate
media. To be
continued:
watch this
site.
Update:
minutes after
publication of
the above this
came out in
Sri Lanka,
which we fully
credit
and link to:
Matthew
Lee faces
expulsion from
UNCA
The
United Nations
is set to make
history as the
UN
Correspondents'
Association
(UNCA) is
contemplating
a move to
impeach and
expel a
reporter --
perhaps for
the first time
in living
memory.
But
what is
interesting is
that there is
a Sri Lankan
angle to the
story which is
reverberating
throughout the
Organisation.
The journalist
on trial is
Matthew
Russell Lee, a
blogger, who
has been
ruthlessly and
consistently
attacking Sri
Lanka on
alleged war
crimes
charges.
Ironically,
Lee is on
trial not for
his attacks on
Sri Lanka but
for accusing
the UNCA
president
Giampaolo
Pioli of
"accepting
rent money" --
a legitimate
transaction --
when he was
the landlord
of a New York
city apartment
rented out to
Sri Lanka's
Permanent
Representative
Ambassador
Palitha Kohona
about eight
years ago when
he was Chief
of the UN
Treaty
Section.
According
to Lee, Pioli
expressed
anger at the
reporting
because Lee
accused the
UNCA president
of "arranging
for Kohona to
screen the
government's
genocide-rebuttal
film 'Lies
Agreed Upon"
at the UN
under UNCA
auspices
"without
asking other
UNCA executive
board members
about it and
without the
underlying
Channel 4 film
"Killing
Fields" being
screened at
the UN."
Pioli
admitted
accepting rent
from Kohona
but denied the
accusation he
was biased in
favour of Sri
Lanka. And
while Pioli
demanded the
article be
removed from
Lee's blog,
Lee refused
calling it
censorship."
Lee is
also accused
of
"unprofessional
and unethical
behaviour" --
a charge made
by a Western
news agency
Bureau Chief
with whom he
is involved in
a journalistic
battle over
non-attribution
of a scoop
which
originated in
Lee's blog.
The UNCA
executive
committee
voted 13 to 1
to set up a
board of
examination to
probe the
charges. The
only
dissenting
vote came from
Lee who is
also in the
ExCo.