Gushing
on Freedom
After Trying
to Censor,
UNCA Big Wigs
Tweet from
Park Ave
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 15 –
The vacuity of
the Big Media
which try to
absent mindly
dominate the
UN press corps
was on display
even Friday
night.
The
UN
Correspondents
Association,
increasingly
known as the
UN's
Censorship
Alliance, had
belatedly
held their
annual general
meeting in the
afternoon.
There was no
read-out,
beyond the UN
announcing
that the rest
of the press
corps' move
back to the UN
skyscraper was
delayed again
by the demands
of big
broadcasters
in UNCA.
But
after sundown
UNCA's new
president
Pamela Falk of
CBS began
relentlessly
tweeting good
news, which
consisted of
the words
“access” and
“free press”
and
“transparency”
followed by
the Twitter
handles of
UNCA Executive
Committee
members,
including Tim
Witcher of
AFP
and Lou
Charbonneau
of Reuters.
But at
least these
these two
Members
actively tried
in 2012 to get
the UN to
throw out the
investigative
Press --
hardly
“access” or
“transparent”
or “free
press” --
while several
other UNCA
Executive
Committee
members served
as judges or
extras in the
drama, doing
nothing.
Pam
Falk herself,
since assuming
the UNCA post
without any
competition,
with the
nomination of
her
predecessor,
has done
nothing to
clean up the
organization.
In
fact, things
have gotten
worse: the
UNCA “leaders”
have taken to
tearing down
flyers of the
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
and starting anonymous
counterfeit
social media
accounts which
mock
alleged
victims of
sexual
harassment.
Falk
has done
nothing about
this; in fact,
flyers about
unfair UN
accreditation
rules, right
outside the
door to her
enclosed
office, have
been torn down
every morning.
But
Friday evening
where was Pam
Falk to be
found?
Schmoozing on
the Upper East
Side, at a
reception
(where African
diplomats told
Inner City
Press the
Eastern Congo
framework
agreement
would now be
signed
February 24 in
Addis Ababa).
Falk was not
responding to
questions
about her
oh-so-recent
claims of
transparency
and free
press.(It was
an informative
event, as it
turned out,
and in any
event would
remain
unspecified
here.)
Seriously,
though,
there has to
be an easier
and more
honest way
than UNCA to
get an extra
line on one's
resume. To
lead an
organization
that has
engaged in
censorship,
either reform
or embrace it.
Watch this
site.
, 
