UN
Votes Without
Competition,
UNCA Top 6
UNopposed
After
Tried Expel
Press
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 7 --
What do you
call a
political
system in
which
there is no
competition
for the
positions of
president,
three vice
presidents,
secretary, and
treasurer
-- since
only one
candidate,
endorsed by
the outgoing
UNCA president
in five of the
six cases, is
running for
each slot?
Hint: it
is not a
democracy --
quite the
opposite.
So
it is with the
UN
Correspondents
Association,
which purports
to
defend the
rights of
journalists to
cover the UN
system. In the
past
year, the UNCA
Executive
Committee has
allowed
the UN to
reduce media
space by over
40%.
In
a perversion
of its stated
mission, the
UNCA Executive
Committee
sought to
expel, and
then get dis-accredited
from the UN,
the
investigative
Press. And yet
confirmed
Monday is a
final slate
for
uncontested
election to
the top six
posts:
President:
Pamela
Falk, CBS News
TV &
Radio; 1st
Vice
President:
Louis
Charbonneau,
Reuters; 2nd
VP: Masood
Haider, Dawn;
3rd VP:
Sylviane
Zehil,
L'Orient le
Jour;
Treasurer:
Bouchra
Benyoussef,
Maghreb Arab
Press;
Secretary:
Barbara Plett,
BBC.
Four
of these six
are in line to
maintain the
same post they
had in 2012.
First Vice
President Lou
Charbonneau of
Reuters used
his position
to try to get
Inner City
Press thrown
out of the UN,
according to
documents
obtained under
the Freedom of
Information
Act.
Five
of the six
above, and
between five
and seven of
those running
for the
nine "at
large" seats,
were asked to
explain or
comment on
the documents
obtained under
FOIA,
including one
stating that "UNCA"
was meeting
with the UN
"very quietly"
to get Inner
City
Press thrown
out of the UN.
No explanation
or comment was
provided;
the time for
that has
elapsed. Now,
the response
to questioning
of UNCA has
been to scrawl
on the fliers,
"Looney Club."
The
lack of a
second
candidate for
any of the top
six position
is all the
more troubling
given that the
Executive
Committee
openly
violated the
UNCA
Constitution
and did not
hold the
election as
required by
December 15,
nor relinquish
power by
January
1.
The
stated reason
was to attract
"new blood."
But as noted
five
of the
uncontested
top six were
on the
Executive
Committee last
year,
the Second and
Third Vice
Presidents for
many years.
As
noted in an earlier
article about
this "election,"
the views on
all this of
the new
president-designate,
nominated by
the four-year
president now
outgoing, from
censorship
to
dis-accreditation
bids to (now)
the defacing
of FUNCA's
fliers, are not yet
known.
It's
increasingly
like another
succession
recently
discussed but
barely acted
on in the UN
Security
Council.
From
UNCA members
current and
past, it has
been noted
that in this
current
unopposed
slate the top
two UNCA posts
would both be
filled by
Americans.
It's been
noted that
nowhere in the
Executive
Committee is
there any
sub-Saharan
African or
African-American
journalist.
Is
this the UN?
The new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
for its part
will stay as
far away as
possible from
this corrupt
coronation
which openly
violates the
UNCA
constitution.
FUNCA has told
the UN
Department of
Public
Information
that the
so-called
"UNCA Club"
should be
designated
more neutrally
as the "UN
Press Club,"
same with the
laughably
named "UNCA
Pantry;" the
separate "UNCA
Office" should
be given to
the
journalists
long waiting
for work space
in the UN.
Watch this
site.
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