UN
Privatizes
Press Room,
Won't Say To
Whom Since
Hollande, AFP
& UNCA Cut
In
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 2-- UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon can be
sold, it has
been made
clear here in
New York and,
at least as to
February 5,
2016, in the
UK. But they
charge less in
the UK, while
in New York
the UN
Spokesman can
eject the
Press from
covering the
issue,
video here,
then not
answer
questions why.
Now the
UN won't
provide a
simple list of
when and to
whom it “lent”
the UN Press
Briefing Room,
from the “reservation”
Spokesman
Dujarric gave
to the
entourage of
French
President
Hollande
on September
23, 2014 until
his murky
“lending” of
the UN Press
Briefing Room
to UNCA on
January 29,
2016 and
subsequent
ejection of
Inner City
Press.
Dujarric
didn't show up
at the
February 2
noon briefing,
so Inner City
Press had to
ask his
Deputy, Farhan
Haq. The UNCA
representative,
Reuters
retiree Evelyn
Leopold,
immediately
tried to cut
off the
question with
a loud, “Here
we go again.”
(This was
echoed
afterward by
Carole Landry
the English
language
correspondent
of Agence
France Presse,
silent when
the UN Press
Briefing Room
was given over
to Hollande
and others
were asked to
leave).
Haq admitted
that his or
Dujarric's
Office
maintains a
list -- but
refused to
provide it.
Inner City
Press asked
for it again:
there is no
diplomatic
basis for
withholding
it. This shows
why there
should be a UN
Freedom of
Information
Act, something
which while
requested by
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
Ban Ki-moon
has tellingly
done nothing
about during
his opaque
tenure.
Instead of
providing this
basic
information,
Haq claimed
Inner City
Press is
“mudding the
waters” of
having covered
the January 29
meeting of
UNCA,
including
about this
group's
offering of
space in the
UN to those
who pay it
money, from an
entirely
visible,
glassed in
box, from
which Inner
City Press
live-tweeted
and
live-streamed
Periscope
video. Here's
saved
Periscope
video of what
this “hiding
place” looks
like.
We'll
have more on
this - and
will continue
to pursue the
list of UN
privatization
of the Press
Briefing Room.
Watch this
site.
But UN
Spokesman
Stepane
Dujarric on
February 1,
when Inner
City Press
asked him
under what
rule he had
given over the
UN Press
Briefing Room
to the UNCA
groups which
charged $6,000
to sit with
Ban, said “who
gets to use
this room is
really my
decision.” Vine here.
Really? The
use of the UN
Press Briefing
Room is
decided,
without any
rules, by this
one
individual?
The same
individual who
often dodges
Inner City
Press'
questions by
saying “It's
up to member
states”?
But there are
other problems
here. After
Dujarric
previously
lent the UN
Press Briefing
Room on
September 23,
2014 to the
entourage of
the president
of Dujarric's
native France
Francois
Hollande, video here, it was then
indicated that
it wouldn't
happen
again.
Then on
September 25,
2014 when
Inner City
Press asked
Dujarric
“please state
which
countries
during this
UNGA have used
the UN Press
Briefing Room
for briefing
not open to
all UN
correspondents,
other than
France at 11
am on
September 23.
(Also, what
was your role
on September
23 around 11
am in the room
behind the
Press Briefing
Room podium?)”
Dujarric
replied, in
writing, “I
dont have the
information on
the first
point for you.
On the second,
I'm not sure
that I
understand it
except that I
was just
looking into
the room. I
tend to be a
curious
person.”
Dujarric
“didn't have
the
information”
on private use
of the UN
Press Briefing
Room, which
use he says
“is really my
decision”?
We'll have
more on this.
On Wall
Street in
December 2015,
the UN
Correspondents
Association
(UNCA) sold
seats with Ban
Ki-moon for
$6,000 ($12,000
for a full
table).
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric how
this could be
and was first
told, As long
as it's
transparent.
UNCA
previously
took money
from
Macau-based
casino magnate
Ng Lap Seng,
now under
house arrest
for bribery at
the UN, and
gave him a
photo op with
Ban. Now the
UN or at least
Dujarric gave
this UNCA, now
the UN
Corruption
Association,
its UN Press
Briefing Room
-- and on
January 29
threw out the
Press seeking
to cover this
meeting of a
group that has
sold the UN
and Ban, amid
scandals.
On
February 1,
Inner City
Press went to
the next UN
noon briefing
to asked
Dujarric what
the rules for
throwing media
out of the UN
Press Briefing
Room are, and
to explain his
poking at
Inner City
Press' phone
to stop its
Periscope
streaming
broadcast of
the event in
the UN Press
Briefing Room,
video
here, transcript here:
Inner City
Press: on
Friday, you'd
said to me
that were you
going to
clarify
something.
So, I just
want to ask
you about it,
about the use
of this
room.
There was an
event held
Friday at 5
p.m., as you
know, since
you came and
asked me to
leave
it. But,
it was with UN
tech… you
know, UN audio
support.
And I know
that, in the
past, when,
for example,
the President
of France
tried to also
borrow the
room for the
travelling
press corps,
you had said
to me it
wouldn't
happen
again.
What's the…
what's the
protocols for
having… for
ejecting the
media from the
UN press
briefing
room?
And is it
appropriate, I
guess maybe I
misunderstood
it, but I… you
seemed to be
poking at my
camera which
was filming.
Is a UN
Spokesperson
supposed to be
turning off
the camera of
the media
filming
something that
at least I
believed was
newsworthy in
that the
Organization
holding the
event has
received money
from Ng Lap
Seng, the
Macau-based
businessman
now under
house arrest,
in exchange
for a photo
op…
Spokesman:
Matthew, the
thing that was
most
inappropriate
on Friday was
your
behaviour.
And I think
hiding…
Matthew,
hiding in an
interpreter's
booth…
Inner City
Press:
Is it
hiding?
It's a glass
room.
Spokesman:
I think…
Matthew, are
you going to
let me
speak?
Okay. I
think it was
completely
inappropriate
and does not,
I think,
follow the
guidelines of…
proper
guidelines of
behaviour of
anyone who is
accredited
here.
Who gets to
use this room
is really my
decision, is
this office's
decision.
It was…
okay. It
was lent, it
was lent to
UNCA to use as
their general…
for a general
meeting they
had. And
I really have
nothing else
to say.
Inner City
Press:
It's a
glassed-in…
for the
record, it's a
glassed-in
booth entirely
visible.
Number two…
why did you
say
[inaudible]…
could you ask
any journalist
to walk out
right now…
Spokesman:
Matthew, I'm
done answering
on this issue.
So
Dujarric cut
off questions,
including
about his
"lending" of
the UN
Briefing Room
to the
entourage of
France's
Francois
Hollande -
which will
continue. In
fact, the UN
omitted or
censored Inner
City Press'
entirely
audible
question
about
Hollande from
the
transcript.
Dujarric made
a threat. This
is today's UN.
Sitting
in a glassed
in booth
live-tweeting
and
livestreaming
Periscope
video cannot
be called
"hiding," even
in the UN.
Inner
City Press
pointed out
the obvious:
this booth is
entirely
glassed in and
visible from
the podium he
spoke at, and
from the
rostrum used
on January 29
by UNCA's head
Giampaolo
Pioli and two
board members
(one from US
government
Broadcasting
Board of
Governors, as
is relevant to
the censorship
bid contrary
to the US
First
Amendment.)
Dujarric cut
off Inner City
Press' follow
up question;
uniquely the
entire first
row of the
briefing room
was this day
filled with
UNCA board
members, two
from Agence
France Presse
(they asked
nothing), and
Pioli, who
also asked
nothing. One
wondered if
Dujarric, who
on January 29
told Inner
City Press it
should "join
UNCA" arranged
or
collaborated
with this
dubious "show
of force."
At
least, unlike
January 29,
Dujarric did
not jab at
Inner City
Press' camera,
and the
Reuters
correspondent
who twice
blocked the
camera with
paper on
January 29 did
not do so this
time.
One is
left wondering
if the UN's
Dujarric
believes he
can eject any
media, at any
time, from any
event in the
UN Press
Briefing Room,
and if he,
Reuters or
UNCA will try
the same
camera-banning
they engaged
in on January
29 in the UN
Press Briefing
Room at the UN
Security
Council
stakeout.
Watch this
site.
At the
January 29
noon briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
Dujarric about
Ban's paid /
sold
appearances, transcript here.
On
January 29,
UNCA
leadership
including
Giampaoli
Pioli, two
scribes for
the US
Broadcasting
Board of
Governors, one
from Reuters
and others
demanded that
Inner City
Press not
cover a
meeting in the
UN Press
Briefing Room.
Suspending
their meeting
in which they
discussed
among other
tawdry topics
selling UN
space to those
who pay them
money, UNCA
called in UN
Spokesman
Dujarric and
his deputy and
then UN
Security, who
are the
request of
Dujarric asked
Inner City
Press to
leave.
There
were ironies
aplenty. Not
only about a
group of
"correspondents"
trying to
close and make
secret their
meeting in the
UN Press
Briefing Room,
but also that
it was
Dujarric who
told Inner
City Press
that the UN
Press Briefing
Room would not
again be "lent
out," after
Inner City
Press challenged
the lending
out to French
President
Francois
Hollande.
Dujarric,
deploying the
F-bomb, Vine
here, told
Inner City
Press, Yes, I
am ordering
you out, you
can put it in
your story. Vine here. He tried to turn
Inner City
Press' camera
phone off. Vine here.
His
deputy,
pointing at
Inner City
Press, told
some of the
scribes, "He
lies a lot" --
after
providing
patently false
answers about
UN
peacekeeping
and other
topics.
The
Voice of
America
correspondent
Margaret
Besheer, last
seen claiming
there were
Liberians in
Burundi,
to which in an
untransparent
process she
(and Reuters
and AFP)
accompanied
the recent
Security
Council trip,
made comments
which most
contexts are
deemed
antithetical
to free press.
She's done it
before (see
this letter to
Dujarric);
she said "go
on your meds."
Ban's
interaction
with this UN
Corruption
Association
are NOT
transparent.
The new Free
UN Coalition
to Access,
which on
January 27
thanked the
New York State
Comptroller
and others at
a 1:15 pm
press
conference
with no one in
UNCA's "holy
seat," has
repeatedly
critiqued this
lack of
transparency,
as journalists
should.
Amazingly,
while this UN
Corruption
Association
routinely
tries to lure
briefers away
from the UN
Press Briefing
Room, now the
UN gives it
that room for
this meeting:
UN Censorship
Alliance.
We'll have
more on this.
On
January 20,
Inner City
Press received
a
solicitation:
"UNA-UK is
delighted to
invite you to
an event with
H.E. Ban
Ki-moon,
Secretary-General
of the United
Nations, on
the morning of
5 February
2016... We are
giving UNA-UK
members and
supporters the
opportunity to
book their
place before
tickets go on
general sale
and also
recognising
your ongoing
support by
offering a
discounted
rate (tickets
will be Ł10
reduced from
Ł15).
Click here to
book your
place - use
the code [removed
upon UNA-UK request]
to claim your
discount."
So you
can only hear
Ban Ki-moon on
London for 15
pounds - or 10
pounds if you
join the
organization.
In New York,
UNCA charges
money (and
only
distributes
information
the UN gives
it to those
who pay its
dues) - and
still charges
to sit with
Ban.
With the
UN embroiled
in scandals
including the
indictments of
the former
President of
the General
Assembly John
Ashe and Macau
businessman Ng
Lap Seng
and the
founder of
South South
News, on
December 14
the UN
Correspondents
Association
sold seats
with Ban
Ki-moon for
$6000. Periscope I here;Periscope
II here.
UN corruption,
never
reformed,
rises from the
Ashes,
courtesy of
UNCA, now the
UN Corruption
Association.
And
yet, from
inside
Cipriani Wall
Street, one of
the musicians
paid to play
has an open
mind, and when
shown
reporting on
UN corruption
asks, Should
I make a
scene? Tweet
here.
Just
ask, who here
paid $6000 as
solicited by
UNCA to sit
with Ban
Ki-moon. And
why pay it?
With Ng Lap
Seng, it's
clear.
The new EU
representative
naively said,
First UNCA;
the Turkish
mission
tweeted a
photo of Ban
(after its
Perm Rep
hob-nobbed
with him in
front of
Monaco's
painting,
ignoring the
invasion of
Iraq, whose
Ambassador
arrived in tux
to the
Corruption
Ball, we
excuse him.)
Since
UNCA
previously at
such an event
at Cipriani
sold photo ops
with Ban
Ki-moon to
now-indicted
Ng Lap Seng,
who will be
this year's Ng
Lap
Seng?
Into Cipriani,
this time the
one on Wall
Street, passed
many tuxedoed
individuals
never seen at
the UN. What
were they
buying? What
safeguards had
been added
since Ng Lap
Seng and John
Ashe? None.
New PGA
Mogens
Lykketoft
arrived, as
did Deputy
Secretary
General Jan
Eliasson and
David Nabarro,
who stopped in
the rain to
speak with
Inner City
Press, as did
another Under
Secretary
General. How
can the UN and
its group of
scribes remain
so UNreformed,
despite
indictments
and public
scandal?
Is it
journalism to
solicit and
take money
from those you
ostensibly
cover? Where
does it go?
We'll have
more on this.
Earlier
on December 14
UNCA lobbed
three softball
questions to
Ban -- none on
Burundi, for
example --
from the
former
president of
UNCA Pamela
Falk, then the
current vice
president and
finally the
current
questioner for
UNCA. Inner
City Press
loudly asked a
question about
the killings
in Burundi,
which Ban
declined to
answer. Vine
here.
Inner
City Press for
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
asked Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
the propriety
of UNCA
selling seats
with Ban.
Dujarric said,
"As long as
it's
transparent."
Is that the
standard?
One would
expect the UN
press corps,
even the
entity the UN
itself chooses
to set aside
first
questions for,
to be pursuing
rather than be
involved in
the scandals.
One
might also
expect UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon to be
more cautious
of colluding
in events in
which access
to him
has been sold.
But
with the UN
Correspondents
Association,
this year more
than ever,
that is not
the case. The
group or its
leadership,
headed by
Italian
paparazzi
scribe
Giampaolo
Pioli who
after trying
to get the
investigative
Pressthrown out
of the UN
now covers
actors like
Morgan Freeman
while others
at his paper
cover the UN,
is selling
seats with Ban
Ki-moon for
$6,000.
In
response to
Press
questions
about this
UNseemly sale
of access,
Ban's
spokesman said
"as long as
it's
transparent."
Will that keep
the
indictments
from
expanding?
This year's
sale of Ban,
like to Ng Lap
Seng in 2011,
is an Italian
job, run by
pazarazzi /
"correspondent"
/ landlord
Giampaolo
Pioli.
How does
this UNCA
sleaze fest
differ from
the South
South Awards,
inextricably
linked to the
indictments of
Ng Lap Seng,
South South
News' Frank
Lorenzo and
former
President of
the General
Assembly John
Ashe? Hardly
at all. So
what will
happen? We'll
have more on
this.
For now
we can report
that at the
December 11
closed door
session on
"Revitalization
of the General
Assembly,"
both the UN's
Controller and
Ban Ki-moon's
new chief of
staff Edmond
Mulet made
arguments for
post-Ashe
reforms that a
number of
member states
found far too
little. And
Ban is slated
to have seats
next to him
sold for
$6000. We'll
have more on
this too.
On
December 10,
days after
Pioli used the
large room the
UN gives to
UNCA, its UN
Censorship
Alliance, to campaign
for a Security
Council seat
for his native
Italy by
giving out
free meats,
the view into
the Club was
blocked. So
much for
transparency.
Here is
a photo of the
Clubhouse:
The
flier on the
glassed-in
bulletin
board, under
the "election"
results, is of
fine recently
deceased
journalist
Haider Rizvi.
Inner City
Press' obituary
hinted at it,
but now we're
compelled to
say: UNCA, or
its sidekick,
tried to get
him thrown out
of the UN.
There'll be a
memorial for
Haider, which
can be
participated
in
online,
on December 12
- in Lahore.
Truth is what
journalism is
about. But
here's Pioli
on Morgan
Freeman:
This
UNCA
"leadership"
represents
Italy and
France, and
old media --
tellingly,
those new
media which
chose to run
(Inner City
Press quit
UNCA after its
censorship
bid) for
lesser UNCA
seats were not
selected. Also
tellingly, the
UN
Spokesperson's
office
promoted the
scam election,
using its
loudspeaker to
try to get out
the vote (for
candidates who
had no
opponents.)
The
ringmaster,
Giampaolo
Pioli, came
through the UN
Security
Council
stakeout not
to ask any
question or
even listen to
answers on
South Sudan or
Syria; he glad
handed his
unopposed
slate and then
headed to the
UN bar. He has
arranged more
Italian
toasting,
seeingly part
of Italy's
actually-opposed
campaign for a
Security
Council seat
(more on this
in future
dispatches).
While
calling for an
audit of sale
of UN access
under John
Ashe, should
Ban openly
allow access
to him to be
sold? He
appears intent
on doing so,
or operating
by inertia, on
automatic
pilot. Inner
City Press now
learns that
Ban's twice
delayed report
on the cover
up of
peacekeepers'
rapes in the
Central
African
Republic will
be pushed
further back,
after the
sell-out,
buried. We'll
have more on
this.
UNCA's
awards, such
as they gave
to South
South News
for money,
include awards
and payments
to entities
who've served
on their own
Board.
The United
Nations
Correspondents
Association is
honored to
invite you to
participate
and contribute
to the 20th
annual UNCA
Awards event
with guest of
honor U.N.
Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon
and H.S.H.
Prince Albert
II of Monaco,
recipient of
the 2015
Global
Advocate of
the Year Award
for climate
change.
Exclusive
raffle prizes
include
business class
airline
tickets around
the world with
hotel
accommodations
and a grand
prize FIAT
500X car. As
your esteemed
presence will
ensure the
success of
this event, we
are pleased to
send you the
below
opportunities
to attend the
gala dinner:
Mission Table
Special Price
/ $6000
(half-table) 5
seats at VIP
table at the
gala event
Special
Ambassador
Contribution /
$2,000 -1 VIP
ticket for
Ambassador
with premium
seating to
dinner + 1
complimentary
VIP ticket for
spouse or
guest -Special
acknowledgement
of the
Ambassador and
the Mission in
the UNCA
Awards Journal
of the evening
-Additional
tickets for UN
Diplomats of
the Mission
can be
purchased at
the special
price of $750
each
Giampaolo
Pioli, UNCA
President
Please make
all checks
payable to
'UNCA Awards
Committee'
Contributions
to the UNCA
Awards
Committee are
tax
deductible.
The UNCA
Awards
Committee is a
501-c(3)"
This is
precisely the
type of sale
of access
involved in
the
indictments of
Ng, Sheri Yan
and Frank
Lorenzo.
While
others are
announcing
audits and
freezing such
contacts, UNCA
under Pioli is
bulling
forward,
charging ever
more money,
getting ever
further from
journalistic
purposes.
On
November 20,
Pioli's UNCA
circulated a
list of
candidates
with no
competition
for any of the
six officer
positions. It
also
pre-announced
its awards,
including to
Reuters (on
its Board) and
others. We'll
have more on
this.
For the three
running
unopposed for
five president
slots, two
were already
on the UNCA
board during
the relevant
time period;
the other is Pioli's
former protege
at Quotidiano
Nazionale.
It's an
Italian thing.