Voice
of
America
Complaint to
Get ICP Out of
UN Violates
1st Amendment
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 21, updated
--
After five
Big Media
members of the
UN
Correspondents
Association on
May 25 started
a "Board of
Examination"
to investigate
Inner City
Press with an
eye toward
expelling it
from UNCA,
they claimed
there was no
intention to
try to
get Inner City
Press thrown
out of the UN
itself.
But
on June
20,
the executive
editor of
Voice of
America,
one of the Big
Five along
with Reuters,
Bloomberg
News,
Al-Arabiya and
Agence France
Presse,
wrote
to the UN's
Stephane
Dujarric,
supervisor of
the Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit, asking
him to "review
Mr. Lee's
status as an
accredited
U.N.
correspondent."
It
is now
apparent
that the UNCA
"Board of
Examination"
process has
been a
set-up.
Inner
City Press'
participation
in the
meetings they
summoned it
to, its e-mail
responses to
questions they
sent, its
urging Voice
of America to
comply with
the First
Amendment to
the US
Constitution,
are all now
being used
against it, to
ask the UN to
review its
accreditation.
In
the letter,
editor Steve
Redisch claims
VOA
correspondent
Margaret
Besheer was
harassed by
e-mail. But
Inner City
Press never
sent a single
email to
Margaret
Besheer was
wasn't part of
the UNCA
Executive
Committee
list, on which
members as in
a witch hunt
were demanding
answers from
Inner City
Press.
Redisch,
who has
never once
spoken to
Inner City
Press,
purports to
complain on
behalf
not only of
VOA's Besheer
but "others"
-- with whom
he
presumably HAS
spoken. It may
be that he
conferred the
UN's Dujarric
before filing
this
complaint.
The
"unprofessional
and borderline
harassing
email
correspondence"
to Redisch
"and to other
senior VOA
management"
were, in
fact, requests
that VOA as a
government
funded media
comply with
the
First
Amendment to
the US
Constitution.
Beyond
freedom of
speech and of
the press, the
First
Amendment
protects the
right to
petition the
government --
including this
state media
Voice of
America -- for
redress of
grievances.
Already
in this
time of fiscal
austerity,
there have
been calls to
defund and
eliminated
Voice of
America. As
simply one
example, VOA
at the UN
has hardly
broken any
news.
Inner
City Press,
by contrast
has broken
stories about
Syria, Libya,
the selection
of
US official
Jeffrey
Feltman to
head the UN
Department of
Political
Affairs, 14
kilos of
cocaine in the
UN mail room
in January
2012 (a
scoop taken
without credit
by the Big
Five and
others), the
fight in
September 2011
between the
guards of
Turkish
president
Erdogan and UN
Security, and
UN corruption
generally.
Particularly
in
these times of
fiscal
austerity,
does it make
sense -- and
is it
legal -- to
spend US
taxpayers'
dollars on a
campaign to
oust from
the UN an
investigative
journalist who
exposes waste,
fraud and
abuse?
Update
of
12:27 pm --
At the June 21
UN noon
briefing,
Inner City
Press
after asking
questions on
Sudan, Syria
and the UN's
plans to use
drones, asked
about the
Voice of
America
complaint,
citing UNCA.
In
the briefing
room and
asking a noon
briefing
question,
which is rare,
was UNCA
President
Giampaolo
Pioli and
compatriots.
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky, as
prepared (video
here, from
Minute 16:53)
I've
asked whether
journalists
here at the UN
have a right
to know when
complaints are
filed against
them,
especially by
competitors.
Your Office
has not
answered; nor
has the Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit nor
Stephane
Dujarric.
Now
I've learned
that Voice of
America has
asked Dujarric
to review my
accreditation
at the UN,
essentially
for things I
have written.
What are my
rights in this
regard? What
weight does
the UN give to
such a
complaint,
with no
specifics,
filed by a big
media --
actually, at
least five of
them --
against a
small
investigative
web
site? What
does Ban
Ki-moon think
of all this?
And
Nesirky
replied, "I
don't have
anything to
say on this at
all" and "I
have nothing
to say on the
matter."
Video
here, from
Minute 17:57.
Here
is the text of
the complaint:
Subject:
Matthew
Lee
From Steve
Redisch [at]
VOAnews.com
To: Stephane
Dujarric [at]
un.org
Cc: Kataryna
Lyson, Michael
Lawrence
Date:
June 20, 2012
Mr.
Stephane
Dujarric
Head of News
&. Media
Division
United
Nations
300 East 42nd
Street, Room
518
NY, NY, 10017
Dear
Mr.
Dujarric:
I
am writing
because it has
come to my
attention that
a United
Nations
accredited
journalist,
Matthew Lee of
the Inner City
Press, has
exhibited
disruptive and
unprofessional
conduct
towards Voice
of
America (VOA)
U.N.
correspondent
Margaret
Besheer. Over
the last
several weeks,
Mr. Lee has
also sent
frequent,
unprofessional
and
borderline
harassing
email
correspondence
to Ms.
Besheer, to me
and
to other
senior VOA
management
regarding the
United Nations
Correspondents
Association's
internal
business
matters.
Although
Mr.
Lee has not
physically
threatened Ms.
Besheer, I
understand she
and other
reporters are,
to be kind,
uncomfortable
with his
behavior
and feel that
he lacks
proper
judgment and
exhibits
unprofessional
conduct while
at the U.N.
As
an
experienced
journalist and
leader of an
organization
dedicated to
freedom of the
press, it is
difficult for
me to make
this request
of
you. But I
would urge you
to review Mr.
Lee's status
as an
accredited
U.N.
correspondent.
I believe his
behavior is
impeding the
freedom
VOA's
correspondent
and others
need in order
to report what
they see
and know from
the United
Nations.
I
am copying
VOA/BBG's
Assistant
General
Counsel
Kataryna Lyson
and
Director of
Security
Michael
Lawrence so
they are aware
of the
situation and
its serious
nature. Please
don't hesitate
to call or
email to
discuss
further.
Best
regards,
Steve
Redisch
VOA Executive
Editor
202-203-4500
sredjsch [at]
voanews.com
, 
