UN
Bid to Ban ICP
Led by 5 Big
Media, Serving
France,
Ladsous, Lanka
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 29 -- Four
hours after UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous
refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
questions
about charges
that his
Department
introduced
cholera into
Haiti, and
has Sri
Lanka alleged
war criminal
general
Shavendra
Silva
as an adviser,
representatives
of five media
organizations
presented
charges to
eject Inner
City Press.
Video
of Ladsous'
refusal to
answer is here,
Minute 28:10.
The
later-disclosed
five signers
of the
charge letter
to set up a
"board of
examination"
to
"investigate"
Inner City
Press with the
goal of
expelling ICP
include not
only Louis
Charbonneau of
Reuters
and Timothy
Witcher
of Agence
France Presse
(as explained
below, a major
French Mission
and Ladsous
tool).
Now
they have
expanded to
five, with
Flavia
Krause-Jackson
of Bloomberg,
Talal
Al-Haj of
Al-Arabia and
Margaret
Besheer of
Voice of
America, the
Treasurer of
UNCA who was
not present
for Tuesday
afternoon's
move
toward
expulsion.
Besheer
has
previously
rebuked Inner
City Press to
write "more
positively"
about the UN.
During Tuesday
afternoon's
session,
Bloomberg's
Flavia
Krause-Jackson
told Inner
City Press,
We're not talking
about giving
evidence... we
do not like
your attitude.
The
stated purpose
of the UN
Correspondents
Association is
to protect the
freedom of the
press and
protect the
rights of bona
fide
correspondents
to
secure
accreditation
and unhindered
access to the
UN without
discrimination.
But
it appears
that big media
at the UN is
seeking to
expel a
smaller, more
critical
online news
site, Inner
City Press.
For others of
Tuesday's
indicters, it
is state
controlled
media from
countries
reliably
accused,
including in
ICP,
of human
rights
violations.
UNCA
President
Giampaolo
Pioli at the
beginning of
Tuesday's
inquisition
complained in
seeming North
Korean style
to Inner City
Press about
"your blog,"
citing
"complaints
over the
years."
It
was
Charbonneau
who filed a
complaint with
the UN's
Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit saying
Inner City
Press is
"making it
very hard for
me and others
in the UN
press to do
our
jobs."
Charbonneau
sent
copies of his
complaint to
MALU against
Inner City
Press to
Basheer of
Voice of
America,
Witcher of AFP
(who
previously used UNCA
against
Inner City
Press after
ICP reported
that Ladsous
was at best
Nicolas
Sarkozy's
second choice
for the French
position atop
UN
Peacekeeping)
and Pioli.
As
previously
reported,
Charbonneau
and Reuters
used without
any credit
Inner City
Press' exclusive
March 28
report that US
official
Jeffrey
Feltman
would come to
head the UN
Department of
Political
Affairs.
By
contrast, Foreign
Policy's "The
Cable"
credited
Inner City
Press. When
asked about
it, Charbonneau
said for a
year he has
had a
policy or
practice of
not crediting
ICP. He
repeated
Tuesday, we
don't have to
give credit,
it's just a
courtesy.
Repeated
inquiries
with Reuters
if this is an
acceptable
policy have
gone
unanswered, by
"ethics" chief
Greg McCune up
to Reuters CEO
James C.
Smith.
Bloomberg,
specifically
Flavia
Krause-Jackson,
previously
reported
without any
credit
Inner City
Press' exclusive
expose that 14
kilograms of
cocaine was
found in the
UN mailroom
(her defense
is that once
the UN
held a 6 pm
press
conference
responding
to Inner City
Press' story
and questions
at noon, she
and Bloomberg
didn't have to
give any
credit). AFP
also stole the
story, as
did some other
chargers and
supporters,
Tuesday
voters.
Inner
City Press
said that UNCA
should not be
just a club of
big media.
Flavia
Krause-Jackson
of Bloomberg
interjected,
don't try to
make this
about
big bad media
against a
small one. But
how not? Look
at the five
signers listed
above --
there's not
even the
pretense that
is not what it
is.
Pioli
has
expressed
anger at Inner
City Press
reporting that
he accepted
rent
money from Sri
Lanka's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN
Palitha
Kohona and
then arranged
for Kohona to
screen his
government's
genocide-rebuttal
film "Lies
Agreed To" in
the UN without
asking other
UNCA Executive
Board members
about it, and
without the
underlying
Channel 4 film
"Killing
Fields" being
screened
in the UN,
because it
would conflict
with a
ceremony for
Ban Ki-moon.
Pioli
points out,
and we
include, that
the rent
acceptance was
"seven or
eight"
years ago.
Pioli
still demanded
that the
article, even
as modified,
be removed
from the
Internet.
Inner City
Press refused,
calling this
censorship.
Pioli screamed
at
Inner City
Press, I will
get you thrown
out of the UN.
At Tuesday's
meeting Talal
Al-Haj said of
the Sri Lanka
- Pioli story,
I would
like to see
the facts
behind your
story, I need
this to be
investigated.
Inner City
Press asked if
Al-Haj and the
UNCA
Executive
Committee was
asking to know
the sources of
the story. Of
the board of
examination,
Al-Haj said we
can choose any
five.
But
can those
complaining,
or witnesses,
be on the
board of
examination?
Can the
prosecutor or
witness be on
the jury? How
can they then
give
evidence?
Strangely, a
correspondent
for a
media which
has in the
past credited
Inner City
Press on a Libya
scoop
Tuesday voted
for the
process to try
to expel Inner
City Press.
Does it
highlight the
difference
between the
media's English
and
non-English
versions or
something
deeper?
Pioli
cut off all
objections to
end Tuesday's
session and
called the
question, "to
set up a five
member"
Board of
Examination.
Inner
City Press has
nominations
for the panel,
and should
have the
right to
challenge for
cause. ICP has
also provided
notice of
other requests
it is making
and actions it
will take.
Inner
City
Press believes
this is an
abuse of
power, anti
press
freedom, and I
will fight it.
When you are
trying to
throw me out,
it
is not
private. Watch
this site.
, 
