UN
Spox Pitches
“Accurate
Reporting on
US” in UNCA
Room, Off the
Record
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
10 -- The UN
Spokesperson's
Office on Friday
afternoon
announced over
its public
address system
that "in a few
short moments
in the UNCA
room there
will be a
press
conference by
a State Department
official."
But, typical
of this UNCA
now known as
the UN's
Censorship
Alliance, it
wasn't any
"press
conference" --
it was off the
record spin.
The announcement
by UNCA
president
Giampaolo Pioli,
sent only to
those who pay
UNCA money (then
forwarded to
Inner City
Press along
with messages
of shock and
disgust) said
"For
correspondents
interested in
an informal
off-the-record
meeting with
[the] Deputy
Director,
Media Hub of
the Americas,
U.S.
Department of
State Bureau
of Public
Affairs,
please join us
in the UNCA
Meeting Room,
Friday, April
10th at
3:30pm.
"The meeting
will be to
explain the
work of the
State
Department
Public Affairs
bureau that
works with
international
media, to
provide
assistance in
gaining better
access to
State
Department
officials and
information,
in addition to
presenting the
work done in
the Media Hub
of the
Americas where
the Director
is the State
Department
spokesperson
in Spanish and
Portuguese for
regional media
and Spain and
Portugal.
Thank you,
Giampaolo
Pioli
UNCA
President"
Pioli's
invite linked
to a
self-description
of this US
Bureau of
Public
Affairs, that
“PA/IME works
in close
collaboration
with State
Department and
interagency
colleagues to
create and
manage tools
to ensure
accurate
coverage of
U.S. foreign
policy by
major
international
media.”
UNCA
represents
only part of
the UN press
corps. This
writer, for
example, quit
the group
after
2012.
UNCA is said
by UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric to receive
the first
question in
the UN Press
Briefing Room
“by tradition,”
even after UNCA's
Executive
Board
tried to get
the
investigative
Press thrown
out of the UN
for its reporting
about Sri
Lanka, UN
Peacekeeping
and
colonialism
(Herve Ladsous)
among other
topics.
UNCA
did nothing
when Ladsous
adopted the
policy of
refusing to
answer any
questions from
the investigative
Press, and
having his
spokespeople
physically
grab the UNTV
microphone to
try to avoid
the questions
being heard.
Now UNCA wants
to facilitate
“accurate
coverage of
U.S. foreign
policy.” Does
it perform
this service
for other
countries?
Inner City
Press, like
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access which
it co-founded
after quitting
UNCA, is not
against
"accurate
coverage of US
foreign
policy." Last
month, Inner
City Press
asked the US
State
Department
about Yemen
(including
the decision not to
evacuate
Yemeni
Americans from
the country),
Cuba
(the US
restrictions
on its
diplomats at
the UN),
the Maldives,
Middle
East and
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo.
In each case,
Inner City
Press reported
the answers in
full, where
possible with
video.
But why
provide this
platform for
one country
and not
others?
Earlier on
April 10 UNCA
will have a
presentation
by a former US
CIA employee
who served in
Saipan, Korea,
Vietnam and
"Burma," as
the UNCA
notice puts
it.
What has happened
to this UNCA
under Pioli
and presumably
current
Executive
Committee
members from Reuters,
the US
Broadcast
Board of
Governors
and ANSA? And
how now can
the UN
continue to
“partner” with
UNCA,
exclusively,
using this
partial group
as a proxy for
the wider
press corps?
Earlier
on April 9,
when the UN
with little
notice
canceled its
question and
answer noon
briefing in
deference to a
"press
encounter"
with Ban
Ki-moon at
which Dujarric
handpicked the
questioners
and Ban
notably did
not call for a
halt or even
pause in
airstrikes on
Yemen, UNCA
said nothing.
(They will,
however, have
a "Prosecco
toast" with
Ban later in
the month.)
The
Free
UN Coalition
spoke up in criticism,
as here. We'll
have more on
and of this.
, 
