At UN,
Fixed Election
of Censoring
Party Planner
UNCA Has
Attackers
of Free Press
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 8 --
The day before
an election
with no
competition
for the top
six spots,
fliers raising
the point that
the fix was in
were torn down
in
the UN, in the
press floor
above the Dag
Hammarskjold
Library.
Downstairs in
the press
corps' outward
looking face,
fliers
that had
been defaced
with "Crazy
Club" were
cleaned and
left up, to
make it appear
all was well
with the UN
Correspondents
Association.
But nothing
could be
further from
the truth.
An
organization
which once
played the
role of making
the UN more
transparent
and accessible
has devolved
into at best a
party
planner,
at worst a
proponent of
censorship as
was shown in
2012.
Five
big media
members of the
UNCA Executive
Committee
sought to
expel a
smaller
investigative
media which dared
to raise
questions of
conflict of
interest.
When a legal
defense was
mounted, three
of the
five decided
to ask the UN
to
dis-accredit
the Press, in
a
stealth
June 20, 2012
letter from
Voice of
America to
the UN's
Stephane
Dujarric.
While
Voice of
America's
Steve Redisch
was the signer
of the letter,
his UN
bureau chief Margaret
Besheer had
told him that
her colleagues
from
Reuters
and Agence
France-Presse,
Louis
Charbonneau
and Tim
Witcher
respectively,
would support
the letter or
write their
own.
On June
18 at 12:58
pm, Besheer
wrote to VOA's
lawyers
that
"My
AFP colleague
asks if they
could possibly
get the tenor
of our letter
so they can
stay on
message and
ask In the
same way.
Their legal
dept is in
France, so It
would be their
regional
director in
Washington
contacting UN
on their
behalf."
This
is not
speculation:
Inner City
Press filed a
Freedom of
Information
Act request,
since Voice of
America is a
US government
agency, with
Secretary of
State Hillary
Clinton on the
governing
Broadcasting
Board of
Governors.
Before
any
documents were
released,
Charbonneau
and the now
outgoing
president
asked Inner
City Press to
withdraw the
FOIA request.
But as
investigative
media, Inner
City Press did
not do that --
it has never
done that. To
the contrary:
Inner
City
Press is a
media amicus
in
this
just
filed brief
in McBurney
v.
Young,
No. 12-17 of
the US Supreme
Court.
In
early August
some documents
came in (more
were released
on appeal
in early
December),
with Besheer
assuring her
bosses
that UNCA had
met with the
UN, "very
quietly,"
to get Inner
City Press
thrown out.
Besheer veered
into alleged
medical
history
of which she
had and has no
knowledge, and
no right.
It
is not
therefore
surprising
that Besheer
is not
"running"
for
re-election.
Nor is the president
who oversaw
this travesty,
nor
one of the
five big media
denouncers of
the Press, nor
another voting
with them.
But
Charbonneau,
shamelessly
some say, is
pursuing
without
competition
another term
as first vice
president.
With a
replacement
president
who is not as
frequently at
the UN, he
seems to
believe he
would
again be the
one running
the show, to
the benefit of
himself if not
of Reuters.
While
Charbonneau
has used his
Rasputin like
position to
try to get
more
favored
position for
Reuters, on UN
trips for
example, it is
not at
all clear that
his role
in seeking to
expel the
Press in
contravention
of principles
of freedom of
expression has
been or will
be helpful
to Reuters.
It
is impossible
to know for
certain, since
Reuters' top
executives
including Stephen J.
Adler refused
to answer any
questions,
including
about Reuters'
policy if any
of crediting
smaller media
when Reuters
takes their
scoops.
Instead, Charbonneau
told Voice of
America that
Reuters was
ready to try
to sue the
Press.
Witcher
too
is running
again, if only
for an "at
large" seat.
So is
another reporter
they used, to
file a
complaint with
the UN which
the
official
complained to
found
"frivolous"
upon review.
And
so something
is sick within
UNCA, and this
fixed election
will not
fix it.
The response
of Inner City
Press has been
to launch a
new and
needed
organization
actually
fighting for
media rights
with regard to
the UN: the Free UN Coalition for Access, FUNCA.
Its fliers
have been
defaced and
torn down but
there will be
no stopping
it. Watch this
site.
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