By
Matthew
Russell Lee, 4th
in a series
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 8 --
Press access
and answers to
questions at
the UN have
been in
decline since
at least 2011.
Now in 2014
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
is combating
the trend,
which can only
be done by
naming names
and providing
specifics, now
including
audio. And so
this series,
fourth part
here.
Today's
audio, here,
is Pioli
refusing to
include any
statement of
dissent along
with the
statement he
drafted to
dictate would
could and
could not be
reported,
after he
unilaterally
had the United
Nations
Correspondents
Association
host a war
crimes denial
film by Sri
Lanka, after
renting on of
his Manhattan
apartment to
the Sri Lankan
Ambassador. No
dissent?
That's
censorship.
The decline in
press access
has been
enabled by the
UN
Correspondents
Association,
which under
previous
president Giampaolo
Pioli in 2011
and 2012
became the
UN's
Censorship
Alliance.
On September
6, 2011
without
consulting
with other
UNCA board
members Pioli
used the UN's
Dag
Hammarskjold
Library
Auditorium and
UNCA's
now-debased
logo to host a
war crimes
denial film by
Sri Lanka's
government.
Inner City
Press reported
on the event,
here.
Numerous
"emergency"
UNCA meetings
followed,
including
about Inner
City Press' coverage
of Herve
Ladsous, the
fourth
Frenchman in a
row to head UN
Peacekeeping
despite his
role during
the Rwanda
genocide of
1994; there
was an
amateurish
statement
drafted by
Pioli about
ethics.
Then Pioli,
supported by
Agence France
Presse, said
that no
dissent, no matter
how short,
could to appended
to the
statement. Audio
clip here.
AFP even said,
send it out
yourself -
seemingly an
invitation to
write about
the issue, which
happened and
led to threats
to oust Inner
City Press from
the UN, which
Voice
of America
requested
saying it had
the support
of AFP and
Reuters,
which then tried a
cover-up,
here.
(There
was was an
even more free
press
unfriendly
"apology"
drafted by
Pioli, as well
as his UNCA
stirring up
death threats
which have
been ongoing
-- but that's
another
story.)
The day of
Pioli's UNCA
screening --
without UNCA
board approval
or even notice
-- of Sri
Lanka's war
crimes denial,
attempts at
outright
censorship
began.
Pioli had a financial
relationship
with Sri
Lanka's
ambassador
Palitha
Kohona,
renting Kohona
one of Pioli's
Manhattan
apartments.
Inner City
Press was told
if it
persisted in
reporting
this, Pioli
would get
Inner City
Press thrown
out of the UN.
Inner City
Press offered
to run a
response by
Pioli, of any
length, but
the demand was
that the
article be
removed from
the Internet
in its
entirety: pure
censorship.
This is UNCA's
past and
seemingly
future; watch
for the next
installment in
this series.
Pioli
& Ban
Ki-moon, Sri
Lanka war
crimes denial
not shown. UN
Photo/Mark
Garten
Here
is an audio
clip in
which Pioli
while he was
president of
UNCA told
Inner City
Press that it
should not
report what a
UN Assistant
Secretary
General said
in a public
place. Audio
here.
Pioli would go
on to order
that an
article about
his
own conflict
of interest
regarding Sri
Lanka be
taken down
from the
Internet or he
would get the
Press thrown
out of the UN.
So Pioli wants
to ride again.
After seeking
the ouster of
the
investigative
Press from the
UN --
promising to
bring it
about, and
demanding the
removal of
articles from
the Internet
-- he seeks to
re-assume
UNCA's
presidency,
endorsed by
his two-year
figurehead
fill-in,
Pamela
Falk. He
is endorsing a
slate of media
that supported
the ouster of
the
investigative
Press, one
of which then
sought to
censor even
that, click
here.
To show how
far the UN has
fallen,
consider that
Pioli in
September 2011
wrote and
proposed this
statement for
UNCA's
Executive
Committee to
issue:
"GiamPioli
[at] aol.com;
dear
Colleagues, I
propose to
consider for a
vote this
statement
but I am more
than happy to
discuss
again
<IN
RESPONSE TO
CONCERNS WE
WOULD LIKE TO
REMIND UNCA
MEMBERS THAT
EVERYONE
BELONGHING TO
OUR
ORGANIZATION
IS EXPECTED TO
MANTAIN
PROFESSIONAL
STANDARDS
WHILE WORKING
AT THE UN.
THIS INCLUDE
COMMON
COURTESIES
SUCH AS NOT
USING PRIVATE
CONVERSATIONS
AMONG MEMBERS
ON THE UN
PRESS CORPS AS
THE BASIS OF,
OR CONFIRMING
SORCES FOR,
NEWS
REPOERTS>
UNCA EXECUTIVE
COMMITTEE"
That is
Giampaoli
Pioli, the
once and
future
president of
the UN's
Censorship
Alliance. The
above draft,
by Pioli, was
at the request
of Agence
France Presse,
after an
inquiry by the
French mission
to the UN.
AFP's reporter
wrote: "I am
writing to you
to request
some kind of
action by UNCA
over a story
published by
Inner City
Press on
Friday which
has caused
serious damage
to AFP. Inner
City Press
published a
story about
the new head
of UN
peacekeeping"
-- that would
be, Herve
Ladsous. We
will have more
on this.
Neither in
2011 and 2012
nor since has
Pioli asked
any critical
questions at
the UN, or
pushed for
greater access
for
journalists -
quite the
opposite. He rented
one of his
apartments to
the ambassador
of a country
he later let
screen a war
crimes denial
film in the UN
under the
sponsorship of
UNCA,
without even
checking with
other
Executive
Committee
members much
less recusing
himself.
After Inner
City Press
reported on
this, as later
revealed by a
Freedom of
Information
Act request to
US
state media
Voice of
America,
"the lawyer's
at our UNCA
president's
newspaper are
preparing
their libel
lawsuit"
against Inner
City Press, click here
for that.
No lawsuit was
ever filed,
and how could
it be? Pioli
DID rent one
of his
apartment to
the ambassador
whose war
crimes denial
film he later
screened. It
was simply
pressure to
censor the
coverage.
Later it showed
up in Italian,
here.
Pioli hosts
UN officials
and those
whose votes he
wants at a
Long Island
mansion he
rents
out, for tens
of thousands
of dollars a
month, during
the summer.
He makes
campaign
contributions
to politicians
he is supposed
to be
covering.
Small but
telling, in
the UN Press
Briefing Room
he gave a gift
to the UN
Deputy
Spokesperson.
This is the
past and
future UNCA.
And how would
this further
decayed UNCA
advocate even
to maintain
media access
at the UN?
In September
2014 during
the General
Assembly
debate week,
Ban's chief of
peacekeeping
blocked a
Press camera (Vine here), and the French
mission
ordered all
non-French
journalists to
leave a
briefing by
President
Francois
Hollande in
the UN Press
Briefing Room.
The new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
actively
opposed both
of these, as
well as
restrictions
on getting to
the General
Assembly
stakeout and
on taking
photographs
from the
General
Assembly
photographers
booth. After
making the
latter
complaint to
UN spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric on
October 17,
Dujarric's
office two
hours later
promoted a
meeting
ostensibly to
discuss
"access
problems," by
UNCA a/k/a UN's
Censorship
Alliance.
Now the UNCA
"minutes" and
partial list
of grievances
have been
provided to
FUNCA. They
are laughable.
The ejection
of non-French
journalists
from the UN
Briefing Room
is not
mentioned, nor
the physical
blocking of
filming.
Instead, UNCA
under
figurehead
Pamela Falk
and sidekick
complains that
there is too
much news
during the
General
Assembly --
they want
fewer side
events -- and
apparently too
many
journalists at
the UN: they
want a private
wi-fi password
leaving the
current open
wi-fi only for
"guests and
others."
The current
and seemingly
future vice
president of
UNCA came to
the UN
Security
Council
stakeout to
inform FUNCA,
apparently
officially,
that the
recent for
less news is
only from one
Board member,
naming her.
But the
minutes are
the minutes,
and the UN
Censorship
Alliance's
function is
what it is:
anathema to
press freedom.
Tellingly, one
of the UNCA
proposals is
for a booklet
co-signed by
Ban Ki-moon
and UNCA.
With
this bogus
list and
presumably
seeking that
booklet, they
say that the
UN's Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit proposes
to meet only
with their
Executive
Committee.
This is akin
to a fake
wrestling
match, in
which the two
sides pretend
to fight, for
an audience.
The Free
UN Coalition
for Access
has told MALU,
but repeats:
if they even
aspire to
legitimacy,
the UN must
reach out to
all
journalists,
at the UN and
ideally
beyond, and
not that
subset which
pay UNCA
money. That is
a decidedly
partial
subset: a fake
wrestling
match. And now
it seems it
will get even
worse.
During the
October 16 UN
General
Assembly
session to
elect five new
members to the
UN Security
Council, the
UN's Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit came into
the GA
photographers'
booth and said
that only
"wire service"
photographers
could remain.
But MALU has
not offered
any definition
of "wire
service," in
this new media
age. The new Free UN Coalition for Access has
demanded such
a definition,
most recently
of Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric at
the October 17
UN noon
briefing. Video here.
Dujarric,
saying he was
quoting a
Supreme Court
justice on
another topic,
said, What
is a wire
service? I
know one when
I see one.
This is, as it
were, the
definition of
arbitrary.
The
UN while
throwing out
media from
workspace
gives its UN
Censorship
Alliance a
large room,
which it then
limits to
those that pay
it money in
dues. Here's
how it works:
a new media at
the UN is
told, from the
pinnacle of
the UN's
Censorship
Alliance, to
pay UNCA $90
and UNCA will
get the UN to
give the media
UN office
space.
Today's UN
Censorship
Alliance is
unlikely to
get any
meaningful
media access
problem
addressed --
members its
Executive
Committee
have, in fact,
caused or
colluded in
many of the
decreases in
access. They drafted a
rule with MALU
to eliminate
journalist
workspace at
the Security
Council
stakeout;
they withheld
audio tapes
and transcripts
of a Ban
"interview"
with them,
even from
their own
members.
During last
month's
General
Debate,
journalists
weren't even
been able to
go to the
General
Assembly
stakeout
without an
escort from
MALU -- an
escort that
often did not
come on time,
or come at
all.
There was, as
well,
substantive
censorship.
Most recently
of October 16,
media
photographing
the UN General
Assembly vote
for new
Security
Council
members were
ordered NOT to
photograph the
tables of the
voters. Inner
City Press for
FUNCA
resisted, and
discussed this
issue along
with the
elections (and
Cambodia) on Huffington
Post Live's
"World Brief"
on October 17,
here.
On
September 27
while Inner
City Press
filmed from
within the GA
stakeout area,
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous came
over and
blocked -- or
Banned -- the
filming,
demanding to
know what it
was for. Vine
here. Then
Ladsous
canceled the
scheduled
public Q&A
stakeout on
Mali.
While the new
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
challenged
this
censorship, on
September 27
at the
stakeout and
following up
the next week,
the old UNCA
has done
nothing about
it. In fact,
UNCA big wigs
have been
happy to take
private
briefings from
Ladsous
and others, as
access at the
UN for less
"insider"
correspondents
has continued
to decline.
The Free
UN Coalition
for Access
targeted these
censorship
practices in a
September
29 flier,
online, in the
UN including
on the "open"
bulletin board
it got the UN
to install
(the flier was
torn down, one
can only
imagine by
whom, but has
gone back up.)
Now, in a
typical UN
charade, the
very UNCA
which oversaw
this decrease
in access
belatedly says
it is
concerned and
conducts
UN-promoted
meetings that
are akin to
faux, scripted
wrestling
matches with
fake punches.
This is the UNCA
that played
softball
soccer with
Ban, promoting and allowing him a photo op.
Many of these
promotions are
signed by UNCA
figurehead
Pamela Falk of
CBS, nowhere
seen during
noon briefing
fights about
media access.
Meanwhile the
UN
Spokesperson's
office is
promoting a
for-pay event
for UNCA, by
taping a flier
for it on its
counter. This
is the UN's
Censorship
Alliance.
The Free UN
Coalition for
Access has
told the UN,
again on
October 16,
that it must
address and
reverse its
blocking of
press access,
and that if it
needs input it
must hold a
meeting open
to all
journalists
who cover the
UN, not just
its chosen
UNCA -- the
UN's
Censorship
Alliance --
which has
become akin to
a
company-created
and supported
union.
Ban's
spokesperson's
office
declined to
criticize the
September 27
censorship,
nor Ladsous'
spokesman
subsequently
asking another
media to
confirm that
it would not
air an on the
record
interview with
Ladsous'
deputy Edmond
Mulet about
the UN
bringing
cholera to
Haiti. Video
here.
In fact Ban's
Spokesman
played a part
in, at least
defending, a
French-only
briefing in
the UN Press
Briefing Room.
On
September 23,
the entourage
of French
President
Francois
Hollande
repeatedly but
unsuccessfully
ordered
the UN
accredited
Press to leave
the UN's
Press Briefing
Room.
Video
here.
On September
25 when the Free UN Coalition for Access asked UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric, who
peaked out
from the VIP /
Green Room
behind the
Press Briefing
Room, about
the incident,
he said
sometimes
countries try
to reserve the
Room.
Asked if other
countries had
done so during
this General
Assembly,
Dujarric said
yes.
Inner City
Press then
asked Dujarric
which other
countries,
beyond his
native France: