| Morocco
Trolls Mis-Read Inner City
Press' #UNcensored, Narrative
of UN Censorship
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Series,
Video
I,
II
UNITED NATIONS,
March 14 – The state of
Morocco's online media is
exemplified by yesterday's
mis-reading of Inner City
Press' narrative of eviction
from and censorship at the UN,
#UNcensored, and breathless
accusation of spying, here.
This is the same gang which
tries to get journalists
thrown out, calling anyone who
disagrees an agent. The narrative
recounted, with the
clarification now added in
brackets, "went
back in
through the
metal
detectors to
the Security
Council's
meetings on
Western
Sahara. Here,
at least
online, I was
accused of
being an
Algerian
agent, [by pro-Morocco
trolls,
including
strangely in
Texas,] even
though I
didn't deal
with anyone at
the Algerian
mission. I
criticized
Polisario too,
how they were
losing
embassies.
Still, they
were the
underdog, and
more fun or
more
interesting to
side with.
This had been
my criteria in
my years at
the UN, and
now it had
come to this."
This was
called an
admission.
UNreal.
#UNcensored's 25th
installment, run yesterday,
states: "After the UN's
eviction of Inner City
Press, the days went on,
always on the move, asked by
UN guards “What are you doing
here,” told at the noon
briefing I was imagining
things, how could I say
I was ousted if I was
physically present in the
briefing room now? Told online
that it was all my fault, for
secret filming, standing
silent at the Security Council
stakeout, tweeting with the
wider world, not even moving
to get the spoon-fed spin from
P3 spokespeople, just
ambushing their ambassadors
with Periscope and putting in
on YouTube...
Burundians had been emailing
me, Manisha Lievin from
Louisiana, John from DC, that
they would rally on 47th
Street. I went out and there
were maybe two dozen of them,
with flags, diffuse. I
Periscoped and interviewed; I
followed a guy from South
South News, described by Preet
Bharara as Ng Lap Seng's
bribery conduit, through the
park and did a voiceover about
UN corruption.
Finally their march began,
slowing, down First Avenue. I
followed and filmed. Some
people recognized me and said,
I follow you, or, I
love your questions.
They took selfies with me -
this happened with Sri Lankan
Tamils, too, and I got accused
of being a terrorist, that was
by board members of the United
Nations Correspondents
Association. That was the UN Correspondents
Association
for you - self righteous
scribes.
It was getting cold, at
the Burundians' rally in the
43rd Street Park I'd hung out
in for three days. My
batteries were going dead. I
bid adieu - most of them spoke
French - and went back in
through the metal detectors to
the Security Council's
meetings on Western Sahara.
Here, at least online, I was
accused of being an Algerian
agent, by pro-Morocco
trolls, including
strangely in Texas, even
though I didn't deal with
anyone at the Algerian
mission. I criticized
Polisario too, how they were
losing embassies. Still, they
were the underdog, and more
fun or more interesting to
side with. This had been my
criteria in my years at the
UN, and now it had come to
this.
I woke up each morning
wondering if this would be the
day that the New York Times
would finally run its
story. I Googled the
reporter's name, Corey
Kilgannon - he went a week
with no stories, then
something about a bartender in
Woodside, Queens. I'd chosen
the wrong guy, I'd begun to
think. He'd gotten lobbied. Or
those above him. I looked to
see how to write to the
paper's Ombudsperson, their
Public Editor, but she'd
recently left. It was all
corrupt, I decided, uploading
yet another story. I would
flail around for the four
months then get thrown out
forever.
***
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
Past
(and future?) UN Office: S-303, UN, NY 10017 USA
For now: Box 20047,
Dag Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in
the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-2017 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
for
|
,
