UNITED
NATIONS, April
3 -- The UN's
communications
strategies and
deception
have been
hitting new
lows.
Take
as an example
the UN's
handling of
its
recalcitrant
chief of
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
and the 126
rapes in
Minova from
November 20 to
22, 2012 by
his partners
in the
Congolese
Army.
Right
on UN
Television,
managed by the
UN Department
of Public
Information,
Ladsous
refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
question about
the rapes
on November
27.
While
UN TV didn't
catch what
happened next,
Inner
City Press
with a
hand-held
camera did.
Ladsous took
three favored
scribes, all
of them “leaders”
in the United
Nations
Correspondents
Association,
out into the
hallway for a
private
briefing.
Video here.
The
UN and DPI did
nothing about
that, nor when
Ladsous repeated
the
stonewalling
about the
rapes on
December 7.
Video here.
Is
it any wonder,
then, that on December 18 Ladsous went further,
directing his
spokesman to
grab the UNTV
microphone
to try to
prevent
Inner City
Press from
even asking
the question?
Video here.
After
that, Inner
City Press and
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
wrote a
letter of
complaint to
the head of
DPI, which
controls UNTV
and its
microphone.
Without
for
now getting
into the
details, what
was the
outcome? DPI's
Stephane
Dujarric weeks
later told
FUNCA that he
had spoken
privately
with Ladsous'
spokesman --
not even with
Ladsous --
about the
microphone
grabbing.
Nothing
was
said publicly
about
journalists'
rights by DPI,
which is also
in
charge of
accrediting
reporters to
allow them to
enter the UN.
FUNCA
presented the
head of DPI
with a list of
ten proposed
amendments and
reforms to the
Accreditation
Rules and
Media Access
Guidelines, on
which DPI has
until now only
partnered with
UNCA, now
known as the
UN
Censorship
Alliance.
Despite
numerous
assurances,
the reforms
have yet to be
implemented.
Flash
forward to
this past
month. After
Ladsous'
stonewalling
on the rapes
for four
months, after
Inner City
Press asked
Ban Ki-moon
about the
rapes on March
5,
Ladsous' DPKO
gave a half
answer to his
favored
hallway
scribes, from
Reuters and AFP, Tim
“Hallway”
Witcher.
But
after
follow-ups
(and a spurious
complaint
by AFP
and Reuters
for
being called,
accurately,
Ladsous'
lapdogs), more
was needed.
On
March 18,
DPI led a raid
on Inner City
Press' office,
without notice
or consent;
UNCA's
president Pamela
Falk took
photographs
and it now
appears that
other non-UN
persons were
allowed in.
Despite
repeated
requests, DPI
has refused to
disclose who
it let into
Inner City
Press' office.
Why not?
After
the raid, one
reform agreed
to by DPI -- a
non-UNCA
bulletin board
--
had all of the
fliers taken
down,
including
fliers which
questioned
DPI's
performance.
Meanwhile all
of UNCA's
material is
left up on
the UNCA-only
bulletin
board.
On
the Minova
rapes, Ladsous
went even more
in-house, or
in-grown: he
gave an
interview to
UN Radio
thence to the
UN's Radio
Okapi.
Ladsous' microphone
grabbing
spokesman
repacked a
noon briefing
answer;
Reuters Louis
Charbonneau
typed it up.
Finally (for
now) on April
2 the
deal the
UN sold out
the Minova
victims for was
reported on
the UN's own
UN
News Service,
like UN Radio,
under the
command of
DPI.
Should
it now be
known as the
UN Department
of Propaganda
Information?
Footnote:
in
fairness,
under DPI's
current chief
some
“brown-bag”
sessions
with UN envoys
and others
have been
held; some
have been
newsworthy
and it's
appreciated.
But it
does not make
up for
Ladsous'
outrageous
stonewalling,
which DPI has
enabled (for
example
following the
December 18
microphone
grab) and now
by having
Ladsous while
he
refuses
independent
Press
questions to
spin on UN
Radio. What
does
DPI stand for?
, 
