After
UN Guard Told
ICP What It
Can Say on
Periscope, UN
Spox Says It's
Fine
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
31 -- On
February 19
without once
speaking to
Inner City
Press,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
Under
Secretary
General for
Public
Information,
Spain's
Cristina
Gallach,
ordered the
Press to leave
the UN, which
it has covered
for ten years,
in two hours.
February
19 letter
here.
On March 30,
despite having
been
petitioned to
stop her
censorship and
hindering of
the Press'
reporting by,
among others,
a Nobel Peace
Prize winner,
Jose Ramos
Horta, Tamils
of Sri Lanka
and elsewhere
including a
Northern
Provincial
Councilor,
over one
thousand
petition
signers and
commenters,
Ambassadors
and UN
officials and,
it seems,
Jeffrey Sachs,
Gallach
nevertheless
had delivered
to Inner City
Press a final
eviction
letter, below.
Then
after having
the eviction
order
delivered to
Inner City
Press by the
acting head of
her Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit -- which
rebuffed a
request to
come into the
UN from the
outside and
actually film
what Gallach
is
misrepresenting,
from the
ludicrous
claim Inner
City Press
“hid” in a
glassed-in,
entirely
visible
interpreters'
booth to the
non-functioning
of its cut
non-Resident
Correspondent
pass at the
turnstile to
the second
floor of the
UN Conference
Building --
Gallach on the
afternoon of
March 30
approach Inner
City Press as
it openly
Periscope
filmed at the
Security
Council
stakeout.
That
Inner City
Press was
openly filming
is clear from
the video
itself: a UN
Security guard
tells it it
cannot step a
single foot
beyond the
Security
Council
stakeout
without a MALU
escort or
minder
(censorship),
then critiques
its Periscope
voice-over
about
censorship,
saying You
know you can't
do that.
On March 31,
Inner City
Press asked UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
this UN
censorship,
from the UN
Transcript:
Inner City
Press: you're
saying it's
not important
to you or you
won't respond
to a lack of
access to the
Security
Council on
this issue
today.
But, I'm going
to ask you
about what I
consider
censorship.
Yesterday, I
was able to be
at this… at
the
stakeout.
I was
there. I
was doing a
Periscope
broadcast,
which is my
right.
And I was told
by a guard,
"You can't say
that."
This is a
direct
quote.
It was on
tape.
And what I
wanted to know
from you, as
the Spokesman
of the
Secretary-General,
is it the
place of UN
security or
any UN
official to
tell a
journalist
what they can
say in what's
essentially a
stand-up?
Is that what
the UN is for?
Spokesman:
I think you
have been able
to say and
write what you
want so I
think…
Inner City Press:
I was told to
stop and I've
been harassed
by security,
as recently as
yesterday.
Spokesman
Dujarric:
Masood.
On
March 30 Inner
City Press,
while to
accommodate
the censorship
guard
suspending its
voice-over,
continued
openly filming
with its phone
held high, as
a UN tour
guide told a
group
including
Cristina
Gallach and
her assistant
Darrin Farrant
that the
replica of
Picasso's
Guernica was
lent to the UN
by the
Rockefellers.
As the group,
at another of
Gallach's
deputy's
suggestions,
went in to
tour the
Security
Council
chamber
itself,
Gallach came
over to where
Inner City
Press stood
openly
filming.
To
Inner City
Press it is
outrageous
that the UN's
Under-Secretary
General for
Communications
and Public
Information,
while
insisting it
is fair to
strip Inner
City Press of
its long time
office and
ability to
cover events
on the UN's
second floor,
including the
Office of the
President of
the General
Assembly on
which even Ban
and his lawyer
issued a
report on
March 29,
excuses and
does nothing
about the head
of the UN
Correspondents
Association
having come to
the stakeout
on March 24
and four times
loudly called
Inner City
Press an
“a*hole.”
Gallach's
excuse for
UNCA's
Giampaolo
Pioli, whose
bidding (along
with the
bidding of
other very
senior
personalities
at and in the
UN) she is
doing, is that
Inner City
Press is said
to photograph
or cover the
wrong things
while at the
stakeout,
things that
Gallach thinks
are not news
worthy.
Is UNCA
giving
indicted Ng
Lap Seng a
photo op with
Ban Ki-moon
not
newsworthy? Is
a member of
the UN
Secretariat
giving advance
information to
privileged
corporate
media not
newsworthy?
Who is
Cristina
Gallach to
decide what
the Press can
or cannot
photograph or
cover when it
is at the UN
Security
Council
stakeout?
Does
Cristina
Gallach, with
the power to
evict the
Press, even
watch the UN's
daily noon
briefing? Does
she know that
those she is
working for
don't even go,
don't ask any
questions, in
some cases
don't write
any articles
and do
unrelated
commercial
business in
the office
space she
leaves them
with, while
evicting Inner
City Press for
retaliation?
Inner City
Press has
tried to
discuss all
this with
Cristina
Gallach; her
retaliatory
mantra, with
no respect
from freedom
of the press,
remains the
same. There is
a week: watch
this site.
Here is the
letter that
Gallach had
delivered to
Inner City
Press at 3 pm
on March 30,
before she
approached
Inner City
Press
Periscoping
later than
afternoon:
“Dear Mr. Lee,
I write
further to my
letter of 19
February 2016.
As I made
clear in that
letter, your
accreditation
privileges to
access the
premises of
the United
Nations to
conduct your
journalistic
activities
have been
changed to
that of
non-Resident
Correspondent.
In this
regard, I note
that you have
applied for
and received
your
non-Resident
Correspondent
accreditation
on 25 February
2016. Such
accreditation
allows you
access to the
premises of
the United
Nations in
that capacity
in order to
carry out your
full
journalistic
activities in
the same
manner as any
other
journalist
with such
accreditation
privileges.
“At the same
time, I also
note that as
of today, and
after several
reminders, you
have not yet
emptied the
office of your
belongings,
which remain
untouched, nor
have you
returned the
key to that
office.
“In light of
the above, I
request that
you remove
your
belongings
from the
office and
return its key
to the Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit by no
later than
5:00 p.m. on 6
April 2016. If
you do not
collect your
belongings
from the
office by that
deadline, I
would request
your presence
for the
packaging and
forwarding of
your
belongings to
the address
listed in your
accreditation
application.
Yours
sincerely,
Cristina
Gallach,
Under-Secretary
General for
Communications
and Public
Information”
To many
who petitioned
her, from
Washington to
Jaffna in Sri
Lanka, Gallach
had repeatedly
claimed that
despite
seizing Inner
City Press'
long time
shared office
and
investigative
files, Inner
City Press
would have the
same access AS
IT HAD BEFORE,
or the same
access as
OTHER
REPORTERS AT
THE UN.
This
has proved to
be false.
Since the
non-Resident
Correspondent
pass does not
open the
turnstile on
the second
floor of the
UN's
Conference
Building,
Inner City
Press has been
Banned from
covering
meetings in
the ECOSOC and
Trusteeship
Council
chambers, on
such topics as
UN Security
Council
reform,
counter-terrorism
and Sri Lanka,
the selection
of the next
Secretary
General, and
more.
Even Security
Council
meetings, such
as the March
21 session on
Western
Sahara, Inner
City Press was
Banned from by
Gallach's
order. Now,
after make
claims, she
says Inner
City Press
will have not
the same
access that it
had, or even
access to all
Security
Council
meetings --
rather, the
same access as
other with the
restricted
non-Resident
Correspondent
pass: a
tautology.
We'll have
more on this.
On
March 28,
Ban's Under
Secretary
General for
Legal Affairs,
Portugal's
Miguel de
Serpa Soares,
issued a
second
eviction
threat,
repeating,
either without
checking or
caring, the
lie that Inner
City Press has
full access. His
false letter
is now online
here;
it was also
cc-ed to
Stephen
Mathias,
Antigoni
Axenidou and
Jay Pozenel,
along with USG
Cristina
Gallach.
On March 29
and March 30,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
the letter and
its claims, video here, UN
transcript
here:
Inner City
Press: the
very thing we
were just
discussing,
South-South
News and
funding of the
UN
Correspondents
Association is
what I was
covering on 29
January for
which I'm
being thrown
out.
But, my
question has
to do with a
letter from
Miguel de
Serpa Soares,
who seems to
say that
there's
absolutely no
right
including a
due process
right or even
a freedom of
speech
non-retaliation
right to
accreditation
and/or
resident
accreditation
status in the
UN. And
I know it's a
topic that was
raised
to you when
you were in
DPI
[Department of
Public
Information]
by the New
York Civil
Liberties Union
when they
asked, what
are the
standards?
So, given that
Mr [Serpa
Soares] he's a
lawyer.
He's the head
of the UN
OLA.
He's Ban
Ki-moon's
personal
lawyer.
Is it the case
that there
are, in fact,
no rights at
all for
journalists in
the UN, that
“privileges”
and abilities
to report can
be stripped
without any
review,
without any
right to be
heard?
And if so, how
is that
consistent
with your
policies…
Spokesman:
I think,
Matthew, if
you'll allow
me then to
violate your
client
privilege,
because you're
obviously
quoting from a
letter that
was sent to
your lawyer.
Inner City
Press:
I'm waiving it
right now
because I find
it so
laughable that
I'm asking
you...
On March 30,
Inner City
Press asked
Dujarric why
Serpa Soares
totally
ignored the
argument in
Inner City
Press'
counsel's
February 29
letter, UN
transcript
here:
Inner City
Press: My
other question
is also about
Mr. Miguel de
Serpa Soares,
and it has to
do with the
letter you
were
responding on
yesterday.
I have a very
specific
question on
it. He
was responding
to an argument
which says, if
the UN,
rightly or
wrongly, finds
that a
reporter
violated
something… in
my case, I'm
not really
even sure what
it is… the
distinction
between the
reporter and
the media that
they report
for. And
I'm aware of a
case here in
the UN in
which a
reporter for a
media was
found with a
gun, a rubber
gun, entering
the UN and was
disciplined as
an individual
for that, but
the
organization
wasn't
disciplined
and kept its
offices.
So, I wanted
to know… he
didn't address
it in the
letter.
What is the
UN's rules on
this
distinction
between media
and a
reporter?
Totally
outside of
whether it's
fair to punish
or not the
reporter.
He didn't
address
it. He
is a
lawyer.
So, I'm asking
you.
Spokesman:
What I think
you should do
is write back
to him,
because it's…
it's a
question I'm
not going to
get parse into
right now.
But why
write Serpa
Soares when he
takes a month
to answer, and
Gallach hours
later on March
30 gave Inner
City Press its
final
eviction
notice?
On
March 21 Inner
City Press was
Banned from
covering the
UN Security
Council (video
here,
online days
before de
Serpa Soares'
false claim);
on March 24,
at Gallach's
demand, Inner
City Press was
told it had to
have a minder
to remain at
the Council
stakeout. Some
"free access."
So who
IS this Miguel
de Serpa
Soares? We'll
have more -
but as
previously
reportedly,
Ban gave
Gallach the
USG of DPI
job, despite
her having
managed nor
more than
seven staff
before
absurdly being
put atop 700
at UN DPI.
Ladsous of
France, atop
DPKO? He is a
global
laughingstock.
Now it's Serpa
Soares turn.
Ban
Ki-moon's UN
is corrupt.
And we're
being
diplomatic for
now putting it
that way.
All
this took
place as Inner
City Press
covered the
South South
News and South
South Awards
bribery
scandals
implicating
both Ban and
Gallach, as
well as having
former
President of
the UN General
Assembly John
Ashe,
Macau-based
businessman Ng
Lap Seng and
South South
News VP Vivian
Wang under
house arrest.
(Frank
Lorenzo, Sheri
Yan and others
have pleaded
guilty.)
Inner City
Press: the
letter that I
received that
put me out on
the street and
has kept me
from my office
has, quotes a
thing about
civility and
professionalism.
And while I
was at the
stakeout on 24
March, I was
approached by
the President
of the UN
Correspondents
Association
who’s here in
the
[inaudible]
and was told
four times,
“You are an
A-hole.”
This was said
loudly.
This was said
on the
microphone.
What I don’t
understand is,
if I was
thrown out for
trying to
cover a
meeting in
this room, how
is it
professional
or civil to
come to the
stakeout and
to say, “You
are an A-hole”
four
times?
And what’s
going to be
done about it?
Spokesman:
Matthew.
Inner Cit
Press:
Question.
Spokesman:
I think — let
me just, and
this and
hopefully the
last I will
say about it
today.
What happened
to you with
your pass had
to do with
events that
took place
here.
Obviously, you
and I don’t
agree on what
actually
happened.
I’m not one to
judge people
on their use
of language.
Inner City
Press:
Do you
understand…
Spokesman:
I…
[inaudible]
Inner City
Press:
This booth was
used in your
absence on 23
March.
Two
individuals
were in the
interpreter’s
booth…
Spokesman:
It…
[inaudible]
Inner City
Press:
How is this…
[inaudible]
Spokesman:
It was — first
of all, from
what I
understand,
they weren’t
hiding, and it
was a mistake.
Inner City
Press: I
wasn’t hiding
either.
I never… I was
never asked if
I was hiding.
[inaudible]
Spokesman:
I’m done.
As some
point, the
UN's refusal
to transcribe
is itself
censorship.
Since
February 19,
any basis
other than
retaliation
for Gallach's
ouster order
has fallen
apart. The
meeting in the
UN Press
Briefing Room
that Inner
City Press
openly
live-streamed
on Periscope
was nowhere
listed as
closed. The UN
either has no
rule against
use of the
interpreters'
booth in the
UN Press
Briefing Room,
or as
seen on March
23, does not
enforce it.
But
today's UN
system has no
self-correcting
mechanism.
On
March 28,
Ban's top
lawyer Miguel
de Serpa
Soares belated
responded to
two separate
lawyer's
letters not
with little
more than
another threat
- to
physically
remove and
presumably
search Inner
City Press'
eight years of
files - and an
unqualified
assertion of
the UN's
immunity like
he asserts for
10,000 people
killed by the
UN in Haiti.
This is Ban's
UN.
Earlier
on March 28,
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric
didn't even
bother to
explain why
Inner City
Press was
being thrown
out for
"incivility"
while the head
of the UN
Correspondents
Association
Giampaolo
Pioli was
allowed to
four time
loudly call
Inner City
Press "an
asshole" at
the UN
Security
Council
stakeout on
March 24.
That
the use of an
interpreters'
booth was
Gallach's
supposed
reason for the
ouster - not
mentioned in
de Serpa
Soares letter
- was undercut
when
Dujarric's
Deputy Farhan
Haq did
nothing when
two
non-interpreters
used an
interpretation
booth in the
same room.
Dujarric
called that a
"mistake" and
cut off Inner
City Press'
question.
Today's
UN is corrupt
and lawless:
it does not
even deign to
explain or
hide its
double
standards or
retaliation.
Nor its
censorship:
under
Gallach's
order, DPI
personnel
order Inner
City Press to
leave the UN
Security
Council
stakeout on
March 24 so as
to not fully
cover the
meeting on
Western
Sahara.
Spain,
whose highest
UN official
Gallach is,
took the
position that
the Council
should not
speak out
against
Morocco
throwing out
the MINURSO
mission (a
larger version
of Gallach's
ouster of
Inner City
Press).
Gallach is
censoring
covering of
Western
Sahara, or
trying assign
minders as it
is being
reported.
This is
Ban Ki-moon's
"Communications."
On March
26 Inner City
Press raised
to Ban's
senior
advisers, and
Ban's account,
the UNCA
anonymous
troll social
media accounts
that Gallach
and Dujarric
at a minimum
follow. One of
Ban's closest
officials,
instead of
acting on the
issues raised,
replied, "I
have passed on
your latest
email to those
assigned to
deal with this
issue."
Tellingly
the troll
accounts
immediately
stopped --
have THEY been
assigned to
"deal with
this issue"?
Or, at a
minimum, goes
Gallach know
exactly who
they are, and
how to reach
them?
(One of
the two troll
accounts
revived itself
more than 24
hours later,
claiming now
to a
collective -
UNCA board? -
and to know
know who the
other, more
active,
account
belongs to.
We'll have
more on this.)
What
triggered de
Serpa Soares
belated
response? On
March 23, when
de Serpa
Soares was on
one of his
countless
coffee runs
with the same
colleague to
the Delegates'
Lounge, Inner
City Press
politely asked
him if he'd
gotten a
February 29
letter. He
said no; Inner
City Press
offered him a
courtesy hard
copy, which he
refused.
Ban and
his evicter in
chief, de
Serpa Soares,
UN
Photo/Eskinder
Debebe
He and Gallach
were then
re-emailed the
February 29
letter and
another one in
preparation,
citing
applicable US
law. Even
though this
status was
explained, the
idea of
accountability
is apparently
anathema to
today's UN.
Hence his
March 28
renewed
threat: Ban
Ki-moon as
evicter. Watch
this site.
Some, it has
become clear,
are happy
Inner City
Press'
reporting has
been hindered
- that
reporting in
some cases is
into their
involvement in
UN corruption.
Several senior
UN officials
close to Ban
Ki-moon have
not only like
him been close
with Ng Lap
Seng's, Frank
Lorenzo's and
Vivian Wang's
South South
News (March
24 video here)
- they were
for example at
the very
founding of
Sheri Yan's
Global
Sustainability
Foundation,
one of two
groups that
even Ban has
seen the need
to (self)
audit.
But as
the scandal
expands, one
telling
response has
been to simply
refer Inner
City Press and
its evidence
back to
Gallach
herself.
As Inner City
Press has
replied, the
concerns it
has been
raising
include (1)
conflict of
interest by
USG Gallach,
(2) the
seeming use of
the punitive
powers of her
office to
retaliate
against Inner
City Press'
reporting, (3)
her and her
affiliates'
misrepresentation
of Inner City
Press'
restricted
access to
report, (4) a
total lack of
due process by
her office and
(5) lack of
any UN process
of appeal from
her decision.
In this
context,
merely
forwarding
complaints and
proof to USG
Gallach is,
clearly, not
enough. In
fact, it
further shows
just now
broken today's
UN is.
Gallach's
letter cited
an incident on
January 29.
In that
“incident,”
Inner City
Press openly
sought to
cover a
meeting in the
UN Press
Briefing Room
of an
organization
which had
taken money
from South
South News,
whose honorary
president
Frank Lorenzo
has pleaded
guilty to
bribery
charges as his
vice president
Vivian Wang
has been
indicted and
funder Ng Lap
Seng -- given
a photo op
with Ban
Ki-moon by
UNCA - remains
under house
arrest.
To seek to
cover such a
meeting is
journalism.
By
contrast, UNCA
chief
Giampaolo
Pioli, who
lobbied
Gallach to
throw Inner
City Press
out, came to
the UN
Security
Council
stakeout on
Western Sahara
and loudly and
repeatedly
called Inner
City Press “an
asshole.” Audio
here.
Gallach's
February 19
letter citing
some rule
about
civility. Will
she enforce it
on Pioli?
After the
Western Sahara
meeting,
Gallach
tweeted to a
questioner
from New
Zealand who
asked, “why
did you remove
the
accreditation
of Inner City
Press?”
Gallach
replied, photo
here, that “I
did not! ICP
is fully
accredited!
Can report
from UN.?His
privilege to
use office was
taken out, due
to
misbehavior.”
Photo
of Gallach's
tweet here.
This is
false. On
March 21,
Inner City
Press was
unable to
reach the
stakeout of
the UN
Security
Council on
Western Sahara
as it had been
able, until
Gallach's
decision of
February 19.
And on March
25, the moment
Security
Council
president
Gaspar Martins
finished
reading out
the elements
to the press -
and Inner City
Press but not
the swearing
UNCA boss
Pioli asked
him a question
-- UN DPI
staff told
Inner City
Press to leave
the stakeout,
even as
diplomats
remain.
Inner
City Press
said that to
report on the
meeting, it
need to speak
to the
diplomats,
many of whom
has in the
past spoken
with in on
background.
But now with
its
Gallach-reduced
pass, DPI
staff said
Inner City
Press required
an “escort” or
minder to
remain on the
second floor.
What
diplomat
desiring to
speak on
background
about Ban
Ki-moon's
questionable
performance on
Western Sahara
would do so in
view of a
minder from
Ban's
Secretariat?
It is FALSE
that Inner
City Press is
fully
accredited.
Furthermore,
the
“misbehavior”
repeatedly
citing by
Gallach
illusory. UNCA
should have
have been
trying to hold
a “closed”
meeting in the
UN Press
Briefing Room
- even
Francois
Hollande could
not do that -
and the event
was nowhere
listed as
closed. Inner
City Press
live tweeted
and live
streamed it
openly, from
the booth in
the back to
avoid the
heckling of
Pioli's gang.
Dispositively,
on March 23 UN
Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq did
nothing when
two non
interpreters
were in the
interpretation
booth during
the noon
briefing.
There is no
clear rule, at
least none
that is
enforced.
But
compared to
this
disagreement,
isn't coming
to the UN
Security
Council
stakeout to
loudly call
another
reporter “an
asshole”
misbehavior?
Gallach's
ruling must be
reversed.
Watch this
site.
On March 24 as
Inner City
Press was
staking out
the UN
Security
Council
meeting about
Western Sahara
and Morocco's
ordering out
of the UN
Peacekeeping
mission there,
a figure
rarely seen at
the stakeout
approached.
Giampaolo
Pioli the head
of the UN
Correspondents
Association
came over to
where Inner
City Press was
typing and
editing audio
and video and
said, “You're
an asshole.”
Moments later,
Inner City
Press now with
its UN
accreditation
pass
downgraded to
Non-Resident
Correspondent
by UN
Department of
Public
Information
chief Cristina
Gallach at the
behest of
Pioli went to
ask UN
Security not
to lock the
glass door to
the Security
Council before
the Council's
president
spoke at the
stakeout.
As
Inner City
Press asked
the guard not
to lock the
door to
journalists,
UNCA's Pioli
again said,
“You're an
asshole. I'm
telling you
that you're an
asshole. Quote
me.” Audio
here.
What's behind
this? How did
a journalists
club turn into
a club against
a journalist,
and why?
Beyond Pioli's
financial
relationship
with Palitha
Kohona, who as
Sri Lanka's
Ambassador to
the UN Pioli
unilaterally
granted a "UN"
screening of a
war crimes
denial film,
there is for
example the
matter of
South South
News.
South
South News is
depicted in
the October
2015 criminal
complaint
against John
Ashe, Ng Lap
Seng, Frank
Lorenzo and
others as a
vehicle for
bribery, to
the tune of
$12 million.
SSN
video at 0:29
features
Lorenzo
(guilty plea)
and Wang
(indicted)
John Ashe's
former
spokesperson
is a member of
UNCA; a SSN
anchor, too.
These are
among the
reasons that
Inner City
Press sought
-- facing
retaliation -
and seeks and
will continue
to seek to
cover this
corrupted
organization,
as part of the
wider and
expanding UN
corruption
scandal. Watch
this site.
Pioli and his
rental of one
of his
apartments to
an accused war
criminal,
involved in
Sri Lanka's
notorious
White Flag
killings, then
screening
of his
tenant's film,
played a key
role.
But there have
been many
enablers,
among the Gulf
and Western
media on
UNCA's board;
there are been
others to the
very top of
the UN who
have benefited
from and left
unchecked this
war on
investigative
journalism.
This as
Pioli's UNCA
took money
from
now-indicted
Ng Lap Seng's
South South
News, gave SSN
a journalism
award and Ng a
photo
op with Ban
Ki-moon.
After after
the
indictments,
Pioli was
selling
half-tables
with Ban for
$6,000 on Wall
Street in
December 2015.
That Ban's UN
tries to
shield this
from coverage
is telling.
To try
to oust or
wipe out
coverage of
failure in Sri
Lanka and more
recently
Burundi and Yemen
to name but
two is, of
course,
convenient, as
well as
stopping or
hindering
aggressive
coverage of
the expanding
UN scandal in
this waning
year.
Margaret
Besheer of
Voice of
America, who
after being
exposed in
2012 and her
bosses saying
in writing
their attempt
to oust
Inner City
Press for her
was
wrong --
is at it
again.
She was
standing
pre-positioned
at the UN gate
on February
19, 2016 when
Inner City
Press was
physically
thrown out.
These are tax
dollars at
work,
violating the
First
Amendment.
There
are more -
former AFP,
the current
ones hardly
better - and
others who
just follow
along. Now
their "leader"
Pioli has come
to the
stakeout, not
to report
anything - he
rarely does -
but to loudly
call a critic,
who actually
writes
stories, an
"asshole." And
not one of
them did
anything. At
the UN the
journalists'
club has
become a club
against a
journalist.
Photo of Pioli
at UNCA Ball,
credit UN
Photo/Amanda
Voisard
Inner
City Press
replied that
it believed
and believes
Pioli is
corrupt, that
he took rent
money from
Palitha Kohona
then
unilaterally
granted
Kohona's
request as Sri
Lanka's
Ambassador for
an UNCA / “UN”
screening of
his
government's
war crimes
denial film,
“Lies Agreed
To.” And that
Pioli after
demanding
censorship of
Inner City
Press'
coverage has
used UNCA and
now DPI to try
to throw Inner
City Press out
of the UN,
just as Pioli
first
threatened.
Ban with
Pioli, who
told Inner
City Press,
"You are an
asshole."
Credit UN
Photo/Evan
Schneider
Another
UNCA board
member --
Inner City
Press quit its
elected
position on
that board in
2012, saying
openly that
Pioli was
corrupt, now
in taking
money from
indicted Ng
Lap Seng's
South South
News and
granting him a
photo op with
Ban Ki-moon --
said such
language
should not be
used at the
stakeout.
But it
was Pioli who
approached
Inner City
Press, which
hasn't
willingly
spoke with
Pioli in more
than a year.
So it
is for this
person that
Cristina
Gallach first
ordered Inner
City Press out
of the UN on
two hours
notice on
February 19
and on whom
she has since
leaned in
trying to
defend her
February 19
decision,
which was
reached
without once
speaking with
Inner City
Press.
Ban shakes
with Cristina
Gallach, who
threw ICP out
of UN on Feb
19, 2016 on 2
hours notice.
Credit UN
Photo
Her
rationale was
that Inner
City Press
secretly
filmed a
closed
meeting, but
that doesn't
stand up: the
meeting was
nowhere listed
as closed, and
Inner City
Press openly
live-streamed
and even live
Tweeted it:
hardly secret.
So the
fallback
argument was
that since
Inner City
Press covered
the UNCA event
in the UN
Press Briefing
Room from one
of the
glassed-in
interpreters'
booths, in
order to avoid
just such a
response as
Pioli's
“asshole” on
March 24, it
had violated
some as-yet
unproduced
rule about not
being in an
interpreters
booth.
On his
way out of the
UN Press
Briefing Room,
Haq said to
Inner City
Press, “Liar.”
This is the
atmosphere
created, when
DPI and the
Spokesperson's
office have
allowed a
character like
Pioli, angry
at coverage of
his financial
dealings with
Sri Lanka's
ambassador, to
essentially
run the
asylum.
It seems clear
now that there
must be a
complete
reversal
of
Gallach's
February 19
order, based
on false facts
(closed
meeting,
“secret”
filming), a
dubious rule
and at the
behest of an
UNCA boss who
barely writes
articles,
seeks to
control UN
office space
and comes to
the UN
Security
Council
stakeout to
call a critic
an asshole.
We'll have
more on this. Follow @innercitypressFollow @FUNCA_info
, 
