At UN,
Eliasson Mad
At Loud
Stakeout,
Press
Waterless with
Minders,
Norway Not
Online
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 19
-- As the UN's
summit on
refugees and
migrants
began, at a
media stakeout
misplaced and
under-covered
by the
Department of
Public
Information
Inner City
Press asked
the organizer,
President of
the General
Assembly's
70th session
Mogens
Lykketoft, why
seven
non-governmental
organizations
had been
BANned from
participating.
Periscope
video here; UN
letter here.
Not only were
NGOs banned
from the
summit - under
DPI, the
investigative
Press was
evicted from
the UN and now
spends hours
trying to
enter, only to
be watched
over by Ban
Ki-moon's
minders while
it reports on
UN corruption
leads.
On September
19, while a
former UN
official told
Inner City
Press about
the stlll
unreported
corruption of
Ban Ki-moon, a
UN Security
official
insisted that
Inner City
Press be
listened in
on. Meanwhile
Ban's
spokesman, who
colluded in
the eviction,
refused to
answer the
simplest
questions.
Inner City
Press asked,
more than a
day ago, who
authored and
paid for the
vanity press
book Ban is
signing and
giving to
heads of
state. No
answer, even
as the
spokesman spun
others on
Ban's good
works on
Syria.
While
Gallach's DPI
confined
non-favored
journalists to
a Media Center
in which even
drinking water
was
prohibited,
water freely
flowed up on
the 38th floor.
Across town
CGO went one
better, making
it easier for
journalists
with apple
chips, yogurt
and tea or coffee.
In the day's
last stakeout,
Norway's
foreign
minister
answered Inner
City Press
about Gaza
finances.
Three and a
half jours
later, the
video was not
on public
UNTV, and the
EZTV for media
Ban likes was
still not
avilable to
others.
Back on September
16, Lykketoft
said, in
essence, those
are the (UN)
rules. Inner
City Press
asked him if
at least the
identity of
the countries
who had done
the blocking
-- for example
Morocco for
Independent
Diplomat --
could be
named. No, he
said. This is
today's UN.
The Friday
before UN
General
Assembly week
starts in
earnest,
reporters at
the UN were
told of some
of the
upcoming
meetings and
how, despite
restrictions,
to cover them.
Inner
City Press
asked the head
of the UN's
Department of
Public
Information
Cristina
Gallach why
DPI says the
non-resident
correspondents,
the vast
majority of
journalists
covering the
UN, will be
placed in
basement
Conference
Room 1 where
no only food
and beverages
but even water
is not
allowed.
Gallach's
reply cited to
“professionalism”
and rules,
both of which
she invoked
when she ousted
and then
evicted
Inner City
Press from the
UN earlier
this year.
Ironically,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric less
that an hour
later explained
having
violated the
rules (about
those without
cameras not
attending
photo ops) so
that South
Korean print
journalists
could witness
Ban's speech
to politicians
visiting from
Seoul.
The
UN's rules are
selectively
implied, in
this case to
censor.
Last October
19, 2015 Inner
City Press asked Gallach about her attendance at the South South Awards
of Ng Lap
Seng, the
Macau-based
businessman
under house
arrest for
bribery at the
UN.
On September
16, Inner City
Press asked
Gallach about
the
since-released
Office
of Internal
Oversight
Services audit,
which found
that her DPI
did not due
diligence on
events by Ng
Lap Seng
fundees.
Gallach said
that the
outside event
- the case in
Federal court
- is being
followed. So
Inner City
Press asked
for her
response to
testimony in
the case that
South South
News, which
unlike Inner
City Press the
rule-invoking
Gallach left
in its UN
office
despite or
because of it
not asking any
questions at
the UN, was
named as a
“conduit of
bribery.”
This, she did
not answer.
After the
briefing,
which included
film maker
Richard Curtis
whom Inner
City Press
asked about
the Next SG
race,
Gallach's
staffer asked
for further
information
about the
water(less)
issue.
Inner City
Press added
the exclusion
of
non-resident
correspondents
from access to
the UN's EZTV
which shows
more events
than the UN
webcast. See flier
here of the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access,
also ejected
and sign torn
down under
Gallach. What
will change?
We'll see.
Watch this
site.
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