SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Sept 15 – In the run-up to a
no-vaccination, honor-system
UN General Assembly week
starting September 21, Inner
City Press on September 13
applied to the United Nations
for access to ask questions
about public health, UN
corruption Cameroon, Haiti and
other issues. Receipt of the
application was acknowledged
on September 15, below.
"I am writing to
you ten days before the UN
General Assembly high level
week as a journalist who after
covering the United Nations
for Inner City Press for ten
years was roughed up and
thrown out of the UN as I
covered its Fifth (Budget)
Committee on 3 July 2018 and
have been denied all access
since. There was no due
process, no right to appeal,
nothing. The Department's and
MALU's lack of any content
neutral accreditation rules,
rule process including appeal
rights for jouranlists, must
also be addressed.
To limit
access to the UN and even to
its virtual briefing to the
few "resident correspondents,"
many of them essentially
retired, many state media, and
keeping out Inner City Press
is pure censorship. Inner City
Press should immediately be
provided with access codes,
and access to UNHQ and in
person briefings and stakeouts
again. I should now be granted
accreditation like hundreds of
correspondents who publish far
fewer stories about the UN and
international affairs than I
do. I ask for your immediate
response.
For the upcoming
UNGA High Level Week, I
noticed that as of September
11, 2021 the MALU site says /
claims: "[a]ccess will be
limited to accredited media
representatives who have an
office at the UN Headquarters
(resident correspondents) and
the official media of visiting
delegations."
1) Since Inner
City Press only doesn't have
its office due to censorship,
this should not be a bar.
2) I have seen
"non resident" correspondents
in the Briefing Room, so Inner
City Press should be given
access.
3) Without in any
way conceding it would be
sufficient, I should be
provided WebEx access to noon
briefings and all UNGA week
events immediately - I have
such access at the IMF, and
have similar posed questions
to, among others, U.S. Rep
Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
It is
particularly outrageous that
while the UN holds in NYC what
some call a super-spreader
event, NYC-based Inner City
Press is being barred and its
questions not
answered.
You and others including but
not limited to USG Fleming
have been written to on my
behalf by the Quinn Emanuel
law firm, no response yet
despite confirmation of
receipt, see here."
On
September 14 before the UN
noon briefing it was banned
from it asked Spokesperson
Stephane Dujarric, DGC chief
Melissa Fleming and others for
their response. Nothing.
On September 15
past 8 pm, this:
"From: malu
Date: Wed, Sep 15, 2021 at
8:02 PM Subject: Your U.N.
eAccreditation Request has
been RECEIVED
Greetings Matthew Lee,
This is to confirm the United
Nations Media Accreditation
and Liaison Unit (M.A.L.U.) at
New York Headquarters has
received your request for
accreditation. Upon
processing,
a
notification email (to the
email address registered with
the requestwill provide the
status update, to confirm an
approval or rejection, and any
additional information which
may be
required.
If you have not received a
transmission from us within
two working days, you may
contact our office(s) With
kind regards, Media
Accreditation and Liaison
Unit."
Watch this site.
***
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