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After
UN Raid,
Photos of
Press'
Bookshelf
Violate
Freedom of
Thought
UNITED
NATIONS, March
28 -- When
librarians in
the US were
told they'd
have
to disclose,
not even
publicly but
to the US
government,
what people
were checking
out and
reading there
was widespread
and justified
outrage
against this
assault on
freedom of
thought and on
privacy.
But
now the UN has
conducted a
raid on March
18 on the
Inner City
Press
office, has
taken photos
including of
the Press'
papers and
bookshelf
and has allowed
at least the
president,
Pamela Falk of
CBS, of its UN
Censorship
Alliance to
take
photographs.
After
the
photographs
including of
Inner City
Press'
bookshelves
were given
anonymously to
BuzzFeed
through an
anonymous
“Concerned UN
Reporter”
e-mail
account, they
were published
on March 22.
Now
Inner City
Press is
receiving
communications,
many but not
all of
them
anonymous,
some of them
threatening,
about the
contents of
its
bookshelf:
that is, what
it has been
reading.
Beyond
the UN
committing
what would
violations of
the First
Amendment and
the Fourth
Amendment of
the US
Constitution,
this trampling
of the
principles of
freedom of
thought, both
by the UN and
the Executive
Committee of
the UN
Correspondents
Association,
is a new low.
UNCA
did not object
in any way to
the raid, and
it is clear
that
“Concerned UN
Reporter” is
an UNCA
“leader,” from
the
comments made
under that
name.
In
fact, UNCA
leaders have
defended
and cheered
the raid,
typically in
the at least
six
anonymous
social
media accounts
they have set
up to try to
undermine
Inner City
Press
and the Free
UN Coalition
for Access.
Photo
but photo of
bookshelves
not shown:
Ban's
UNCA Lunch of
the Lost, Feb
7, 2013,
credit Evan
Schneider,
UNPhoto.
From left:
OSSG's Del
Buey; Denis
Fitzgerald of
Saudi Press
Agency;
OSSG's
Nesirky;
Melissa Kent
of CBC;
Sylviane Zehil
of L'Orient le
Jour; Tim
Witcher of
AFP; Ali
Barada of
An-Nahar; Ban
Ki-moon,
Kahraman
Halicelik of
Turkish Radio
& TV;
Pamela S. Falk
of CBS;
Lou
Charbonneau of
Reuters;
Bouchra
Benyoussef of
Maghreb Arab
Press;
Yasuomi Sawa
of Kyodo News;
Masood Haider
of Dawn;
Unknown;
Zhenqiu
Gu of Xinhua;
Stephane
Dujarric of UN
DPI
What
does it say
about the
decay of the
UN, its
Department of
Public
Information
and its UN
Censorship
Alliance that
they raid,
take and
distribute
photographs of
an
investigative
journalists'
bookshelf,
then refuse as
requested to
at least
disclose who
they let in to
take
photographs?
Inner
City Press has
asked just
that, in
writing and at
the UN noon
briefings of
March 25 and
March 26.
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky,
noting that
Inner City
Press asked
the
Under
Secretary
General of
DPI, said that
the evasive
response given
by his
underling
Stephane
Dujarric is
all that Ban
has to say.
Really?
After
raiding,
taking and
distributing
photographs of
an
investigative
journalists'
bookshelf?
Watch this
site.
* * *
These
reports
are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for Sept 26, 2011 New Yorker on Inner City
Press at UN
Click
for
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Corruption
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
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Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest service,
and now on Lexis-Nexis.
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e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
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