Can UN
Investigate
Itself After
It Let Raid
Photos of
Bookshelf Go
to BuzzFeed?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
1 -- The UN
preaches the
rule of law
and the
separation of
powers. But
does it
practice them?
A filing today
by Inner City
Press may
answer this
question.
The UN
lawlessly
entered Inner
City Press'
office without
notice or
consent on
March 18, went
through
papers, took
photos and
allowed
others,
including CBS'
Pamela Falk,
the president
of the UN
Correspondents
Association to
take photos. Post raid video here.
Inner
City Press
complained.
The UN
admitted its
entry to Inner
City Press'
desk area was
improper --
but it refused
to say who it
had allowed to
enter.
Did
that mean not
DPI's? Or not
the UN's more
generally?
Dujarric
refused to
say, as did
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
on March 25
and 26. Video
here.
Faced
with such
stonewalling
but with more
information
coming in from
sources, Inner
City Press on
April 1 asked
the UN to
investigate --
itself. Here
is a portion
of the filing,
receipt of
which has been
confirmed:
This
is a formal
request for an
investigation
by the UN of
the taking of
photographs of
my desk and
bookshelf and
the passing of
these
photographs,
through an
anonymous
"Concerned UN
Reporter"
e-mail
address, to
BuzzFeed.com
where they
were published
on March 22.
This
took place
during an
entry into my
office which
was without
any notice to
me or my
consent, and
which the UN
had
acknowledged
in writing and
oral was
improper. They
have refused,
however, to
provide basic
information
about who they
allowed into
my office, who
took
photographs
and to whom
they passed
these
photographs.
Beyond
the improper
entry, this
violates
freedom of the
press, and my
privacy and
freedom of
thought and
inquiry.
This
then is a
request for an
investigation
of the UN
itself and of
its staff and
officials, as
well as others
it allowed
into my office
in Room L-253
on March 18,
2013.
In
light of the
issues raised,
I ask to be
kept apprised
in writing of
the progress
and any
outside
referral of
this
investigation,
at this e-mail
address and
via the Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
which is a
co-requester.
On
March 18, 2013
while I was
covering the
Security
Council at the
press stakeout
area there, I
was telephoned
by another
reporter who
informed me
that my office
was “full of
people.”
...To
jump
forward, on
March 22
BuzzFeed.com
ran an article
which included
three
photographs
taken inside
my office --
on “my side of
the office,”
see below --
which BuzzFeed
wrote had been
provided to it
through an
anonymous
e-mail address
“Concerned UN
Reporter,” who
also spoke
with BuzzFeed,
using that
adopted
anonymous
name. See, http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/media-un-battle-one-man-blogger-rebellion
At
the
March 25 and
March 26 UN
noon briefings
I asked to be
informed of
who had been
in my office
-- including
as permitted
without my
consent by DPI
-- who had
taken
photographs
and to whom
they had given
them. See, http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2013/db130326.doc.htm
The
spokesperson
for the
Secretary
General said,
“I know that
you wrote to
the
Under-Secretary-General
for Public
Information
and
Communications
yesterday, and
that you
received a
reply from
Stéphane
Dujarric, I
don’t have
anything to
add to that.
Inner
City Press: Do
you see why, I
just wanted
to, one
follow-up on
that, do you
see why the
reply, my
question is he
is saying it
is not the
UN’s
photographs,
so inevitably
that makes me
believe the
only person I
am aware that
took
photographs
was Pamela
Falk of UNCA,
but she has
made a legal
threat that if
I write that,
I guess CBS
News will sue.
So I am asking
you, it seems
like, it’s
just, it’s
simple to
clean it up; I
didn’t take
the
photograph,
the
photographs
were taken
that day,
clearly in an
area that DPI
invited
individuals
into. So I was
limited to one
question — who
did they
invite in?
Spokesperson:
I don’t have
anything to
add beyond
what I have
already said.
What
DPI's Stephane
Dujarric has
written to me
is... “I
personally
looked at our
pictures and
those posted
on BuzzFeed
and it's clear
that they are
not the same
photographs.
Again, we
recognize that
you should
have been
called before
entering your
part of the
shared office.
Note
for purposes
of this
request that
his phrase
they are not
“our pictures”
leaves it
unclear if he
means the
pictures taken
by DPI or by
the UN as a
whole, DSS and
whoever else
from the UN
they let in.
After
Inner City
Press publicly
speculated
that the
photographs
might have
come from the
UN or, for
example, from
Pamela Falk
who was taking
photographs,
Ms. Falk told
me in writing
from her
CBSNews.com
e-mail address
to “cease and
desist from
publishing
statements
which are
either
inaccurate or
cast my
actions in a
false light.”
Given
the relative
financial size
of CBS and
Inner City
Press, this
threat has the
effect of
discouraging
further
inquiry.
Hence, this
formal request
to the UN.
I am
concerned
about asking
DSS to
investigate...
DSS, and then
give the
report to DPI,
which is the
entity which
improperly
entered and
let others
into my
office. Just
as New York
State and
others have
“outside
counsels,” and
the New York
City Police
Department has
a CIVILIAN
Complaint
Review Board,
I am asking
for a similar
avoidance on
conflicts of
interest in
the requested
investigation,
and I ask to
be informed of
all UN
procedures and
policies in
this regard.