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By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR Letter PFTracker

UN GATE, Dec 2 – With the United States taking over presidency of the UN Security Council for December, insider correspondents who have done nothing to stop the banning of Press by UNSG Antonio Guterres were suddenly up in arms that US Ambassador Kelly Craft has not scheduled a press conference for them.

  These correspondents routinely, when there are press conferences, cut off other questioners. Here is a sample from March 2016, from minute 17:30 (question cut off), 12:10 (Ambassador calls on Inner City Press, but corrupt war criminal landlord insists he get first question, apparently the main goal of these rituals), and Inner City Press' delayed question from minute 20.

   In the case of Inner City Press which asked and asks about UN and their corruption, they colluded with Guterres and his spokes- / hatchetman Stephane Dujarric to have Inner City Press roughed up and banned, 516 days now. So the pretense of being for press freedom is just that, a scam.

   Before another scam - the UN Correspondents Association with Chinese state media and others on the board selling access to Guterres on December 6, earlier that day now Craft will hold a press conference. Presumably Inner City Press will still be banned from the UN by Guterres, with US Mission acquiescence.

  In a two minute stakeout Craft also announced that Council members will accompany her to Kentucky mid month, for "Sofa Talk," a Kentucky basketball game and the bottling of their own bourbon. That might actually improve things. Inner City Press will continue to cover the UN from outside, as it is banned by corrupt Guterres and his cronies.

  James Bays of Al Jazeera, outed for being spoonfed by Dujarric, lobby to having Inner City Press thrown out. Reuters too; SABC was fine with it. In five days they will be celebrating Guterres they are supposed to objectively report on, and will be raising money off him. We'll have more on this - and on what happens this month in the UN Security Council, even as still banned by Guterres.

  For now: Dec 3 Iraq; Syria Dec 4, 11 and 19 (and Cameroon, much less Honduras, zero). UNOCA Dec 6; UNAMA (Afghanistan) Dec 11; Yemen Dec 12. South Sudan December 17....

  The UN has been so corrupted and dominated by China under UNSG Antonio Guterres that now its ostensible journalist award is controlled with Chinese state media. Would stories about CEFC China Energy's proven bribery at the UN, and bid to buy an oil company linked to Guterres through the Gulbenkian Foundation, even get through a first round of review with this Chinese "journalism" veto? Fat chance.

 Now on November 11 from US State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus, this: "The United States is watching the situation in Hong Kong with grave concern.  ‎We condemn violence on all sides, extend our sympathies to victims of violence regardless of their political inclinations, and call for all parties— police and protestors— to exercise restraint.‎  We repeat President Trump's call for a humane resolution to the protests.    The increased polarization within Hong Kong society underscores the need for a broad-based and sincere dialogue between the government, protestors, and citizenry writ large.  The United States urges the Hong Kong government to build on its dialogue with the Hong Kong public and begin efforts to address the underlying concerns driving the protests.  We also urge the protestors to respond to efforts at dialogue.    The United States believes that Hong Kong’s autonomy, its adherence to the rule of law, and its commitment to protecting civil liberties are key to preserving its special status under U.S. law, as well as to the success of “One Country, Two Systems” and Hong Kong’s future stability and prosperity.  We urge Beijing to honor the commitments it made in the Sino-British Joint Declaration, including commitments that Hong Kong will “enjoy a high degree of autonomy” and that the people of Hong Kong will enjoy human rights the freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly— core values that we share with Hong Kong." And the UN?

  Days after Guterres and his team denied access even to enter to cover UN General Assembly high level week to Inner City Press which closely covers the UN bribery convictions at the SDNY court, China state media Xinhua shows smiling UN Correspondent Association officials on a tour of China without any reference to the abuse of Uighurs and Hong Kong, much less to bribery. See here. The headline is "Members of United Nations Correspondents Association visit Fujian." The caption is "Lin Dongmei (1st R), associate director of National Engineering Research Center of Juncao Technology, introduces Juncao plantation to members of the United Nations Correspondents Association, at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, in Fuzhou, capital of southeast China's Fujian Province, Sept. 9, 2019. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan)."

  The UNCA officials are past president (and Sri Lanka war criminal landlord) Giampaolo Pioli, and his successor Valeria Robecco, along with another Italian hanger-on who oversaw the confiscation and attempted destruction of Inner City Press' live-streaming smart phone in front of UNCA's corrupt annual fundraising event. This while Inner City Press, investigative media, is banned by these thugs from entering the UN. What of this China tour, and those who signed off on or didn't complain about it? We said, "We'll have more on this" - and now we do.

Inner City Press has repeatedly asked corrupt Guterres and team " September 10-2: What are the SG's and USG Fleming's view of the ethics of UN Correspondents Association official taking a paid trip to China at this time, with regard to Xinjiang, Hong Kong and bribery by China Energy Fund Committee, which tried to buy the oil company of Gulbenkian Foundation which has made payments to the SG? See here." More than a month, no answer at all.

  But several disgusted UNCA members have sent this, an admission, guilty knowledge, arrests and re-admission of the Press should follow: "The UNCA Executive Committee has taken a decision and is notifying its members of the below:  If any member of the UN Correspondents Association, including members of the Executive Committee, is invited on a paid trip (travel and lodging) to represent UNCA, it must be submitted to the UNCA board for approval. Appearance fees on behalf of UNCA should be declined as it compromises the integrity and credibility of the association. If UNCA members are offered paid trips or other complementary benefits as individual journalists, it is up to them and their news outlets to decide how to proceed.    UNCA OFFICE." Too little, too late. Go to jail.

  Here's from an announcement earlier this year by the pro-Guterres and now China controlled UN Correspondents Association, with its second vice president on the awards committee from Chinese state media: "2019 U.N. Correspondents Association Awards For Best Journalistic Coverage Of The United Nations And U.N. Agencies - NEWS PROVIDED BY United Nations Correspondents Association -  Winners Will Be Honored At Gala Event By The U.N. Secretary-General H.E. António Guterres... UNCA Awards Committee: Valeria Robecco (UNCA President), Giampaolo Pioli (Awards Chairman), ), Jianguo Ma (UNCA Second Vice President [from Chinese state media and Sherwin Bryce-Pease (UNCA Executive Member).

 In full disclosure, before Inner City Press quit UNCA after finding it corrupt and co-founded the Free UN Coalition for Access (FUNCA), and was then evicted from its UN work space (2016) then roughed up by Guterres' UN Security on 3 July 2018 and banned from any entry of the UN since, it was on the Executive Committee of UNCA. There, it was told by the already Permanent representative on the board of Chinese state media to NOT raise the issue of Taiwanese journalists. Guterres has gone further and covered up CEFC China Energy UN bribery and his own links. We'll have more on this.

Jose Ramos Horta who has known and answered Inner City Press for years wrote to it, somewhat comedicly, "I am puzzled by such an extreme DPI decision of banning you for life from UNHQ for reporting purposes. Here in Timor Leste our Govt never ever barred a journalist from entering a public space and reporting even though our Media has never been friendly with Govt officials.I cannot imagine how serious an offense you may have committed that may have justified such an extreme action by DPI. Did you throw a bomb, rotten eggs, tomatoes, spaghetti at some guy? I shall try to reach the SG." And then, on August 27, "Dear Matthew I did reach the very inner sanctum of the UN system reporting on your case to no avail. Apologies but I don't know what else I can do." This is how arrogant and out of touch Guterres is, Lusophone or not. People would report this about Trump, whole profiles of those they say should have spoken out - Mattis, Kelly, members of Congress and the Senatre - and isolation and rage. But what about Guterres? Jose Ramos Horta, who has never had a problem being public, is a man of integrity, on the right side on this one when all is said and done.

 From IPS article: "Lee has been known for asking thought-provoking questions during daily briefings and at press stakeouts. He has reported on global conflicts such as those in Sri Lanka, Congo, Somalia, and others... However, the incidents with Lee started back in 2012, when he was warned by the DPI to treat his fellow journalists with respect." That's not the case. In 2012, the President of the UN Correspondents Association Giampaolo Pioli, who had rented one of him Manhattan apartments to one Palitha Kahona then unilaterally granted his request or demand for an UNCA screening of the war crimes denial film of the Sri Lanka government he represented at the UN, ordered Inner City Press to remove from the Internet its article about the conflict of interest. Inner City Press declined but offered to publish any response, at any length. Pioli and the UNCA board demanded removal of the article, and ultimately Inner City Press quit UNCA and co-founded FUNCA, the Free UN Coalition for Access. The UN claimed it was uninvolved - instead, then head of Accreditation Stephane Dujarric tried to condition Inner City Press' re-accreditation as a resident correspondent on more positive coverage of the Secretariat, specifically his fellow Frenchman Herve Ladsous, the head of Peacekeeping who famously said peacekeepers would rape less if they had more "R&R." So from 2012 it was the UN trying to strong arm positive coverage of its officials, and using the aura of "other correspondents" in UNCA as the leverage - making UN the UN Censorship Alliance.

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