As
Voice of
America Takes
US Line on
Somalia, Seeks
Expulsions at
UN,
Evades FOIA
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 10 –
How closely is
“Voice of
America”
controlled by
the US
government, of
which it is an
agency,
subject to
the Freedom
of Information
Act?
Just
after the US
State
Department
formally
recognized the
government of
Somalia, on
February 9 Voice
of America
published a
piece about
the
upcoming UN
Security
Council review
of the mission
it authorized
there.
The
piece is built
nearly
entirely
around quotes
from UN envoy
Augustine
Mahiga: he is
even the
“source” for
the fact that
the Security
Council will
consider
Somalia this
week.
But the
Council's
February
14 session has
been on the
Council's
public program
of work since
at
least February
4.
Amazingly,
the
Voice of
America
Somalia piece
did not
mention in any
way the
Somali
government's
prosecution
and conviction
of journalist
Abdiaziz
Abdnur Ibrahim
for having
interviewed,
and not even
published
about,
a woman
alleging gang
rape by the
Somali
security
forces.
This
prosecution,
and one year
prison
sentence, has
been lambasted
from
all over,
including for
example by the
EU's
Catherine
Ashton.
But
Voice of
America, owned
by the US
government
which just
recognized
the Somali
government,
does not
mention the
rape,
prosecution or
convictions.
Inner
City Press,
which Voice
of America's
Steve Redisch
ask the UN to
throw out of
the UN in June
2012, has
filed several
Freedom of
Information
Act requests,
most recently
to understand
and report on
the
relationship
between VOA
and the State
Department,
represented on
the
Broadcasting
Board of
Governors
which oversees
VOA and other
state media.
As
reflected in a
FOIA appeal
which was just
granted – that
is, Inner City
Press
prevailed – on
February 4,
Voice of
America's UN
bureau chief
Margaret
Besheer was
directed to
conduct a
search of her
e-mail on
the subject of
the FOIA
request,
months ago.
Why did she
initially
refuse to? Is
it
appropriate?
What will be
the
repurcussions
if the second
search is in
bad faith, as
the first one
was? Why would
BBG expect
anything else?
Voice
of America's
initial FOIA
response
showed that it
adopted a “do
not
answer Inner
City Press”
policy -- then
used the
re-submission
of
follow up
questions as a
basis to ask
the UN to
dis-accredit
Inner
City Press.
Besheer's
already
released
e-mails show
how she used,
or was used
by, the UN
Correspondents
Association
Executive
Committee
(particularly
ongoing or
Permanent
members Reuters
and Agence
France Presse
/ AFP)
to try to get
Inner
City Press
thrown out of
the UN.
After
inquiries from
Capitol Hill,
VOA officials
David Ensor
and Steve
Redisch told
the BBG
members
including, for
example, Dana
Perino that
the request to
dis-accredit
Inner City
Press has been
inappropriate.
But
the request
was never
withdrawn.
Besheer
stepped off
the UNCA
Executive
Committee, on
which the
officials are
elected
without
competition,
and nominated
her successor.
Another BBG
affiliate
gained
representation
on the UNCA
Executive
Committee. And
Besheer
apparently
remains on the
board of
UNCA's own
affiliate, the
Dag
Hammarskjold
Fund for
Journalism.
A
counterfeit
social media
account
with which
both of these
are
involved has
tried to mock
those
journalists
joining the new
Free
UN
Coalition for
Access ,
most recently
a woman
alleging
sexual
harassment,
pervasively as
“non-media
activists.”
But is Voice
of
America
independent
media? Does
its UN bureau
engage in
actual
journalism?
There are
answers we are
awaiting from
Washington.
Now
in New York as
the
UNCA-dominated
move of the
press corps
back into
the renovated
UN
headquarters
building
begins, it has
emerged that
Voice of
America and
the two other
State
Department
affiliates all
have different
offices: a
total of
three.
Meanwhile the
UN put
another
country's wire
service into a
shared office,
then a
“photocopy
closet.”
The
UN checked and
learned that
at the State
Department in
DC's Foggy
Bottom, the
three BBG
affiliates are
all in a
single office.
Why
would they get
better
treatment at
the UN then at
their parent?
Watch
this site.
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