| As UN
Guterres Bans
Press He
Bloviates
About
Disinformation
Launching
Empty Policy
Briefs
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
UN GATE, June 12
–
On World Press
Freedom Day,
the United
Nations of
Antonio
Guterres and
Melissa
Fleming was
more
hypocritical
than
usual.
While UN
Global
Communications
chief
Fleming put
out a video
of Guterres
equating what
he (and she)
characterize
as
disinformation
as the threat
to press
freedom,
Guterres has banned
Inner City
Press from
entering the
UN since 2018,
when it exposed
the omission
of links to
bribery firm
CEFC China
Energy from
his financial
disclosure.
On
June 12,
Guterres while
plopped down
in the
propagandist-only
UN Press
Briefing Room
"launched" his
proposal to
blue wash
dictators'
censorship
efforts as a
war on
disinformation
- which he
defines as
anything
critical of
the UN or,
even more so,
of him. Video
with
commentary
here. His
Melissa
Fleming
carries it
out.
Fleming, who
has refused to
answer a
polite pro
bono letter
from the Quinn
Emanuel law
firm seeking a
dialogue to
end her ban of
Inner City
Press, was
intoning, as echoed
by another
paid UN system
communications
staffer,
"We're
creating at
the UN a
central
capacity to
monitor and
…rapidly react
when mis- and
dis
information
and hate
speech
threaten not
just our
people, our
operations,
but also the
issues and
causes we're
working on,"
-Melissa
Fleming."
What is the
accountability
for this
"central
capacity"
that, without
explaining or
answering, has
the Press
roughed up and
banned?
Law
firm Quinn
Emanuel, on a
pro bono
basis, wrote
to Fleming and
the UN
Correspondents
Association
(with state
media of China
on its board
of directors)
seeking a
dialogue to
reinstate
Inner City
Press.
There
has been no
answer, nor to
an appeal
to Guterres
head of
security
Gilles
Michaud.
Still,
ill-informed
media run the
Guterres video
without
commentary.
Disinformation,
indeed.
***
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