UNITED NATIONS, August 22 -- After eight months as UN Spokesperson, Martin Nesirky on August 21 propounded his view of his role. “There are no rules,” he told the Press. “It's my briefing and I can do what I want.”
Inner City Press, increasingly left to the end of the briefing so that no follow up questions are possible, proposed to formalize a rule that each correspondent be allowed to ask a question in a first round, then a second round, and so forth.
“There are no rules,” Nesirky said again. “You dominate that f**king briefing every day of the week. You ask any question you like, as many times as you like. Don't tell me who can or cannot ask questions.”
Each weekday for years now, the UN has held a noon briefing. It is a journalist's job to ask questions, including those that people impacted by the UN would like to ask if they could, and to follow up until an answer is given.
Inner City Press asked why Nesirky was and is so angry about questions being asked, and why he has refused, for example, to answer questions Inner City Press put to him by e-mail two weeks ago.
“I have the right to lose it sometimes,” Nesirky said. The reference appears to have been to a previous Inner City Press story in April 2010 abouti Nesirky blowing up at -- going Berserky on -- other journalists in connection with the Bhutto murder investigation report, after which Nesirky screamed at Inner City Press, “I was a journalist longer than you have been a journalist!”
When met outside of the UN, Nesirky has been perfectly polite, and engaging conversationalist. But Nesirky is the spokesman for Ban Ki-moon and accompanies him on trips, including meetings with leaders like Omar al Bashir of Sudan, Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka and Than Shwe of Myanmar.
If Nesirky cannot even keep his cool while speaking with the Press in the basement of UN headquarters, what will he do in meetings with Bashir, Than Shwe or Rajapaksa?
Already under Nesirky, the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary General has been barred from consultations of the Security Council. Nesirky has claimed that he is working behind the scenes to get restored his office's access, which was the case for years before his arrival. But nothing has been accomplished, and UN correspondents get less and less information.
While some sessions are better than others, Nesirky has several times announced, "only one more question," then refused to say why he called an end to the briefing. A number of long time correspondents have diagnosed Nesirky in a downward spiral and have expressed concern, not only for the UN and news about it, but also for Nesirky himself.
Now, Nesirky has loudly proclaimed that there are no rules, that he feels he can call on or not call on whichever journalists he prefers, and that he resents those who ask questions. Is this appropriate for the UN, a public body? Watch this site.
