By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 29 -- Four
hours after UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous
refused on
camera to
answer Inner
City Press'
questions
about documented
charges that
his Department
introduced
cholera into
Haiti, and
has Sri
Lanka alleged
war criminal
general
Shavendra
Silva as an
adviser, representatives
of five media
organizations
presented
charges to
eject Inner
City Press.
Video
of Ladsous'
refusal to
answer is here,
Minute 28:10.
The
subsequently
disclosed five
signers of the
charge letter
to set up a
"board of
examination"
to
"investigate"
Inner City
Press with the
goal of
expelling the
Press include
not only Louis
Charbonneau of
Reuters
and Timothy
Witcher
of Agence
France Presse
(as explained
below, a major
Ladsous
supporter or
tool).
Now
they have
expanded to
five, with
Flavia
Krause-Jackson
of Bloomberg,
Talal Al-Haj
of Al-Arabiya
and Margaret
Besheer of
Voice of
America, the
Treasurer of
UNCA who was
not present
for Tuesday
afternoon's
move toward
expulsion.
Despite not
hearing the
defense,
"proxy" votes
by Besheer,
Masood Haider
reportedly of
Pakistan's
Daily Dawn and
seemingly
others were
counted
against Inner
City Press.
Besheer
has previously
rebuked Inner
City Press to
write "more
positively"
about the UN,
while devoting
much focus to
the British
and other
royals.
During Tuesday
afternoon's
session,
Bloomberg's
Flavia
Krause-Jackson
told Inner
City Press,
We're not talking
about giving
evidence... we
do not like
your attitude.
Referring
to Tuesday's
stonewalling
by Ban's
Peacekeeping
chief, another
UNCA Executive
Committee
member told
Inner City
Press, "What
you did today
with Mr.
Ladsous was a
big no-no...
That will come
and haunt
you."
Inner
City Press
asked if the no-no
was insisting
that a UN
Under
Secretary
General
getting paid
hundreds of
thousands of
dollars a year
should be
expected to
answer
questions
about
introducing
cholera into
Haiti, and
accepting a
war criminal
as an adviser.
UNCA
President
Giampaolo said
we
should jump up
and defend you
-- but UNCA
didn't. Nor
did any one
else on the
UNCA Executive
Committee
report on
Ladsous'
proposal to
the C-34
Committee that
the UN should
use drones,
which Inner
City Press broke
then got further
confirmed,
to Ladsous'
displeasure.
By this logic,
it would be
fine with
these five if
Ban Ki-moon
stopped
answering
Press
questions and
expelled
critical
non-corporate
media.
The
stated purpose
of the UN
Correspondents
Association is
to protect the
freedom of the
press and
protect the
rights of bona
fide
correspondents
to secure
accreditation
and unhindered
access to the
UN without
discrimination.
But
it appears
that big media
at the UN is
seeking to
expel a
smaller, more
critical
online news
site, Inner
City Press.
For some, it
is big media
versus small.
For others of
Tuesday's
indicters, it
is state
controlled
media from
countries
reliably
accused,
including in
Inner City
Press, of
human rights
violations.
Now they are
voting to
expel a media
which asks
questions
about their
sponsor's
violations.
Inner
City Press
told them, as
before, its
view that this
is anti-press
freedom, an
abuse of power
that will be
opposed and
reported on,
publicly.
UNCA
President
Giampaolo
Pioli also at
the beginning
of Tuesday's
inquisition
complained to
Inner City
Press about
"your blog,"
citing
"complaints
over the
years."
In the run up
to the
meeting, Inner
City Press
asked Pioli to
list or
summarize
these
complaints, in
part so that
the
medieval-sounding
"board of
examination"
would not
include people
who are
complainants
or the
witnesses they
would seek to
use.
But
neither before
or at
Tuesday's
meeting, at
which the
above five and
more voted to
form a "board
of
examination"
were the
charges listed
or summarized:
only the vague
word
"harassment,"
akin for
example to
"blasphemy."
While
Inner City
Press has
while
reporting on
the UN had not
a single
incident or
allegation of
physical
confrontation,
Charbonneau
claimed that
he felt
physically
threatened
inside the Dag
Hammarskjold
Library
Auditorium at
11 am.
(Inner City
Press did say
"you disgust
me" after
being informed
that
Charbonneau
had circulated
an email
seeking to
expel Inner
City Press
without even
sending a copy
to Inner City
Press - the
response was
verbal, but
not physical
in the least.)
Meanwhile,
Pioli during
Tuesday's
meeting banged
on the table
and shouted as
well. Al Haj
remarked,
you'll see
that tomorrow
on the blog.
So here it is.
But
UNCA First
Vice President
Louis
Charbonneau
filed a
complaint with
the UN's Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit saying
Inner City
Press is
"making it
very hard for
me and others
in the UN
press to do
our jobs."
Charbonneau
sent
copies of his
complaint to
MALU against
Inner City
Press to UNCA
Treasurer
Margaret
Basheer of
Voice of
America,
Timothy
Witcher of
Agence France
Presse (who
previously
used UNCA
against Inner
City Press
after ICP
reported that
Herve Ladsous
was at best
Nicolas
Sarkozy's
second choice
for the French
position atop
UN
Peacekeeping)
and UNCA
President
Giampaolo
Pioli.
Inner
City Press
asked
Charbonneau
why he sent a
copy of his
MALU complaint
also to
Witcher, who
is not an
officer of
UNCA.
Charbonneau
replied, I
don't need to
tell you that.
Apparently
there are
other things
he feels he
and Reuters
don't need to
do, such as
giving credit
when stealing
the exclusives
of other,
smaller media.
As
previously
reported,
Charbonneau
and Reuters
used without
credit Inner
City Press' exclusive
March 28
report that US
official
Jeffrey
Feltman would
come to head
the UN
Department of
Political
Affairs.
By contrast, Foreign
Policy's "The
Cable"
credited
Inner City
Press. When
asked about
it, Charbonneau
said for a
year he has
had a policy
or practice of
not crediting
Inner City
Press. He
repeated
Tuesday, we
don't have to
give credit,
it's just a
courtesy.
Repeated
inquiries
with Reuters
if this is an
acceptable
policy have
gone
unanswered, by
"ethics" chief
Greg McCune up
to Reuters CEO
James C.
Smith. Perhaps
they just hope
Charbonneau
succeeds in
expelling
Inner City
Press.
Bloomberg,
specifically
Flavia
Krause-Jackson,
previously
reported
without any
credit
Inner City
Press' exclusive
expose that 14
kilograms of
cocaine was
found in the
UN mailroom
(her defense
is that once
the UN
held a 6 pm
press
conference
responding
to Inner City
Press' story
and questions
at noon, she
and Bloomberg
didn't have to
give any
credit). AFP
also stole the
story, as
did some other
chargers and
supporters,
Tuesday
voters.
During
Tuesday's
meeting,
Al-Arabiya's
Al-Haj
complained
that a week
before one of
Inner City
Press' many
stories about
UN High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights Navi
Pillay getting
cut from a
four to two
year extension
by Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, he
had reported
on the topic
on television
in Arabic. He
said he saw
the Inner City
Press report
but didn't
come to seek
credit.
If
you had, we
have have
given it, as
we credited
for example
BBC and a
tweeter this
weekend about
the Congo,
Inner City
Press replied.
I'm
too big to do
that,
Al-Haj
replied.
Inner
City Press
said that UNCA
should not be
just a club of
big media.
Flavia
Krause-Jackson
of Bloomberg
interjected,
don't try to
make this
about big bad
media against
a small one.
But how not?
Look at the
five signers
listed --
there's not
even the
pretense that
is not what it
is.
Pioli
has expressed
anger at Inner
City Press
reporting that
he accepted
rent money
from Sri
Lanka's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN
Palitha Kohona
and then
arranged for
Kohona to
screen his
government's
genocide-rebuttal
film "Lies
Agreed To" in
the UN without
asking other
UNCA Executive
Board members
about it, and
without the
underlying
Channel 4 film
"Killing
Fields" being
screened in
the UN,
because it
would conflict
with a
ceremony for
Ban Ki-moon.
Pioli
points out,
and we
include, that
the rent
acceptance was
"seven or
eight" years
ago.
The
fact of the
screening and
non-recusal
remains -- and
the fact that
the Sri Lankan
mission has
thought it can
impact Inner
City Press
coverage and
continued
accreditation
at the UN by
writing to
Giampaolo and
his UNCA
Executive
Committee. So
why does
Sri Lanka
think it has
such access to
UNCA?
Pioli
demanded that
the article,
even as
modified, be
removed from
the Internet.
Inner City
Press refused,
calling this
censorship.
Pioli screamed
at Inner City
Press, I will
get you thrown
out of the UN.
At Tuesday's
meeting Pioli
said, waving
around a copy
of an Inner
City Press
story stating
his rental
relation with
Sri Lanka's
Ambassador
that also said
it was long in
the past. You
really shot
yourself in
the foot with
this story,
Pioli said
Tuesday.
He
made the
"board of
examination"
and expulsion
process his
way of erasing
the story,
saying "if the
panel finds
your behavior
was
acceptable,
that means
that I lied."
Well, no
- it is a
report of
facts,
suggesting
that Pioli
should have
recused
himself from
unilaterally
scheduling an
UNCA screening
of the Sri
Lankan
government's
genocide
denial film
after
accepting rent
money from Sri
Lanka's
Ambassador,
even seven or
eight years
ago.
There
was no answer
when Inner
City Press
gave the
example of
another
government
facing more
politically
powerful
charges of
genocide. If
they paid rent
to an UNCA
official and
then screened
their genocide
denial in
UNCA's space
in the UN, it
would
certainly be
reported.
But
the UNCA
Executive
Committee
members appear
like many
others not to
care much
about the Sri
Lanka genocide
issue, of over
40,000
civilians
killed in May
2009. Smaller
but somehow
more important
numbers
motivate them
and their
media.
Before
the vote,
Pioli
suggested that
the solution
was for Inner
City Press to
file a
complaint with
MALU against
Charbonneau of
Reuters. Inner
City Press
said no, it
has a policy
of not seeking
to limited the
access of or
dis-accredit
other media.
Also
at Tuesday's
meeting Talal
Al-Haj said of
the Sri Lanka
- Pioli story,
I would like
to see the
facts behind
your story, I
need this to
be
investigated.
Inner City
Press asked if
Al-Haj and the
UNCA Executive
Committee was
asking to know
the sources of
the story. Of
the board of
examination,
Al-Haj said we
can choose any
five.
But
can those
complaining,
or witnesses,
be on the
board of
examination?
Can the
prosecutor or
witness be on
the jury? How
can they then
give evidence?
We're
not talking
about giving
evidence,
Flavia
Krause-Jackson
of Bloomberg
said, as
noted. We do
not like your
attitude.
Another
Executive
Committee
member said
there's no
need to
disclose or
even decide on
the charges
before naming
the Board of
Examination,
since "it's up
to them to
decide" what
the charges
are. By this
Kafka-esque
logic, the
accuser can be
on the jury.
Inner City
Press'
objections
were
overruled, in
judge-like
fashion, by
Giampiolo
Pioli himself.
This has all
the hallmarks
of a kangaroo
court, step by
step.
Pioli
dismissively
said, or
"ruled," go
ahead and
write on the
blog and tell
us what due
process is.
Okay.
Strangely, a
correspondent
for a
media which
has in the
past credited
Inner City
Press on a Libya
scoop
Tuesday voted
for the
process to try
to expel Inner
City Press.
Does it
highlight the
difference
between the
media's English
and
non-English
versions or
something
deeper?
An
UNCA Executive
Committee
member who
spoke up for
Inner City
Press, saying
that this
should be
resolved by
understanding
each other,
was told by
Al-Haj "don't
be biased."
Al-Haj
continued, I
have a big
problem what
you are
writing about
Pioli.
So,
at least in
this case, it
seems the
threat of
expulsion is
used to stop
the reporting
of facts from
which a
conflict of
interest,
serving a
government and
even official
charged with
genocide, can
plausibly be
inferred.
The others
have their own
motives, for
example
Witcher of
AFP's servile
service of
both the
French Mission
and Ladsous,
from Ladsous'
first day on
the job.
When
Ladsous
refused
to answer
Inner City
Press'
questions
about cholera
in Haiti and a
Sri Lankan
alleged war
criminal as an
adviser to
Ladsous,
Banbury and
Ban Ki-moon,
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
cut Inner City
Press off.
In the noon
briefing
afterward he
wouldn't give
Ban's view; in
the May
25 noon
briefing he
refused to say
if journalists
in the UN have
a right to see
complaints or
files kept
about and
against him,
saying it will
be dealt with
"off camera."
It
hasn't been.
Rather, off
camera Nesirky
immediately
conferred with
Charbonneau, a
former Reuters
colleague.
Tuesday
it emerged
that Pioli is
aware of other
complaints and
filed kept
against other
members of
UNCA, who he
purportedly
serves, but
feels no need
to disclose
these
complaints to
those charged.
Pioli
cut off all
objections to
end Tuesday's
session --
despite his
own
involvement
and attempt to
now use UNCA
to censor
coverage of
his financial
relationship
with the
Permanent
Representative
of Sri Lanka
and unilateral
screening in
the UN of that
government's
genocide
denial film --
and called the
question, "to
set up a five
member"
Board of
Examination.
Proxy
votes of
people who
hadn't even
heard the
arguments were
counted and it
passed,
although the
specifics
including of
which proxies
were counted
-- for
example, was
BBC's? -- have
yet to be
provided.
Apparently,
five members
it will be,
for a
Kafka-esque
Star Chamber
or more
accurately
kangaroo
court. But
which five?
For
the record,
Inner City
Press has
nominations
for the "Board of Examination,"
and should
have the right
to challenge
for cause.
Inner City
Press has also
provided
notice of
other requests
it is making
and actions it
will take.
Inner
City Press
concluded and
concludes this
is an abuse of
power, anti
press freedom,
and I will
fight it. When
you are trying
to throw me
out, it is not
private. Watch
this site.