By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 23 -- The
First
Amendment
stops on First
Avenue, it has
become clear.
Not only does
freedom of the
press not
apply to the
United
Nations, but
even US state
media granted
a cubicle
inside,
like Voice of
America, feels
itself exempt
too from the
US
Constitution.
How
else to
explain
VOA executive
editor Steve
Redisch
writing to the
UN on June 20
asking
official
Stephane
Dujarric de la
Riviere to
review the
accreditation
status at of
the UN of
Inner City
Press?
The text
of the
complaint by
VOA and others
is here.
Redisch
has been
asked to
justify his
attack on free
Press but has
not. His complaint
claims
that e-mails
Inner City
Press sent to
the UN
Correspondents
Association
Executive
Committee,
asserting
basic due
process rights
in the "Board
of
Examination"
process they
began to expel
Inner City
Press,
constitutes
"harassment."
Inner
City Press,
unlike VOA's
Redisch,
stands behind
and can
produce and
publish every
e-mail that it
sent and
received on
this matter.
But
given past
complaints by
UNCA President
Giampaolo
Pioli, whose
renting of his
apartment to
Palitha Kohona
when Kohona
was a UN
official, then
granting
Kohona's
request to
screen a Sri
Lankan
government
propaganda
film denying
war crimes
when Kohona
was, as he is,
Sri
Lanka's
Ambassador to
the UN,
Inner City
Press on June
22 after
publishing
an exclusive
on UN system
corruption in
Afghanistan
sent
Pioli and his
Committee
members this:
On
Fri,
Jun 22, 2012
at 6:45 PM,
wrote:
dear
colleagues
Matthew Lee is
requesting one
Unca Exacutive
Committee
meeting
Giampaolo
--
I have NOT
requested a
meeting.
As
my e-mail more
than 24 hours
ago said, I AM
requesting an
"explanation
of the
complaint and
request to
Stephane
Dujarric
and MALU to
'review [my]
status as an
accredited
U.N.
correspondent.'"
I
am also
requesting
disclosure of
how the June
14 letter you
claimed
was "only for
UNCA members"
has now
become, by
secret
ballot the
supposed
result of
which has not
been
disclosed,
your
public
response.
You
stated that "a
copy of the
UNCA Executive
Committe [sic]
Letter
to
all members
has already
appeared on
the Guardian
Blog."
For
the
record, not
only was the
June 14 letter
inaccurate
when you voted
on it, as I
said at the
time -- it is
now entirely
false in its
claim
that that
there is not
an UNCA
official /
officer
(Treasurer)
attempt
to review and
revoke my
accreditation.
The
Voice of
America
request for
just that
cites not only
the VOA
correspondent
but unnamed
"others" --
that would be
you.
Since
the
Voice of
America
challenge to
my
accreditation
presents my
communication
with the
Executive
Committee as
evidence of
harassment:
1)
for
the record,
this is not
harassment;
and
2)
I
am NOT
requesting any
meeting, to
avoid any
entrapment to
be
further
accused of
harassment for
asserting my
due process
rights,
and face
further
complaints to
MALU against
my
accreditation,
such as
those filed in
Lou
Charbonneau
and now Voice
of America.
I
am requesting
(a)
written
explanations
of the VOA
complaint,
(b)
the
vote count on
making the
June 14 letter
your public
response
(after you
said it was
for UNCA
members only),
(c)
a
disclosure of
who the anonymous
"Mundo111" who
posted the
letter is,
and
(d)
an
explanation of
how the VOA
complaint (and
GIampaolo's
demand that
I not cover UN
correspondents
no matter
what) is
consistent
with your
June 14
letter's
claims that
you are not
requesting
censorship or
trying to get
me thrown out
of the UN.
I
am requesting
each of these
in writing, as
soon as
possible
Does
this
constitute
harassment?
Fourteen
hours later
not a single
answer has
been provided,
other than an
expression of
surprise that
Inner City
Press doesn't
just give up
when faced
with a direct
challenge to
its
accreditation.
That
challenge, in
context on
behalf of the
UNCA Executive
Committee,
was filed by a
US government
agency funded
by taxpayer
dollars.
The
First
Amendment
stops at First
Avenue? Watch
this site.
