By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 9 -- The
UN too often
preaches one
thing but does
another. It
preaches
accountability,
then covers up
its proven
role
in introducing
cholera into
Haiti.
At
a different
level, it
criticizes
governments
for dictating
with which
groups they
will negotiate
-- for example
these days in
Syria --
while the UN
in New York
undermines
free press by
only
negotiating
such things as
physical
access and
conditions for
reporting with
the
one entity it
has chosen,
the UN
Correspondents
Association.
The
UN has "Media
Guidelines,"
and claims
these are
legitimate
because they
were
negotiated
with "the
media." But by
"the
media" the UN
actually only
means "UNCA."
This
is similar to
the way the
Sudanese
government
created then
negotiated
with the
Liberty &
Justice
Movement in
Darfur,
thereby
marginalize
the actual
opposition.
LJM was
founded and is
headed, as
Inner City
Press exposed,
by a former UN
staff member
who for a time
was a UN-paid
Darfur
"rebel." LJM
has been
dubbed
"Astroturf," a
synthetic
grassless
sports
surface: fake
grassroots.
The
UN's Media
Guidelines,
formally the "Guidelines
on Media
Access
at United
Nations
Headquarters,"
say they are
an agreement
involving the
"Office of the
Spokesperson
of the
Secretary-General"
(Ban Ki-moon)
and "the
United Nations
Correspondents
Association."
How
can the UN's
media access
guidelines be
dictated by an
agreement with
UNCA, which
does not
represent (or
defend) all
journalists at
the UN?
This
is
particularly
problematic
because anyone
deemed,
without due
process, to
have violated
these UNCA-agreed
guidelines
will face
"withdrawal of
their
accreditation."
As
previously
exposed, a
stealth
allegation of
violation was
filed with
MALU by UNCA
Louis
Charbonneau
First Vice
President.
Charbonneau is
the bureau
chief of
Reuters which
on May 21 made
unauthorized
uncredited use
of Inner City
Press' March
28 exclusive
story that US
official
Jeffrey
Feltman will
come work at
the UN.
So
big media can
use the
UN-legitimated
UNCA to seek
to expel
smaller
media which
beats them on
stories. Then
the UN's MALU
does not even
inform the
small media
(in this case
Inner City
Press) that
the
complaint has
been filed.
Due process?
Not at the UN.
As
simply another
example, the
UN / UNCA
rules agreed
with UNCA
state that "No
cameras or
photographers
will be
allowed in the
cordoned off
area by
the stairs."
But some are
allowed, and
others not.
Likewise,
those
on the UNCA
Executive
Committee have
been allowed
by the UN to
make
decisions,
fraught with
conflicts of
interest and
payback, on
which media
get offices,
big offices,
studios. UNCA
Executive
Committee
members have
spend much
time ensuring
themselves big
spaces, mostly
furthering
their own
interests and
not even those
of
the other
"general" UNCA
members, much
less non-UNCA
members.
Then
there is the
question of
accreditation
of bloggers,
which Inner
City
Press has
fought for
since arriving
to cover the
UN. The
President of
UNCA Giampioli
Pioli first
proposed
agreeing with
the UN on a
rule
that would not
include
bloggers, then
would confine
them to a
footnote, and
impose on them
a different
standard than
is applicable
to other
media.
In
light of the
special status
the UN accords
to UNCA,
legally,
UNCA's
acts can be
attributable
to the UN.
(An
aside on law:
on June 8
UNCA's Pioli
announced he
was
"suspending"
Inner City
Press, an act
for which
there is no
provision in
the UNCA
Constitution.
But he did it,
and this is
the
organization
the UN
exclusively
negotiates the
rights of all
journalists
with.)
So,
for example,
when the UNCA
Executive
Committee
proceeds with
a witch
hunt and
kangaroo court
against Inner
City Press,
and the
process is
amplified and
turned into
threats by Sri
Lankan
government
media and
Sinhalese
extremists
around the
world,
including in
New York --
all
of this is
attributable
to Ban
Ki-moon's UN.
This
is
particularly
true because
the UN
Secretariat,
its Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit, senior
advisers to
Ban and others
have all seen
this witch
hunt
developing,
have formally
been given
copies of the
Sri Lanka
newspaper
articles, and
have done
nothing.
Apparently,
they
like it.
When
UNCA President
Giampaolo
Pioli on June
8 for the
upteenth time
threatened to
sue and
bankrupt small
media Inner
City Press if
it
did not take
down its
reporting that
Pioli accepted
rent money
from
Palitha
Kohona, the UN
official who
is now,
through
another
revolving
door, Sri
Lanka's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN --
this too
might be
attributed to
Ban Ki-moon's
UN, if not to
the Sri Lankan
government.
There
are other
connections.
When Inner
City Press
tried to cover
the
meetings of
Ban Ki-moon's
Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations to
see if alleged
war criminal
Sri Lankan
government
Shavendra
Silva was
still
attending,
Ban's MALU
told Inner
City Press
No, citing a
meeting with
UNCA.
It's
all very
convenient.
But in fact,
the acts of
UNCA are
attributable
in these ways
and many
others to the
UN. Watch this
site.
