By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, January 24 -- Is there free speech at the UN? Not really.
The most recent example is that after the Free UN Coalition for Access posted substantive fliers, most recently Wednesday night about UN official Stephane Dujarric's refusal to disclose the UN's policy on due process for reporters, the UN late Thursday announced that all "un-approved" fliers will be removed over this coming weekend.
The issue here is that the UN Correspondents Association, which in 2012 sought to get the UN to throw the investigative press out of the UN, has a large glassed in bulletin board on the UN's media floor.
For months in 2012 they used this board to display a letter denouncing Inner City Press.
Does this new UN policy apply to UNCA's denunciation board? Or only to attempts to take public issue with UNCA?
Since FUNCA was launched on December 7 it has raised to the top of the UN Department of Public Information that there must be space for other press organizations beyond UNCA, given UNCA's role in trying to expel other journalists and being used, as revealed, by particular countries' missions to the UN.
Freedom of Information Act requests to Voice of America have revealed the UNCA "met with UN officials (very quietly)" to discuss dis-accrediting Inner City Press.
VOA filed a June 20, 2012 request with the UN's Dujarric, for which Dujarric thanked VOA's Steve Redisch. VOA says it had the support of Louis Charbonneau of Reuters and Tim Witcher of Agence France-Presse. These FOIA documents have been mentioned in the fliers, which now face removal.
But the January 24 directive of DPI's Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit is contrary to free speech and to the right of reply.
The Free UN Coalition for Access' fliers have been posted only in the Dag Hammarskhold Library building, where the UN moved the press corps during the $2 billion renovation of the UN. They have been placed where UNCA had its posters.
UNCA first responded to the FUNCA fliers by defacing them with slogans like "Looney Club." Then they tore them down. Then they posted counterfeit fliers, the most recent on January 24 trying to link Inner City Press to disgraced journalist Jayson Blair.
But Jayson Blair, who made up stories, worked for and was published in the New York Times. And others of the big media represented on the UNCA Executive Committee have had, let's say, issues with accuracy.
The issue to this is that UNCA believes it can dictate content to journalists at the UN. In 2012, members of the UNCA Executive Committee told Inner City Press to take down articles and photos or "face the consequences."
Now it appears that UNCA, perhaps at the behest of some in the UN hierarchy as has happened before, wants to take down fliers. But then shouldn't their glassed in bulletin board, which they have used to denounce other journalists, also come down?
And what kind of "correspondents association" pushes, as they did with a blurry copy of the MALU rules, to silence others from expressing substantive opinions? Watch this site -- and if you can, the walls.
