By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 8 –
How low will
the UN sink,
to cover up
questions
about its
fairness?
Apparently so
low as to
censor or cut
off the normal
webcast video
of its own
noon
briefings. See
here, at
Minute 13.
At
this February
8 noon
briefing,
Inner City
Press on
behalf of the
Free
UN
Coalition for
Access
asked why
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon had
on February 7
doled
out quotes and
lunch to 13
Executive
Committee
members of the
UN
Correspondents
Association.
UNCA is a
group which
spent
months in 2012
trying
to get the
investigative
Press thrown
out of
the UN, as
shown by
documents
obtained by
Inner City
Press under
the US Freedom
of Information
Act.
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
insisted that
“the Secretary
General does
not have to
justify or
explain his
social
calendar.”
But
the February 7
session was in
Ban's office,
and involved
giving on
the record
quotes to
select
journalists,
which were
only
summarized
to some others
after 6 pm,
after at least
Agence
France Presse
(whose UNCA
board member
in 2012
and now is Tim
Witcher)
and
Xinhua
had published
stories with
the quotes.
Many see this
as
unfair, and as
Ban improperly
taking sides
in a
controversy
between
two
organizations.
Inner
City Press was
in the middle
of asking why
Ban would be
encouraging
wire service
to join UNCA
or not to get
the
information,
as at least
one wire
service which
is a member of
FUNCA did not,
when the UN
Television
webcast video
just cuts off,
at Minute
13:08. Click
here.
A
tape recording
of the noon
briefing shows
that the
exchange went
on
for another
minute, most
of it Nesirky
saying that
another global
wire service –
Associated
Press – used
the belated
Ban quotes and
did not
complain. (As
Inner City
Press has
noted, AP that
same day
mis-identified
UK
Ambassador
Mark Lyall
Grant as
“Mary”
Lyall Grant.)
Then
Nesirky
refused to
take any more
questions, on
Darfur or any
other
topic. Since
other UN
Communications
officials have
been critical
of
these abrupt
endings, are
THEY
responsible
for censoring
the video?
The question
should be
answered.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
It is worth
contrasting
this UNTV
cut-off when
the question
of Ban
Ki-moon's
fairness was
raised to the
full UNTV
coverage of
rants by UNCA
Executive
Committee
members.There was for example a rant by an UNCA vice president just on February 5 about the $1.23 price of water in the UN cafeteria (video here from Minute 16:45).
That same day, there was also the UNCA president's self-serving speech claiming to be opposing a wall by the Security Council that UNCA chose not to inform itself about or fight in 2012. Video here from Minute 4:39. So the unfairness continues - for now. Watch this site.
