By Matthew Russell Lee, UN/Media Critique
UNITED NATIONS, April 11 -- This is how it's done at the UN: the media that openly push for answers are stonewalled, those that sit and wait are used as pass-throughs for non-critical stories. So it happened on April 11 with Louis Charbonneau of Reuters, and Kieran Dwyer the spokesman for Herve Ladsous.
Charbonneau has written a story which entirely ignores Ladsous' stonewalling, much less UN Peacekeeping's inaction during the mass rape spree where it has its largest presence.
Ladsous on camera refused questions about the 126 rapes in Minova on November 27. He took Charbonneau, Tim Witcher of AFP and Margaret Besheer of Voice of America into the hallway for a private briefing -- none wrote about the rapes. Video here.
On December 7, Ladsous again refused Press questions on the rapes. On December 18, he went so far as to direct his spokesman to seize the UN Television microphone to try to avoid Inner City Press' questions on the rapes. Video here.
Flash forward to April 11: at the day's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked why Ladsous waived his supposed April 1 deadline to act on the rapes. Transcript here.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Eduardo Del Buey said he would check and get back. But he didn't.
So Inner City Press contact the office of Zainab Bangura, Ban's expert on sexual violence and conflict. Mattias Sundholm of that Office, copying Jerome Bernard, responded that “I understand that DPKO has promised to come back to you regarding Minova, so I will refer you to them.”
Inner City Press replied that Ladsous and his DPKO refuse to answer Press question, preferring to dole the answers out to friendlier media.
Sundholm answered, “I am fairly certain that you will hear back from DPKO by tomorrow.”
Inner City Press wrote a story, predicting half in jest it thought that Ladsous might hand the answer to Tim Witcher of Agence France Presse, who on March 8 filed a UN Security complaint leading with the mis-statement that on that day outside the Security Council Inner City Press started shouting and “abusing” Ladsous, and that Ladsous did not respond.
That was a lie. Inner City Press asked which battalions Ladsous had given his ultimatum to, and Ladsous responded that he was going to the Council to talk about Syria.
In any event, it is disgusting that AFP has sunk so low as to file a complaint with UN Security leading off with how another more investigative media asked a question about these rapes of Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to head UN Peacekeeping.
But first out of the box -- but surely not the only once -- is Alpha Lapdog Louis Charbonneau, who as noted went so far as to threaten that if the UN did not throw Inner City Press out, for articles particularly media critique that it published, he would have no choice but to ask about transferring out of the UN to another beat at Reuters.
Lou "He's Still Here" Charbonneau, courtesy UNTV
This threat obviously implicates Reuters and the role it has come to play for the UN, like UN Peacekeeping, and some Permanent Missions like those of the UK and France.
But did Charbonneau tell his boss about the threat and do they stand behind it? They have been urged to inquire into their UN bureau's anti-Press moves, in their own names and as anonymous trolls. (This has continued.)
Those asked include, so far, Stephen J. Adler, Editor in Chief, Paul Ingrassia, Deputy Editor in Chief, Walden Siew, Top News Editor, Greg McCune, “Ethics,” and one other. But despite the issues raised, twice now, this mega corporation will not respond or more importantly reform.
The problem, we say and have every right to say, with “articles” like Charbonneau's is they let the UN off the hook -- for doing nothing during the rapes, for stonewalling for months afterward. They ensure that this will happen again and again. They are... part of the problem. Watch this site.
