At UN As Ex-NYT Smale Bans Inner City Press Sengupta, Gladstone and Schwirtz Silent: Grayest of Ladies, Paper of Record?

By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR Letter PFTracker

UNITED NATIONS GATE, August 23 – Two key elements of press freedom are not banning access as the UN has done to Inner City Press for 51 days now and being transparent, another UN failing. Today we consider not only the shocking censorship regime at the UN of Alison Smale, until a year ago the New York Times' bureau chief in Berlin, but the equally shocking failure of the NYT's three UN correspondents to cover or even respond on Smale's lifetime ban imposed on an investigative journalist.

  On August 17, Smale after a 45 day "review" that did not include a single interview with Inner City Press issues a lifetime ban on its entry into the UN. It was noted not only in BuzzFeed and The Hill, but in the largely anti-Trump Press Freedom Tracker, here. But from the New York Times, nothing. Inner City Press submitted material to the NYT editorial pages and James Bennet - no response. Inner City Press emailed the NYT's three UN correspondents, Rick Gladstone, rickg [at] nytimes.com, Somini Sengupta sengupta [at]nytimes.com, and the newer but no more responsive Michael schwirtz [at] nytimes.com - and days later, nothing, to this: "I'm requesting that you / the NYT report on this: the UN's ex-NYT Alison Smale as USG of DPI on Friday imposing a lifetime ban on me, with no due process, no appeal.  The letter is attached. My rebuttal(s) so far are online at http://www.innercitypress.com/unguterres4smalebansicpmoroccoscam081818.html   The reasons given are bogus - the warning letters, one the product of a complaint from the Mission of Morocco whose policy on Western Sahara I often question, the other a complaint from a DPI official who didn't like an article I wrote. How can I be banned from the UN for this? Most pressingly, how can Smale and SG Guterres block me from covering next month's General Assembly high level week, which I've covered for 12 years? The deadline to accredit is September 5.  If I have to, I will cover it from the street (a practice Smale called derogatory, but see "On Cameroon Inner City Press Video Guterres' Smale Calls Derogatory for Lifetime Ban Remonetized by YouTube.")  I do not believe the UN should, or legitimately can, target, rough up, suspend and now ban for life a critical journalist. I am requesting that you cover this, or work so another NYT reporter does. It is UN (and beyond) story. Since the NYT reported Inner City Press' entry into the UN, it would seem it would cover its being roughed up, suspended and now banned for life, on such bogus grounds, particularly at this time and given The Times' advocacy for press freedom and access elsewhere." And days later - nothing. We'll have more on this. Tellingly, while one might expect the UN Department of Public Information to be more public than other of Security General Antonio Guterres' departments, the chief of DPI Alison Smale is not even on the public disclosure list as of August 16, 2018. What could explain it? Since DPI has all day and a bent to propagandize, one can imagine the excuse being that Smale was only awarded the position on 9 August 2017, after, say the USG of Counter Terrorism who is listed: he was named in June 2017. But the excuse breaks down: making public disclosure, here, of a property in Moldova, is Natalia Gherman who was only awarded her UNRCCA position on 15 September 2017, more than a month after Smale. So why isn't Smale in the public financial disclosure list? Isn't this particularly inappropriate for a former Berlin bureau chief of the New York Times, which calls for such disclosures by public official like Smale is, but doesn't act like? We'll have more on this, and on other disclosures: some don't even fill out the Assets section, only Outside Activities, for example. Why have Guterres and Smale, and their non-responsive spokesman Stephane Dujarric, banned Inner City Press from the UN and the noon briefing for 44 days now? Watch this site. The New York Times on Wednesday evening put online its faux humble contribution to the 100 editorials called for the Boston Globe, saying Trump's - studiously not named - "attacks on the press are particularly threatening to journalists in nations with a less secure rule of law and to smaller publications in the United States." The irony, now raised to the Times' James Bennet and others, is that their former colleague and bureau chief Alison Smale is, at the UN, engaged in an attack on a smaller investigative Inner City Press. After it was roughed up by UN Security on June 22 and July 3 while covering a speech by her new boss UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and his budget, Smale despite the conflict of interest about Inner City Press' coverage of her internal Town Hall meeting and whistleblowers say diversion of Swahili funds saw fit to ban Inner City Press from the UN for 43 days and counting now. She has put herself in charge of a "review" of Inner City Press involving anonymous complaints Inner City Press has not been shown. (That Smale's significant other, Russian pianist Sergei Dreznen told Inner City Press it should change and wear a suit or face her wrath is another matter.) Smale's UN Department of Public Information has told those who have asked, including for example even the Kazakhstan Mission to the UN as well as the Government Accountability Project and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press that her review and ruling will be issued soon - with no due process for Inner City Press, whose reporting has been injured for more than six weeks, on its beats from UN corruption to Yemen and Cameroon. This is the Times' legacy in press freedom? Tellingly, despite the New York Times previously covering Inner City Press at the UN, for example gushingly in 2007 and as a character study in 2016 (with quotes from Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric which have typically turned out to be false), this violent ouster and ban by ex-NYT Smale has garnered not a single word in the ostensibly pro free press Times, whose correspondents have been written to and are aware, despite coverage in The Independent (UK), the Columbia Journalism Review, Fox, POLITICO and even a note in CNN. We'll have more on this.

   Inner City Press on July 5 was told at the UN gate that it was banned from entering any UN premises, the day after it filed a criminal complaint against UN Security Lieutenant Ronald Dobbins and another for physically removing it from covering the July 3 meeting about the UN's $6.7 billion peacekeeping budget, as witnessed and essentially cheered on by Secretary General Antonio Guterres' Assistant SG Christian Saunders, tearing its reporter's shirt, painfully and intentionally twisting his arm and slamming shut and damaging his laptop. Video here. Columbia Journalism Review here.

On August 11, amid a now 41 day ongoing “review” of Inner City Press that has shifted from the initial charge of being in the building too long on July 3 covering the Budget Committee meeting to undefined “harassment” of unnamed off the record correspondents, the murky role of Alison Smale, a former bureau chief of the New York Times which speaks so much of attacks on the press from Washington, in attacking the Press at the UN is coming into focus. Smale never responded to a single one of Inner City Press e-mails since September 2017, even as she openly cavorted with retired corporate media, even on camera. Contrary to the wider NYT's purported celebration of aggressive investigative press, Smale has attacked the most investigative and, perhaps, aggressive of UN press. She retweets little but the NYT; she has said her focus is making Guterres look better. Why has she not recused herself from "reviewing" the critical Press? There has already been filed a detailed misconducted complaint filed with the Secretary General, and she has apparently given up on trying to respond to the second, detailed request for answers from the Government Accountability Project. Has Smale become, tongue firmly in cheek, akin to Aung San Suu Kyi, previously vaguely associated with freedom once, with the power to act, the totalitarian or merely elitist impulse becomes clear? While the NYT publisher finger waggles, what of Smale's elitist censoring, featuring a Kafkaesque star chamber in which the allegations of unnamed corporate and state media are taken as true, with no opportunity to be heard? Smale has among other things been blocking Press coverage not only of UN corruption but of the slaugher in Cameroon, for 41 days and counting. We'll have more on this.

Guterres' spokesman Farhan Haq has told Fox News: “there have been a number of allegations from fellow journalists that Lee has harassed them over the years. 'A lot of journalists have not just been harassed but threatened by him and that’s a problem,' Haq said.”

   That last line is extraordinary. Without identifying a single one of these "lot of journalists," Haq declares their anonymous allegations to be true: "HAVE not just been harassed but threatened me him." This stands in contrast to the UN not accepting - in the case of Alison Smale and Stephane Dujarric, trying to not even acknowledge receiving - Inner City Press' written, on the record allegations complete with exhibits. It's called favoritism, and censorship.

  This same Farhan Haq recently answered one of Inner City Press' written questions, about why Guterres had taken no action on its documented exclusive May 24 report for which it received threats (and subsequent letter to Guterres and Smale) that through presumptive nepotism, management of the UN Security Council's website had been given to John van Rosendaal, the photographer husband of Kyoko Shiotani, the chief of staff of Guterres' Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo, previously US Deputy Ambassador to the UN under Susan Rice and Samantha Power. Haq responded, "If there are allegations of misconduct they should be taken to the internal oversight offices and mechanisms. Unfounded allegations do not constitute a formal complaint." So how does Haq for the UN now deem anonymous allegations against Inner City Press not only as formal complaints, and as true?

    This is Kafkaesque. Inner City Press quit the UN Correspondents Association after finding it to be corrupt. Its president after having rented one of his Manhattan apartments to Palitha Kohona, who as Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the UN accused of a role in the White Flag Killings, unilaterally granted Kohona's request to him to screen a Sri Lanka government war crimes denial film as an UNCA event, in the Dag Hammarskjold Library auditorium. This was done without approval of or even notice to all Executive Committee members of which Inner City Press was one. When Inner City Press reported on it, not only the UNCA president but only Committee members from Reuters, AFP and other outlets demanded that it take the article offline. Inner City Press offered the UNCA president as much space on Inner City Press as he'd want to reply, but he and UNCA wanted censorship, then as now.

   After Inner City Press quit UNCA, and faced counterfeit troll Twitter accounts and anonymous (but leaked) complaints to Guterres' now lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric from Lou Charbonneau of Reuters (now Human Rights Watch) here and censored from Google with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act here and Voice of America, here as obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, it has not spoken to these individuals since.

   Whatever claimed harassment or threatens they are claiming to or for the UN is not based on any actual interaction, only Inner City Press' articles and, it seems, equally First Amendment protected Periscope broadcasts, even one that was inadvertent and deleted but ghoulishly monitored and captured by or for the UN. (More on this soon).

  The simple point: it is illegitimate to rough up a journalist for covering a Budget Committee meeting then ban him from his beat pending a review of the incident - then invent new charges, with unnamed accusers and not opportunity to respond with an eye toward continuing the ban. So what's next? Watch this site.

  On August 3, Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq replied to  the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press a week after RCFP called the vacationing Guterres' chief of staff Maria Luiza Viotti to express concern at the ban and to offer to facilitate the restoration of Inner City Press' access (that call was returned by lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric, also now on vacation). Haq on August 3 said that the UN's "review" is nearly done, and he promised that Inner City Press will get notice of the results in the "coming days," with a reference to a "summary of the findings."

 On August 8, with still no results announced and Inner City Press still not contacted to be heard since July 10, Haq was asked, from the UN transcript: "Q: Farhan, can you confirm receipt of a formal complaint that has been submitted to the Secretary-General by Inner City Press on prohibited conduct?  Did you… have you received…?

Deputy Spokesman:  I believe that has been received and is being reviewed.

Question:  What action will be taken into… in regards to that?  And will that hold up a decision that has been ongoing on the status of Inner City Press?

Deputy Spokesman:  I don’t believe it will hold up any decision.  I think, once a decision is made, we will convey it to Matthew, and then I will let you guys know." 

  But know about what? For this investigation, Inner City Press in the 31 days has been contacted only once, for a Kafkaesque "interview" by two UN Security officers in a windowless room in the basement of the UNITAR building across from the UN. The officers refused to write down even Inner City Press assertion that Dobbins has animus, given an investigative piece Inner City Press had published using documents leaked to it showing irregularities in promotions in UN Security, including but not limited to Dobbins'.

 Since then, Dujarric who had initially said Inner City Press' reporter would be talking to various parts of the UN system shifted down to saying the investigation is only by the Department of Public Information. That means no investigation of or accountability for UN Security roughing up Inner City Press. It also involved a Department whose leadership Inner City Press has questioned for its lack of content neutral accreditation and access rules essentially investigating itself, without even the pretense of due process for Inner City Press which has not been contacted.

   Who is conducting the review? DPI chief Alison Smale, who has ignored Inner City Press' emails and 5000+ signature petition since she took office 11 months ago, is on vacation. The Officer in Charge is Hua Jiang, who work for the UN in Sudan where Orwellian investigations are the rule; Ms. Jiang refused to answer Inner City Press' questions, What am I being investigated for? Ms  Jiang  also previously threatened Inner City Press' accreditation if it did not take down a sign for the alternative Free UN Coalition for Access off the door of the office she and DPI evicted Inner City Press from in 2016, awarding it to an Egyptian state media whose essentially retired correspondent rarely comes into the UN and hasn't asked the UN a question in a decade. (But no investigation of that.)
 
   What could DPI be investigating? Haq said Inner City Press was charged with two offenses, being in the UN on June 22 and July 3. But why was Inner City Press in the General Assembly Lobby on June 22 at 7:15 pm? There was an event listed in the UN Media Alert at beginning at 6 pm. But Antonio Guterres did not arrive until 6:45 pm for this speech. The Access Guidelines say non resident correspondents can remain in past 7 for an advised meeting and one hour after. So Dobbins had no right to push Inner City Press out on June 22. But he did, and Guterres and DPI's Alison Smale and the others Inner City Press wrote to on June 25 did nothing about it.

  Why did Dobbins and his unnamed colleague use force, before talking, on July 3? 

 Why was Inner City Press in the building at 10 pm on July 3? There was a meeting of the UN Budget Committee, advised to Inner City Press, exactly the type of meeting has covered for ten years including the last two as a non resident correspondent (reduced to that status for pursuing the Ng Lap Seng / John Ashe UN bribery scandal into the UN Press Briefing Room). In fact, Inner City Press many times been thanked for its coverage of such budget meeting, not only from around the world but by UN staff and diplomats in the New York area. "It's the only way if know if we'll have to come in for vote in the General Assembly," one said. DPI only puts the meetings in the Media Alert if there is a vote - contrary to its policy of listing UN Security Council consultation even if there is no vote -and there is no way to know, at 10 pm, if agreement will be reached at 2 am and a vote taken thereafter. These are things DPI should have asked Inner City Press about, if it has any thought of rendering another censorship decision. These are the ground Haq and Dujarric listed, later adding vague civility, with Dujarric misreprentating the number of times and location Inner City Press dropped the "F-bomb" (once, in the soundproof focus booth). Dujarric has dropped multiple F-bombs in the Briefing Room. And UNCA President Giampaoli Pioli at the UN Security Council stakeout loudly called Inner City Press an "as*hole." DPI was told of it, with audio here, and did nothing. Just as DPI's MALU told Inner City Press it could livestream Periscope video on the third and fourth floors, and all of the second floor except through the turnstiles, without an escort or minders. And as to 7 pm, other non resident correspondents routinely stay past that hour not even working  like Inner City Press but, as for example on June 26, drinking with Guterres. So it would be illegitimate to act on Inner City Press' "incivility," particularly without having given it any opportunity to be heard, in 31 days, on this or anything else they might pretextually come up with. We'll have more on this. Watch this site.

   While the UN in the past ten years has become increasingly resistant to the critical Press, it has been under Guterres that the UN's response has been physical violence and outright banning. Earlier this year Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric started complaining about Inner City Press' coverage of Guterres, including for example its entirely legal Periscope live-stream from the sidewalk across Sutton Place from the UN mansion Guterres lives in, which showed that on the day Guterres told the world to turn off all lights for an hour for the environment, his were all ablaze.

   Trying to defuse Guterres administration retaliation, Inner City Press had an intermediary, whom we'll leave unnamed, convey to Dujarric on June 20 that Inner City Press had voluntarily suspended all broadcasts from near the UN mansion, for a month. Dujarric, who only the day before had given a private press conference in the UN Press Briefing Room to a three person crew from Al Jazeera (which complained when Inner City Press on Periscope called it a sleazefest), told the intermediary it was too late, "I wish you had been involved a while ago." There's worse waiting, Dujarric told the intermediary on June 20. Worse waiting to happen: not allowed in.

  On June 22 UN Lieutenant Ronald E. Dobbins, with his own motive having been mentioned in Inner City Press' expose of irregularities in promotions in UN Security, arbitrarily singled out Inner City Press and made it leave the UN at 7:15 pm in the middle of an event, in the UN Media Alert, which featured a Guterres speech. Inner City Press live-streamed as it was pushed through the GA lobby, and did say “This is corrupt.” (That cannot be a violation of the UN's / UNCA's vague injunction to civility, in the midst of an impermissible ouster mid-coverage.)

   On June 25 Inner City Press wrote to Guterres, the chief of staff and Deputy SG and DPI's Alison Smale, saying that Lt Dobbins had improperly ousted it and had a personal animus. Inner City Press sent this and more to the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Service, recently further discredited in a UN Dispute Tribunal decision we're soon to write about.

  But Guterres offered no protection. In fact, his spokesman Dujarric and deputy Farhan Haq refused to answer any questions about the improper June 22 ouster, with Haq on July 3 saying it has been an appropriate enforcement of rules (which, in fact, allow non resident correspondents to stay in the UN past 7 pm if there is a meeting, and for an hour after the meeting).

  On July 3 as Inner City Press covered just such a meeting, of the Budget Committee, Dobbins and other approached and initiated violence. Inner City Press did not, as they perhaps hoped, respond with any physical resistance. But even saying “I am a journalist, this is corrupt” is now characterized an incivility to justify banning Inner City Press. Things got worse, indeed. And now we know Dujarric and Guterres are responsible, and both, now on vacation, should leave the UN. 
On July 30 Guterres' sleazy basis for roughing up and banning Inner City Press for 27 days and counting was reported in the Columbia Journalist Review: Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric has gone further, in an article published July 30 by the Columbia Journalism Review. Dujarric - who Inner City Press directed to the CJR reporter to - is quoted that " Lee Periscoped while shouting, 'Fuck you!'repeatedly. (Lee says he was complaining that Dujarrac had given the Al Jazeera crew a private interview, and excluded him.) 'He creates an atmosphere of incivility within our working environment,' Dujarrac says."  

This is a lie. (We noted that Dujarric himself has repeatedly dropped the F-bomb on Inner City Press, telling it it asked a "fucking stupid question" and, while throwing it out of the UN Press Briefing Room, saying "Matthew it's fucking Friday night, I'm so fucking tired, I want to go home, just leave," Vine here.)  Inner City Press on June 19 when Dujarric gave a "private briefing" to Al Jazeera about Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo announcing the US pull out from the UN Human Right Council said in the hall that is was a "sleazefest." After closing the door of the focus booth it has been confined to work in for two years by Dujarric, and long after the Al Jazeera trio including James Bays and Whitney Hurst were done, said on Periscope, F-You. Periscope video - still online during this 27 day "investigation" - here. So Dujarric is a censor, justifying the beating up and banning of a journalist for something he broadcast in a soundproof booth to his audience. 

 But Dujarric (and it seems Guterres' and Smale's) roles go beyond justifying the roughing up of the Press. It seems clear that the green light was given. Considerthis, formally submitted to a UN Special Rapporteur: Dujarric told CJR that on June 19 Inner City Press supposedly repeatedly said f*ck you to an Al Jazeera crew (as noted, they must have heard and seized on it only by listening to my Periscope stream archive afterward) --

1) on June 20, Inner City Press was told by UN Media Accreditation there were concerns about “intimidating” Al Jazeera's three-person crew with its phone;

2) troublingly, on June 20 Dujarric told a person trying to be Inner City Press'intermediary that things were “going to get worse” for me. So far Inner City Press has reported once, on July 20, about that, here;

3) on June 22, UN Security Lieutenant Ronald Dobbins and four others who refused to give their names stopped me at 7:15 pm while Inner City Press was covering a speech by SG Antonio Guterres and pushed it out of the building, leaving other non resident correspondents inside.

Inner City Press now surmises that Dujarric, or higher, gave an order after June 19 to (physically) target it.

4) on June 25 Inner City Press wrote to Guterres, his chief of staff, his deputy Amina J Mohammed and USG Alison Smale informing them Lt Dobbins, with animus, had pushed it out of the UN during an SG speech, and implicitly requesting the vaunted 'protection of journalist.' They did... nothing.

5) on July 5 Dobbins and other officer got even more violent, grabbing Inner City Press' reporter's arm and twisting it, tearing his shirt and damaging his computer while Inner City Press covered the UN Budget Committee meeting in the same way it has for ten years, including the last two as a non resident correspondent (downgraded in connection with Inner City Press' coverage of the Ng Lap Seng / John Ashe UN bribery scandal in which Ng is now in jail).

On July 5 when Inner City Press came to work - after reporting the assault to the NYPD - it was told it was banned from entering the UN and has been since.

Inner City Press now believes that Dujarric / Guterres / Smale put out orders to have its reporter physically targeted, despite the rules saying he can stay after 7 pm if there is a meeting (true both times). Maybe they hoped Inner City Press would react in a way they could easily use to ban it. All he did was say loudly “I am a journalist” - but they still banned Inner City Press.

But they took a chance the officers would more seriously injure the Inner City Press reporter. It was beyond censorship, beyond reckless - it must be reported and acted on. (It has been reported, by Alex Newman, on July 31, here: the "UN spokesman had vowed to make things worse for him after watching a video Lee made. 'I get roughed up, banned, no due process, no end in sight.'") Inner City Press at noon on July 31 asked Guterres and his spokespeople and Deputy and Smale (and has asked the Rapporteur to obtain), "Given Spokesman Stephane Dujarric's quotes to Columbia Journalism Review, and the moribund nature of the supposed “investigation,” please describe all instructions given to UN Security, Lt Dobbins and others, after June 19 regarding Inner City Press, and also state whether any personnel of Al Jazeera or [  ] have been interviewed for the investigation" - watch this site.

   Amazingly, the UN is pointing to a vague language it negotiated with its UN Correspondents Association which Inner City Press quit after finding the organization took money from now convicted UN bribery Ng Lap Seng and had a president who rented one of his apartments to a Sri Lanka war crimes suspect: "Where unexpected circumstances arise, the approach will be to avoid confrontation, maintain civility and find the fastest, safest and most secure acceptable solution. Those Correspondents who violate the ground rules governing access, including the abovementioned standards of ethical behavior may have their accreditation withdrawn or suspended by the United Nations." 

  But it was UN Security, Lt Dobbins on July 3 with another still unnamed, who initiated violent confrontation, grabbing Inner City Press' reporter's arm and twisting it, and tearing his shirt, as he sat typing up interview notes outside a Budget Committee meeting he had every right to cover, under the rules. Guterres' UN has become a Kafkaesque place of censorship where guards he had already been warned (in writing on June 25) were targeting the Press can physically assault a reporter whose saying "I am a journalist!" can then be used as a lack of civility or unacceptable comportment to ban the journalist. This is corrupt.

On July 20, with Inner City Press still banned from the UN after 17 days with no end in sight, prohibited from attending the day's US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Ambassador Nikki Haley press encounter because it was in the UN, Inner City Press waited and politely asked Guterres and his chief of staff Maria Luiza Viotti why it is still banned after 17 days, for being roughed up twice by Guterres' Security. (After the first physical ouster on June 22, Inner City Press on June 25 notified Guterres, his chief of staff, Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed and Global Communications chief Alison Smale that it was being targeted by Lt. Dobbins; they did nothing.) On July 20, despite the quite audible questions including about related inaction on the slaughter in Cameroon which Inner City Press has asked about, Guterres got in his limousine and did not answer, as did UK Ambassador Karen Pierce. Video here. 

The lack of accountability for censorship is growing: Guterres told his lunch companions "bonne vacances" and Smale has left on a three week vacation, bouncing back all e-mails with: "I am out of the office from 1.00 p.m. on Thursday, 19 July through Thursday, 9 August 2018. During my absence, the Officer-in-Charge of the Department of Public Information will be as follows: 19-25 July - Mr. Janos Tisovszky.... 26 July through 1 August - Mr. Ramu Damodaran... 2-9 August - Ms. Hua JIang" [sic]." We'll have more on this. On July 18, Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq was asked by two journalists about the status of what he and lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric called the investigation of the "incidents" of July 3, and apparently not now of June 22. Video here, from the UN transcript: a follow-up to one that’s been asked here last week and the week before, and that’s a report on the current status of the investigation into the events on 3 July leading, ultimately, to the ouster, at least temporary ouster, of Inner City Press.  And did the Secretary-General receive any communications from any non-governmental organization (NGO) on… on this subject?  For example, I think it’s called the Global Accountability Project or something like that.

Deputy Spokesman:  The UN has received a letter from the Government Accountability Project, and I believe we’ll be responding to them in due course.

Question:  And… and the status of the investigation?  Could you…

Deputy Spokesman:  It’s ongoing... 2d Questioner: regarding Inner City Press, you said it’s ongoing.  Is there an idea of when… is there a date… any idea of when it’s actually going to come out and have a result?

Deputy Spokesman:  No.  I mean, once we’ve come to a decision, he’ll be informed of the decision." On what - the excessive use of force by UN Security? This is Kafkaesque - or now, Guterresian....

  Tellingly, six days after UN Security roughed up Inner City Press and four days after UNnamed official(s) instituted without any due process an ongoing ban on Inner City Press for having been roughed up, on July 9 Guterres' chief of Management, Saunders supervisor Jan Beagle, issued a self-serving "Administrative Instruction" which seeks to legitimate Dobbins' police brutality after the fact, and ensure it goes on in the future. The document is ST/AI/2018/8, here, and we will publish it in full: "Administrative instruction
Authority of United Nations security officers in New York Headquarters
The Under-Secretary-General for Management, pursuant to section 4.2 of Secretary-General’s bulletin ST/SGB/2009/4, hereby promulgates the following:
1. United Nations security officers function as agents of the Secretary-General to preserve order and to protect persons and property within the New York “headquarters district,” as defined in the Agreement between the United Nations and the United States of America regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations. All persons within the headquarters district are expected to comply with the directions that may be issued by the security officers in the performance of their functions. Security officers are expected to exercise their functions with courtesy and in conformity with established rules and regulations, including applicable local law.
2. Security officers are authorized to search persons, vehicles, handbags, briefcases or packages in the performance of their official duties. They may also seize
property if they have a reason to believe that a person is carrying an unauthorized weapon, explosives or other dangerous substances or narcotics, or that property of the United Nations is being removed from the premises without authorization. Vehicles entering the premises will be subject to search by security officers on duty at entry/exit gates.
3. Refusal to comply with directions issued by the security officers within their authority may result in removal from or denial of access to the premises.
4. Subject to the provisions of the present administrative instruction, security officers are authorized, within the limits permitted by local law, to effect arrest, including the use of force, where the person to be arrested is committing or attempting to commit an offence or has, in fact, committed an offence.
5. Compliance with and application of the present administrative instruction in no way prejudices the duties, obligations and privileges of staff members.
6. The present administrative instruction shall enter into force on the date of issuance. It supersedes administrative instruction ST/AI/309/Rev.2 of 18 February 1997, which is hereby abolished." Why now? Again, watch the video. Jan Beagle, while purporting to stamp out sexual harassment for Guterres, has herself been formally accused of harassment while at UNAIDS with Luiz Loures and Michel Sidibe. Now this. How is behind the outrageous ban of Inner City Press for *being* roughed up by UN Security? Watch this site.

Secretary General Antonio Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told Fox News that the ban of Inner City Press is pending a “full review of the incident," which by July 9 Haq was calling an altercation - except only UN Security used force, before even talking. In the first visible step of the UN's self-investigation of the July 3 assault on the Press, on July 10 Inner City Press was interviewed for more than an hour by UN Security officer Raughn Perry in a windowless basement room of the UNITAR building across from the UN on 47th Street. Perry and his partner / witness Officer Valentin Stancu refused to include in what they typed and edited either the June 22 ouster of Inner City Press by Lt Dobbins and four Emergency Response Unit officers who refused to give their names, or Inner City Press' June 25 formal notification to Guterres, his deputy and chief of staff and Global Communicator Alison Smale that Inner City Press was being targeted by Dobbins based on an investigative piece it published about scam promotions in UN Security, including Dobbins' and others'. They would not include Inner City Press allegation of retaliation or vendetta, saying it was beyond the scope of their interview. They told Inner City Press not to make any notation to this effect on the statement they printed out, complete with mis-spelling of Cameroon, that it could submit that information later. But to whom? Their boss Peter Drennan has not acknowledged any of Inner City Press' e-mails to him, even those at the suggestion of Guterres' "Victims' Advocate" Jane Connors who kindly spoke with Inner City Press outside the visitors entrance and promised to appropriately forward what Inner City Press sent her, so far without effect. On June 11, after refusing to provide Inner City Press with even a summary of what Dobbins and Saunder have said, Perry did hand Inner City Press a copy of "its" statement. It says at the top, "This is a United Nations document and may not be disclosed or used outside of the Organization without first obtaining written permission from the United Nations." It seems absurd that the UN could further retaliate against Inner City Press publishing the print out of its statement about being attacked by UN Security. But when Inner City Press wrote to Perry and USG Drennan notifying them of its intent to publish and asking their confirm receipt, there was no response. This is Guterres' UN. So Inner City Press in an abundance of caution has transformed the hard-copy of its statement handed to it by UN Officer Perry into the below, without any changes other than to fix the UN's telling mis-spelling of Cameroon: 

"My name is Matthew Lee. I am a journalist attached to Inner City Press.... I would like to state that on the evening of the 03 July 2018, I remained in the "Bull Pen" press area on the fourth floor of the Secretariat Building from 07:00PM to approximately 10:00PM writing articles and waiting to check on the status of the Fifth Committee Budget meeting. I would like to state that this area is reserved for Non-Resident Correspondents to perform their duties as they are not provided with offices or cubicles. At approximately 10:00PM, I proceeded to the Viennese Cafe, located on the first basement level of the UN Conference Building, to cover the Fifth Committee Budget meeting. I was aware that the meeting was closed so I anticipated waiting in the Viennese Cafe to speak with any of the Committee members about any news regarding the budget. I recalled that Mr. Tommo Monthe, Permanent Representative of Cameroon to the United Nations, and Chairman of the Fifth Committee, approached me in the Viennese later that evening and explained the current state of the meeting/ discussions. I recorded our conversation on my mobile phone.
After Mr. Monthe and I ended our conversation, I proceeded to the dining area of the Viennses Cafe where I sat down to transcribe what Mr. Monthe had shared with me. Less than five minutes after sitting down, I observed two UN Security Officers approaching me. I recognized one of the Officers as Lieutenant Dobbins; I did not know the other Officer. Lieutenant Dobbins immediately said to me that I had to leave the building, while he (Lieutenant Dobbins) grabbed my computer from the table and put it in my backpack. The Officer I did not know approached me and grabbed at my chest. I did not know if that officer was attempting to reach for my UN grounds pass (which was hanging foom around my neck) but he grabbed the shirt I was wearing and he ripped it, creating two holes. That Officer then released my shirt and then grabbed my right forearm and begun twisting it and pulling me towards the front of the cafe towards the garage. I observed that Mr. Christian Saunders was in the vicinity. I called out to him and asked him if he could intervene. Mr. Saunders came over to where the Officers and I were and told me, "If the Officers are asking you to leave, then you should leave." I told Mr. Saunders that there is a Media Accreditation Liaison Unit rule that allows me to remain in the building beyond 07:00PM if there is a meeting to be covered and one hour after the meeting. The Officers then continued to physically pull me by my arms towards the UN garage. I then asked Mr. Saunders to accompany me as the Officers escorted me; to which he did. Mr. Saunders accompanied me as both Lieutenant Dobbins and the other unknown Officer escorted out of the UN premises via the 43rd Street and 1st Avenue exit. There was no other physical altercation through the UN garage or at the exit to the UN compound.
Matthew Lee
This statement was recorded by me at UNHQ on Tuesday 10 July, 2018 at 1100 hours, at room GA-1B-052.
Raughn Perry
Witnessed by: Valentin Stancu"

   Even with the material Perry and Stancu refused to include - while including the wrong room number for the "recording" of the statement which took place in a windowless basement room of the UNITAR building which is not the GA or General Assembly, it is amazing that the UN's response to this is to ban Inner City Press from entering the UN for nine days about counting, including so it misses and cannot ask questions at Guterres' rare July 12 press conference. We'll have more on this. On July 11 at noon, Guterres' lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric was asked about Inner City Press by a sunny correspondent, UN transcript here: Question:  Thank you.  Can you update us on the status of the usual occupant of this chair?

Spokesman:  The usual occupant of this chair?

Question:  Of this chair.

Spokesman:  His… there was an incident, I think, last week or a bit… I'm starting to get lost in the weeks.  His status is being reviewed.  And I know… my understanding is that he will be having discussions with various parts of this administration, and then we'll keep you updated, and I'm sure he will keep you updated.

Question:  And is he currently suspended?  Is he barred entry to this…

Spokesman:  Yes.  His credentials and pass have been suspended, pending review." What review? UN Security investigating itself, and covering up for Guterres who was informed of Lt Dobbins' vendetta on June 25 and did nothing? Officer Perry declined to or could not explain what the process or timing is going forward, or who unilaterally banned Inner City Press pending and apparently during this "investigation." He said to ask MALU and DPI - but DPI's Alison Smale has refused to answer or acknowledge a single one of Inner City Press' seven emails. We'll have more on this. On July 9, Haq was asked two questions, video here, from the UN transcript: Question:  I was wondering if you have any update on Matthew Lee's situation.  What's going on?  And can you tell us the story of what happened to him exactly, because we know from his side of the story, but we don't know from the UN's side.  Thank you.

Deputy Spokesman:  I've provided details concerning that situation.  The short answer is that there was an altercation last 3 July, and since this was the second incident in recent times in which your colleague had been disruptive in dealing with security after an earlier incident on 22 June, there's a review taking place that is under the aegis of the Department of Public Information (DPI) and the Department of Safety and Security (DSS).

Question:  Do you know how long the review will going to take?  Is he going to be away for a long time, or is he going away for good?

Deputy Spokesman:  As far as the timeline, I don't know how long it will take.  I know that the review is currently ongoing.... Question: I just want to ask a follow-up to the question about the 3 July incident involving Inner City Press.  Will the review include an evaluation of the actions by security itself that were alleged looking into whether, in fact, physical force… any physical force was used against Mr. Lee and the circumstances surrounding that as opposed to just his conduct, which, of course, I understand, but is… is the security's actions itself… are they going to be examined?

Deputy Spokesman:  We are looking into the matter thoroughly, including the actions taken by the security forces.  At the same time, I would point out that there is a concern whenever anyone, whether media or otherwise, has an altercation with the security in the build… inside the building." The only use of force was by Lt Dobbins and his co-conspirators, four of whom refused to give their names. On July 6 Haq called Inner City Press a "repeat offender." This is false. By the UN's own written rules Inner City Press was authorized to remain and cover both the June 22 event in the General Assembly lobby at which Antonio Guterres gave a speech and the July 3 Budget Committee meeting, the existence of which was notified to Inner City Press by a UN Spokesperson. That Inner City Press can film and stream Periscope video in UN hallways, without a UN minder, has been communicated to Inner City Press by the UN itself, which told it no minder was required to film in the hall outside of the clubhouse the UN gives to the silent UN Correspondents Association. Inner City Press' work in the fourth floor bullpen was authorized by DPI; its completing there its writing, often eight to ten stories a day, was open with nothing said by UN Security when Inner City Press left upon work's complete, through the Secretariat lobby and traffic circle guard booth. Lieutenant Dobbins on June 22 ignored the written rules and left Inner City Press without its laptop for three days. Dobbins and four officers who refused to give their names pushed Inner City Press right past multiple other non-resident correspondents. Their presence, then and on all other days, can be documented. With his partner on July 3, he grabbed Inner City Press laptop and Inner City Press' shirt was torn and arm twisted before any discussion. It was an abuse, and a set up. And banning Inner City Press for a review it has not even been contacted for, involving practices by Inner City Press that the UN has repeatedly authorized, is Kafka-esque or worse. Haq refused to answer Inner City Press questions about the review, saying contact the Department of Public Information whose Under Secretary General Alison Smale refuses to answer e-mails or petition, and the Department of Safety and Security, whose USG Peter Drennan also has a conflict of interest. Inner City Press publisheda leaked DSS e-mail alleging that Drennan “buried” a threat against then-UNESCO chief Irina Bokova, who ran against Guterres for the position of Secretary General. (She may now be in line to replace Prince Zeid as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, call it musical chairs). Drennan's response was to initiate an invasiveinvestigation... of who leaked the e-mail to Inner City Press. He used public money to try to triangulate where the e-mail published by Inner City Press had been printed out. And now he has a role in deciding to ban Inner City Press from the UN compound preventing it from asking questions for two days and counting? This is a conflict of interest, the Kafka-esque UN that has grown worse under Guterres. Likewise, after Inner City Press exposed senior UN Security official Matthew Sullivan linking up with a group holding for-profit events in large UN meeting rooms, one ludicrously involving “GPS sneakers,” what happened next was Sullivan ousting Inner City Press from the photo booth over an open meeting about the cholera brought to Haiti by UN Peacekeeping. There's more - watch this site. On July 6, when Inner City Press went to the gate to ask politely if it could as before enter to attend the noon briefing and ask questions, it was told "No." Inner City Press reiterated its concern about censorship to Darrin Farrant, a staff member of Alison Smale of DPI who has not answered Inner City Press' six emails and petition; he said he would pass the concern along. We are waiting for an answer. At the day's noon briefing, unlike for most of his previous briefing, there were no questions at all for Brenden Varma the spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly, Miroslav Lajcak. But, in the morning, Inner City Press had e-mailed Varma "two questions since I am banned from entering the UN: Since the PGA is using the term eSwatini, what is his comment on this: 'A pro-democracy activist in Swaziland has challenged the king's decision to change the country's name. In April, King Mswati III, one of the world's last-remaining absolute monarchs, unexpectedly announced he was changing the country's official name to the Kingdom of eSwatini. The activist, Thulani Maseko, argued in papers submitted to the High Court that the decision was invalid because there had been no prior public consultation.' Also, what is the PGA's comment on and action on UN banning Inner City Press from the UN on July 5, today and for the foreseeable future, after it was physically ousted from covering the July 3 meetings of the UNGA's 5th Committee? The issue has been raised, yesterday, to at least two members of his staff." At 4:52 pm, Varma replied with this: "As discussed before, none of these matters (country names, media accreditation, security at UNHQ) are matters for the PGA. I would have to refer to you to the Secretariat." And the Secretariat's spokesman refers Inner City Press to the Department of Public Information, whose chief Alison Smale has ignored six emails and a 5000 signature petition. Lajcak back in May 2017 told Inner City Press which asked about UN bribery, from Ashe now to Kutesa, There will be no secrets. That seemed to imply he would not stand by as an investigative journalist is ousted and banned from covering the GA. We'll see. Also at the day's noon briefing, the UN's deputy spokesman Farhan Haq took questions from France 24, Moroccan state media, Reuters and quickly turned over the podium to the PGA's spokesman. Inner City Press had asked Haq: "Since Inner City Press' six inquiries with the head of DPI Alison Smale have gone unanswered, and I am as you know banned from entering the building, who are you telling me to contact in Security and DPI? Aren't you the spokesperson for the Secretariat? Need answer immediately. For now, for noon, three questions:

In Tanzania, Julius Mtatiro asenior leader of a Tanzanian opposition party has been arrested for insulting President John Magufuli by asking“Who is the President, really?” Police detained him “as they found this phrase offensive to the president. They went on to search Mr Mtatiro’s home for the device used to post on social media.” What is the Secretary General's comment - and his / Country Team's action?

It is reported that Canada will deploy up to 20 civilian police officers to support both the United Nations peacekeeping mission and the EU training mission in Mali. So, will they be part of MINUSMA? How many Canadian personnel are currently part of MINUSMA, and what is the plan and timetable for additional Canadian joining of MINUSMA? Will Canadian troops have different (and significantly, better) security equipment that other countries' troops in MINUSMA?

On the deadly class between DRC's and Uganda's militaries on Lake Edward, what is the SG's comment and what is MONUSCO's action?" So far, even after the briefing, only this: "Regarding your question on Lake Edward, there is no comment or response from MONUSCO." We'll have more on this.

Haq told Fox News "Matthew Lee [i]s a repeat offender, having been similarly removed from the building on 22 June 2018, Matthew Lee has been temporarily barred from the premises pending a full review of this incident." There is no offense by Inner City Press: the rules permit Inner City Press to cover meetings after 7 pm, on June 22 a speech by Secretary General Antonio Guterres and on July 3 a meeting about Guterres' $6.7 billion budget. So since no one from the UN contacted Inner City Press on July 5 about any review, Inner City Press wrote to Haq and his boss Stephane Dujarric (out of the office again). Haq replied, "Receipt is confirmed. For questions about security issues, you will need to be in touch with security and with DPI." But neither Department has a spokesperson - Haq is the spokesperson for the Secretariat -- and Inner City Press has written six times to the head of DPI without a single response. The head of DPI ordered an investigation of him own staff after Inner City Press published a leaked email about him "burying" a threat to another UN system official, Irina Bokova (who may, some say, become High Commissioner for Human Rights). So Haq's "answer" is Orwellian. We will have more on this. Guterres was informed on June 25 by Inner City Press of the escalating targeting by his UN Security Lieutenant Ronald E. Dobbins. In fact, Guterres deputy spokesman Farhan Haq on July 3 essentially gave the green light for that evening's Security violence. On July 5, Guterres' lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric refused to answer press questions about the ouster before "his" noon briefing. Afterward, when Saunders sauntered out of the UN in black sunglasses and was informed that Inner City Press was now banned, his response was to complain about some of the written coverage of him. Video here. So is that why he cheered on the twisting of the Press' arm? Will this obviously biased official be witness in the "full review of the incident" pending which Inner City Press is indefinitely banned? Brenden Varma the Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly Miroslav Lajcak (whose chief of staff and under-staffer were also informed of the Press ban) said, as his office summarized, "This afternoon at 3:00, the General Assembly’s Fifth Committee, which handles administrative and budgetary matters, will formally take action on all outstanding issues, including United Nations peacekeeping budgets and the Secretary-General’s management reform and peace and security architecture reform proposals.
It will then close the second part of its resumed session.
Following that, the General Assembly plenary will meet to consider the report of the Fifth Committee." Inner City Press was banned from this meeting and vote. While the UN has told Inner City Press nothing, Guterres spokesman Farhan Haq told FOX News' Adam Shaw that "security followed up, they found Matthew Lee to be in the building past 9 p.m., well after the hours for a non-resident correspondent, and they informed him that he was not allowed to roam around the UN compound at that hour. They informed him that he would be required to leave the premises. At that point, Mr. Lee became loud and belligerent, and resisted the instructions of UN security officers. He was then escorted outside the building, along with his laptop and backpack. Based on his unacceptable behavior, and the fact that he was a repeat offender, having been similarly removed from the building on 22 June 2018, Matthew Lee has been temporarily barred from the premises pending a full review of this incident." But Inner City Press has not been contacted for any review, which would have to include UN Security twisting its reporter's arm before any volume, and the MALU rule permitted coverage of meetings after 7 pm, and for an hour after then end. This was pure targeting, and Guterres and his team are responsible.  Eleven days after UN Security officers led by UN Lieutenant Ronald E. Dobbin and four others who refused to give their names pushed Inner City Press' reporter out of the UN during a speech by Secretary General Antonio Guterres, on July 3 just after Inner City Press interviewed the chairman of the UN Budget Committee, Dobbins and another UN Security officer even more physically removed Inner City Press from the UN. Video here, tweeted here. Hours later as diplomats and Guterres officials who witnessed it left the UN, Inner City Press asked Guterres' Under Secretary General for Field Support Atul Khare about the process. He admitted, contrary to Guterres' spokesman, that the Support Account was still not agreed. Shown the shirt that UN Security officers Dobbins and his thus far UNnamed partner tore, he said, "I'll talk to DPI." While appreciated, Inner City Press already six times wrote to DPI's Alison Smale, and last week spoke directly to her and her piano playing husband Sergei Dreznin at the End of UNSC Presidency reception. Inner City Press told Smale, and an hour later emailed her, that her continued disparate treatment of active Inner City Press as a non - resident correspondent would allow further targeting like that of Lieutenant Dobbins and four unnamed Emergency Response Unit officers on June 22. Smale didn't even confirm receipt of the email as requested. And on July 3 a new officer got involved as Inner City Press covered the UN budget, breaking Inner City Press' laptop, tearing its shirt and twisting its arm. Smale and Guterres are responsible. This all happened as Inner City Press was actively writing about the UN's murky $6.7 billion peacekeeping budget and questionable reforms by Guterres. It happened directly in front of, and ultimately at the order of, a Guterres Assistant Secretary General, Christian Saunders. A number of diplomats stood and took pictures and videos. Here as the interview, pre-ouster, with the Budget Committee chairman Tommo Monthe of Cameroon, video here. Guterres' spokesman Farhan on both July 2 and July 3 insisted to Inner City Press that the budget was agreed to in a closed session on Sunay, when clearly it has not been approved. While we will have more on the other UN Security Officer, Inner City Press has previously reported on issues with Saunders, from education to the cover up of sexual harassment and abuse in the UN. The fact that Antonio Guterres allows this to go on in his UN should disqualify him. The UN had at least 11 days to deal with this - Inner City Press repeatedly at the noon briefing asked about the rules, and the budget - and this was their response. Significantly, on July 3 the Government Accountability Project has criticized the ouster and called for Inner City Press to be reinstated as a UN Resident Correspondent. Inner City Press asked Guterres' Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq, video here, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: I'd asked you, a week ago, about the UN policy of UN security ousting the non-resident correspondent during a meeting to be covered and refusing to give their names, and now the Government Accountability Project has asked the same question.  So I'm wondering, you didn't ask me when I answered it [sic], what is the policy of the UN on something as fundamental as security officers giving their names, and also can they oust journalists during a meeting such as a budget meeting that will be upcoming, I would believe, in upcoming days?

Deputy Spokesman:  As far as I'm aware, the security officers were enforcing the appropriate rules.  Any problems that you have with them are questions that you need to address with our colleagues in UN security and with Media Accreditation." But as GAP notes, the boss of Media Accreditation Alison Smale has refused to answer anything in eight months. GAP writes: "as security expelled Mr. Lee from the building, he encountered Catherine Pollard, the UN’s Under-Secretary General (USG) for General Assembly and Conference Management, who pointedly ignored his plight and simply stayed her course, despite his plea for her intervention. Along the way, Mr. Lee also asked the guards for their names, which they refused to provide. This most recent incident is the latest in a long history of harassment directed at a journalist who has been critical of UN management and operations over the years. Mr. Lee’s investigative reporting has broken stories concerning sexual abuses committed by peacekeepers in Africa, the role of UN peacekeepers in bringing cholera to Haiti, and war crimes in Sri Lanka, Burundi and Sudan [and Cameroon]. Mr. Lee’s reporting has also helped to expose corruption at the Headquarters of the United Nations, including the current bribery scandals surrounding former General Assembly President [Sam Kutesa and] John Ashe."

  In the eleven days since the ouster, live-streamed on Periscope and then put on YouTube, the UN of Antonio Guterres has not responded in any way. Inner City Press was first told to "Ask Security" then to "Ask DPI" or as it now absurdly wants to be known, the UN Department of Global Communications. But as GAP continues, "Like USG Pollard, the Under-Secretary for Global Communications, Alison Smale, seems deaf to Mr. Lee’s distress; she has refused for eight months to answer e-mails or respond to a petition to restore his credentials as a resident correspondent." Inner City Press since the ouster has raised it to Smale not only in writing (again) but also in person - with no response. Global Communications, indeed. GAP concludes: The Government Accountability Project therefore urges the Member States of the United Nations to combat the silencing of a journalist by taking action at the offices of the self-appointed guardian of free speech, itself: the United Nations. Matthew Lee should be: Reinstated as a resident correspondent with appropriate access to facilities and events, and Issued a public apology for the improper expulsion that occurred on June 22nd." To Inner City Press, it is the first of these, restoration to its long time work space S-303 which sits empty every day, assigned to an Egypt state media Akhbar al Yom whose Sanaa Youssef, while a former president of the UN Correspondents Association (1984) has not asked the UN  a question in a decade. As to apologies from today's UN, the disingenuous apology in Haiti for example shows how much those are worth. We'll have more on this. Guterres' lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric evaded Inner City Press' questions then ran off the podium. Video here. Despite the fact that Guterres' armed guards ousted Inner City Press and that the UN Department of Public Information under Alison Smale did nothing, Dujarric babbled that Inner City Press should "ask DPI" then ran off the podium. Video here. From the UN (controlled) transcript: Inner City Press: Farhan [Haq], on Monday, when I informed him that on Friday I had been, during an event in which the Secretary-General was giving a speech, made to leave by UN Security while other non-resident correspondents, a distinction you just cited, were still in attendance, he said to talk to security.  And that seems strange to me, because it seems to me that the Secretariat, like civilian…

Spokesman:  I think if there are any issues that you have…
Inner City Press: My issue…

Spokesman:  If you have any issues with your access, you should take them up with DPI [Department of Public Information] and the people who actually issue the accreditation.

Inner City Press:  They came… they came and they said there was nothing they could do…

Spokesman:  "Thank you very much.  Brenden." The UN transcript omitted the audible question, "So can Security just at will bar journalists?" Video here. The UN of Guterres, Dujarric and Smale is a place of corruption and censorship, and self-serving erasure even of the questions asked, with the public's money. The day before, after cutting off Inner City Press' question about protests of Guterres' inaction on sexual harassment cover-ups at UNAIDS, Dujarric called on a correspondent for a London-based Arabic daily. Then he called on that same correspondent again before returning to Inner City Press. Sensing this second round might be cut off, Inner City Press began asking about Guterres inaction on Cameroon then on his Security's ouster of the Press which asks. But Dujarric after evading the Cameroon question turned to Al Jazeera which asked what even it called a light question about the French label pin on Dujarric's sear-sucker jacket. Then Dujarric simply left the room, so that Inner City Press' question about Guterres' use of his Security to target the Press could not be asked. On June 22 Inner City Press was live-streaming Periscope and preparing to write about Secretary General Antonio Guterres' claims about his visit to Mali, where he didn't even inquire into a recent case child rape by a UN Peacekeeper. With the event still ongoing, Inner City Press was approached by Lieutenant Dobbins and told that since it was just past 7 pm it had to leave the building. Video here.

 That is not the rule, nor the practice. But Inner City Press under Guterres and his head of Global Communications Alison Smale has inexplicable been at the "non-resident correspondent" level lowered from that of no-show state media like Akbhar al Yom's Sanaa Youssef, assigned Inner City Press' long time office despite rarely coming in and not asking a question in ten years.

  While Guterres and Smale have created and encourage the atmosphere for targeting the Press, Dobbins had and has his own reasons. Inner City Press previously exclusively reported on fraudulent promotions in the UN Department of Safety and Security, beginning of series here with a leaked document with Dobbins own name on it, under the heading "Possible Promotions... if Dobbins does not want Canine / ERU." Document here. Since the publication, Dobbins and a number of UN Security officers have openly targeted Inner City Press. This has been raised in writing to Smale (for eight months), for almost 18 months to Guterres and his deputy Amina J. Mohammed, whose response has been to evade questions on Cameroon and now an ambiguous smile while surrounded by UN Security. On June 25 Inner City Press asked Guterres' Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq about it, video here, UN transcript here: Inner City Press:
on Friday there was the Eid event in which António Guterres gave a speech, and I… I want… I guess I want to put this in a general way because I don't understand it.  During the event, as the event went on, I was required to leave by a Lieutenant Dobbins and the emergency response unit.  And it seemed strange, because there were many other non-resident correspondents at the event.  So, I wanted to know… to know, one, what are the rules?  Number two, is it acceptable for a… a… UN Security to… to single out and target a specific journalist?  And I did… and I ask this because I've previously written a story about promotions in DSS [Department of Safety and Security], including Mr. Dobbins, and whatever that is, what are the provisions in the UN to make sure that security cannot abuse its powers?  So those are… I… I… I'd like you to answer that, and also they didn't give their names.  The other individuals refused to give their names.  Is that UN policy?

Deputy Spokesman:  UN Security has their policies.  Your concerns with them need to be addressed to UN Security.  I'm not going to comment on your own problems with UN Security.  Brenden, come on up.
Inner City Press: I don't understand.  This happened at a speech by the Secretary-General.

Deputy Spokesman:  No, I'm sorry, your security issues are things you're going to have to deal with.

Inner City Press: It's not a security issue.  It was done in the name of the Secretary-General.  Is he speaking tomorrow at 6 p.m. somewhere?  Can you say where the Secretary-General is speaking tomorrow at 6 p.m.?

Deputy Spokesman:  I’m not going to argue with you on this." There was more - video here.

  Even if Lt Dobbins and his team and commanders wanted to interpret and twist the existing rules in a way they are not enforced against any other non-resident correspondent at the UN, the Guterres Eid al -Fitr event listed in the UN Department of Public Information was still ongoing, making it unquestionable that Inner City Press had a right to be in the UN and cover it. 

   But even as Inner City Press dialed DPI's Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit, getting only voice mail, Dobbins made a call and UN “Emergency Response Unit” officers arrived, with barely concealed automatic weapons. One of them repeatedly pushed Inner City Press' reporter in the back, forcing him through the General Assembly lobby toward the exit. Video here.

   UN Under Secretary General Catherine Pollard was told the ouster and did nothing, as was a Moroccan diplomat. The heavily armed UN Security officers refused to give their names when asked. Lieutenant Dobbins, with no name plate on his uniform, refused to spell his name. He said, I have my orders. From who - Guterres? His Deputy SG or chief of staff, both of whom were at the event? DSS chief Drennan? DPI chief Alison Smale?

    Inner City Press repeatedly asked to be able to get its laptop computer, which was upstairs - there was no way to have known it would be ousted during Guterres' event. 

  But Dobbins and the others refused, as did the UN Security officers at the gate. Inner City Press remained there, with dwindling cell phone battery, raising the issue online to Smale, under whose watch Inner City Press has remained in the non-resident correspondent status it was reduced to for pursuing the Ng Lp Seng UN bribery case into the UN press briefing room where Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric ordered it out, then had it evicted. A DPI representative, whom Inner City Press asked to call Smale, was unable or unwilling to even let Inner City Press go in escorted to get its laptop. 

   Just in the past week, when Inner City Press complained of Dujarric providing only to Al Jazeera the response of Antonio Guterres to the US leaving the UN Human Rights Council, Dujarric and the Al Jazeera trio claimed to MALU that the coverage was “too aggressive.” Journalism is not a crime? Next week, Antonio Guterres is set to give remarks, to which Inner City Press has requested the right to cover response, to the UN Correspondents Association, which not only has not acted on this censorship, but has fueled it.

  Inside the UN the Eid event continued, alongside a liquor fueled barbeque thrown by UN Security. This DSS sold tickets to non resident correspondents, and allowed in people who had nothing to do with the UN, including some seeming underage. When Inner City Press audibly raised the issue to UN Safety and Security Service chief Mick Brown, he did nothing.

   The Moroccan diplomat emerged and chided Inner City Press for even telling him of the ouster, claiming that “25% of what you write is about Morocco.” Some Periscope video here. Pakistan's Permanent Representative, who hosted the Eid event, said she would look into it. Sweden's spokesperson asked whom to call in DPI and when Inner City Press said, Alison Smale, responded, Who is Alison Smale? Indeed. 

  Smale has refused to respond in any way, in the eight months she has been Guterres' “Global Communications” chief, to a 5000 signature petition to restore Inner City Press to its unused office S-303 and to adopt content neutral media access rules going forward. That, and appropriate action on Lt. Dobbins and the others, must be among the next steps. Watch this site.