After UN Misleads on DRC, Promotes Soccer with Censors, No #FreeAJstaff Much Less #FreeALLjournalists

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 2 -- In a UN which won't give straight answers, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Darfur to South Sudan, while increasingly on the margins of issues like Iraq and Ukraine, it's now a time for bread and circuses. 

  Or rather for softball soccer between UN-based officials and those who are ostensibly supposed to hold them accountable. 

  On July 2, moments after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric had refused to explain his inaccurate or misleading answer to a Press question about the UN flying a sanctioned FDLR militia leader around the Democratic Republic of Congo on June 27 (Inner City Pressvideo here), he was invited to play soccer or football with a group of some reporters. UN Video here, Minute 16:22.

  This group, the old UN Correspondents Association, in 2012 demanded the censorship of Inner City Press reporting on its screening in the UN of Sri Lanka's goverment film denying war crimes, which noted that UNCA's President had previously had a financial relationship with Sri Lanka's Ambassador.

  And there at the game, which the UN's own Twitter account promoted along with its handpicked scribes, the former UNCA president was in his UNCA jersey. To whom is he renting now?

  UNCA itself promoted without irony or comment the participation of "Egypt Ambassador Mootaz Ahmadein Khalil" -- which push came to shove, or push-over, there was no mention of #FreeAJstaff. Here was Ban with Egypt's Permanent Representative, here.

  After trying to get removed from the Internet factual coverage of the UNCA president's diplomatic rental income, the UNCA Executive Committee not only tried includingthrough Dujarric to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN -- they also refused to implement any reforms or best practices in its relationships those it is ostensibly covering. Financial relationships? No problem, apparently. 

  Nor has UNCA adopted any rule that it will not seek to censor or get journalists thrown out of the UN - it continues as the UN's Censorship Alliance.

   So Inner City Press quit UNCA, to whose Executive Committee it had been elected, and it co-founded the new Free UN Coalition for Access, which is for example pushing for, wonder of wonders, accurate answers in the UN Press Briefing Room by the UN Spokesperson.

  Typically, when on April 15 outgoing French AmbassadorGerard Araud right in the Briefing Room told a Lebanese reporter, who had paid dues to UNCA, that "you are not a journalist, you are an agent," UNCA dragged its feet.

  The Free UN Coalition for Access formally asked Dujarric to convey to Araud and the French mission the stated position, that accredited journalists should be treated with respect. But Dujarric declined.

  This is the context of the (softball) soccer game that UNCA President Pamela Falk promoted, including with photographs of a jersey branded “UNCA” just as she (and Dujarric) try to brand each UN press conference with the name “UNCA.”

  And the UN's main Twitter account promoted UNCA, just as Ban's UN gives a large room which sits empty and dark most days, even as the UN evicted the News Agency of Nigeria claiming it needed space. Other journalists working at the UN have no workspace. But UNCA's big wigs need space to practice - to flop?

  They said a ceremonial kick-off wout be performed by Ban Ki-moon, who hasn't held a press conference in New York in months, instead faux "press encounters" and now an interview, on LinkedIN.  And it was, after Ban Ki-moon left an event on the death penalty, which on his first day he said is a matter for each member state. They whispered that Ban's senior adviser Kim Won-soo would play on the “Ambassadors” team - and he did.

  Some ambassadors were told this confab is of all journalists covering the UN -- it is not. Several Permanent Representatives asked Inner City Press if it or FUNCA would participate -- the answer is no -- and some more questioned the appropriateness of the marketing, including by the UN, and of UNCA's direction generally. So it goes - for now: softballs with censors. Watch this site.

   

As #FreeAJstaff Used in UN Gabfest, Will Ban Ki-moon Raise #FreeALLjournalists to al-Sisi, Free UN Coalition for Access Asks

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 25 -- While Egypt's sentencing of the three Al Jazeera journalists to seven years in prison was condemned in the UN on June 25, sometimes sincerely and often self-servingly, Egypt's logic remains alive and well in the UN.

  Troublingly, other imprisoned journalists in Egypt and elsewhere are being ignored. And it remains unclear if UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who will be with Egypt's al-Sisi at the African Union summit in Malabo, will even asked to meet Sisi on the topic. Video here; from the UN transcript:

Inner City Press: In his trip to the African Union Summit in Malabo, will the Secretary-General be meeting with President [Abdel Fatah] al-Sisi of Egypt, who’s scheduled to be there? And in that case, will… does he intend and can you say that, now that he will be bringing up the issue of the condemned journalists of Al Jazeera and other journalists, including Coptic and others, condemned in Egypt?

Spokesman Stephane Dujarric: The Secretary-General’s meetings, obviously, have a bilateral schedule, having accompanied… having attended as an accompanier a number of these summits, the bilaterals are very fluid — some scheduled, some not scheduled. So, what we will do is we will announce them after they happen. My colleague Matias [Gillmann] is there. As soon as something is confirmed, we will be able to confirm it. Obviously, the Secretary-General has in the past spoken out and raised the issue of mass trials, including the conviction of the journalists, with Egyptian authorities. And it is always best to issue a readout after meeting.

Inner City Press: But, has he sought a meeting with President al-Sisi?

Spokesman Dujarric: As I said, you know, once the bilateral happen… these things are truly very fluid, and we will give you a readout as soon as the meetings happen.

  Rather than press Ban, the big-wigs of the old UN Correspondents Association were tweeting at Western ambassadors to please come to the big room the UN gives them, for a "town hall." 

  Present there was UNCA's past president, who tried to censor Press coverage of his past financial relationship with Sri Lanka's ambassador; past UNCA board members fromVoice of America (which then tried to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN) and Reuters (who has outright censored his own "for the record" complaint to the UN, getting Google to block it from Search, here).

 In the UN Security Council in the early afternoon of June 25, speakers included Turkey, which at the end of 2013 had fully 40 journalists imprisoned, and Italy, which had one: Francesco Gangemi of Il Dibattito.

   In the UN Press Briefing Room on April 15, 2014, outgoing French Ambassador Gerard Araud told a Lebanese reporter, "You are not a journalist, you are an agent" -- Egypt's logic.

  But on June 25, there were at least two representatives of France's mission to the UN headed to a #FreeAJstaff "town hall."

  The UNCA big-wigs never issued any public letter to Araud for attacking their own dues paying member, in the UN. They wrote to Egypt's Perm Rep, receiving in reply the Deputy, at whom attendees say one of the recent UNCA board members laughed.

   Back in April, Inner City Press on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric if he would convey to Araud and the French mission the stated position that reporters should be treated with respect. Dujarric declined.
 
   The board members of old United Nations Correspondents Association has "dragged its feet" on any defense of its own dues paying member from Lebanon. But now they scheduled an "Emergency Town Hall meeting" on the Al Jazeera case, tweeting photos of themselves with Western mission spokespeople. 

  UNCA head Pam Falk tweeted that #JournalismIsNotACrime -- strange, from a person who shouted in a meeting she'd already said she knew would be reported, on the record, that covering her and UNCA made a one not a reporter but a “mugger” -- audio here, here andhere.

  Again, that is the logic used by Egypt, that if you don't like coverage, the reporter is not a journalist but a criminal, or mugger. This is the UN's Censorship Alliance.

Footnote: After UNCA's Falk and Evelyn Leopold wasted the two and only questions at UNDP, mid-layoffs, they had UN (and former UNDP) Spokesman Stephane Dujarric's office squawk over the loudspeaker system that UNCA would be showing the World Cup in the large room the UN gives it, usually to sit empty, while the UN evicted the News Agency of Nigeria for lack of space. Here is background on UNCA's television games under Falk. Watch this site.

   

At UN, Gabfest to #FreeAJstaff Includes Jailers, Press Attackers, UN's Censorship Alliance

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 25 -- While Egypt's sentencing of the three Al Jazeera journalists to seven years in prison is rightly being condemned in the UN on June 25, sometimes sincerely and sometimes self-servingly, Egypt's logic is alive and well.

  And, troublingly, other imprisoned journalists are being ignored. 

  In the UN Security Council in the early afternoon of June 25, speakers included Turkey, which at the end of 2013 had fully 40 journalists imprisoned, and Italy, which had one: Francesco Gangemi of Il Dibattito.

   In the UN Press Briefing Room on April 15, 2014, outgoing French Ambassador Gerard Araud told a Lebanese reporter, "You are not a journalist, you are an agent" -- Egypt's logic.

  But on June 25, there were at least two representatives of France's mission to the UN headed to a #FreeAJstaff "town hall."

  At the June 25 UN noon briefing, citing not only the three from Al Jazeera but other journalists sentenced in Egypt, including a Coptic journalist sentenced in Minya to five years, another to three years in Suez, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric if Ban has even ASKED to meet al-Sisi when both are in Malabo for the African Union summit. 

   Dujarric did not say yes.

   Back in April, Inner City Press on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric if he would convey to Araud and the French mission the stated position that reporters should be treated with respect. Dujarric declined.
 
   The old United Nations Correspondents Association has "dragged its feet" on any defense of its own dues paying member from Lebanon. But now it schedules an "Emergency Town Hall meeting" on the Al Jazeera case.

  In fact, UNCA executive committee members have tried to get reporting they didn't like removed from the Internet, about a financial link between Sri Lanka's ambassador and UNCA's head and the latter unilaterally holding an "UNCA" screening of a Rajapaksa government film denying war crimes.

  When censorship failed, UNCA executive committee members tried to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN - one of them later made a Digital Millennium Copyright Act sworn statement to Google that his "for the record" complaint was copyrighted - and got it banned from search: censorship.

  Now this UN Censorship Alliance schedules an "Emergency Town Hall meeting" on the Al Jazeera case. Watch this site.

 On June 24 the UN Development Program, which under Helen Clark is moving for massive layoffs of its staff, held a press conference in UN Headquarters, very rare for UNDP. 

  But avoiding questions on layoffs, UNDP set aside the first question for Pamela Falk of CBS, for UNCA. Falk's softball question ignored what Palau's representative said on the record in February. Will CBS be reporting on this press conference, or was the question essentially wasted such that layoffs could not be asked about?

  Then the UNDP spokesperson gave Falk's sidekick the second -- and LAST, he said -- question, which was wasted on a mere follow up to Falk's. Inner City Press objected to the mere two question press conference; it and the Free UN Coalition for Access formally oppose the setting aside of the first (and here, second and last) question for UNCA a/k/a the UN's Censorship Alliance.

Under Falk, even more than under her rarely present predecessor, UNCA has taken to branding and claiming the first question press conferences and even stakeouts, even if Falk does NO reporting on the topic.

  On June 24, Falk lamely asked exactly the same question that had already been asked, not only about illicit financial flows but even the important topic of the journalists in jail in Egypt. Al Jazeera had already asked, but Falk asked exactly the same question (when there were many real questions to ask about the jailing and the wan response by the UN, whosecredibility on press freedom is in question -- for example, in Sri Lanka.)

  Falk then tweeted that #JournalismIsNotACrime -- strange, from a person who shouted in a meeting she'd already said she knew would be reported, on the record, that covering her and UNCA made a one not a reporter but a “mugger” --audio here, here and here.

  Again, that is the logic used by Egypt, that if you don't like coverage, the reporter is not a journalist but a criminal, or mugger. This is the UN's Censorship Alliance.

Footnote: After UNCA's Falk and Evelyn Leopold wasted the two and only questions at UNDP, mid-layoffs, they had UN (and former UNDP) Spokesman Stephane Dujarric's office squawk over the loudspeaker system that UNCA would be showing the World Cup in the large room the UN gives it, usually to sit empty, while the UN evicted the News Agency of Nigeria for lack of space. Here is background on UNCA's television games under Falk. Watch this site.