UNITED NATIONS, March 26 -- It seems UN Security is given no training on non-abusive treatment, of the press or anyone else. In New York on January 29, eight UN guards under the command of DSS Deputy Chief Michael McNulty threw Inner City Press onto First Avenue, its laptop on the sidewalk. Audio here.
On March 10, Sargent Clyde ordered Inner City Press out of the UN at 8 pm, again out into First Avenue, in contradiction with the UN's own Access Guidelines. Video here.
In fairness to DSS, behind each of these was the lawless February 19 order by Under Secretary General for Public Information Cristina Gallach, and beyond her powers higher and lower in the UN, including potty-mouthed UNCA boss Giampaolo Pioli, who on March 24 came to the UN Security Council stakeout with the sole purpose of cursing at Inner City Press. Audio here. The UN has yet to do anything.
On March 24, after UN Security at the ICTY roughed up former Le Monde journalist and ICTY spokesperson Florence Hartmann, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's Deputy Spokesperson, on before of the Free UN Coalition for Access, to explain, from the UN transcript:
Inner City Press: in the ICTY case, there was also a detention or arrest, of the former spokesperson of the ICTY, Florence Hartmann, who's a former journalist. And it's described she was physically detained by, they said blue-shirted. I'm not sure if it's the UN court or who it was. Are you aware of this detention of Ms. Hartmann and what's behind it?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: I am aware of the reports. Ultimately, I think that's a question for the ICTY… if that's an action that they have taken, they would need to explain what the reasoning is behind it.
Inner City Press: Who provides security there? Is it the UNDSS [Department of Safety and Security] or is it some separate entity?
Deputy Spokesman: Well, like I said, ultimately, though, this is proceedings at the ICTY, so you'd need to talk with them.
But look at this France 24 photo, along with a report of abusive lights-on suicide watch. Does today's UN have any respect for the rights of critics, journalistic or otherwise?
This has proven false: Inner City Press has been Banned from covering meetings on Security Council reform, Next SG selection, Sri Lanka andWestern Sahara, to name a few.
But this lawless attempt to seize Inner City Press' long time office and files is illegitimate. Consider for example that one of the UNCA board members, used by Dujarric for a shameless colloquy about Inner City Press' accreditation status on the day Inner City Press was told it was Banned from all UN premises, barely if at all writes any articles: on the website of Pakistan's Daily Dawn it says, "Could Not Find That Page."
So if Inner City Press like him did nothing, wrote nothing, merely collaborated with the UN in attacking more active and less cooperative journalists, it too could continue with an office in Gallach's corrupt UN system.
Under Gallach, tellingly, South South News which was exposed as corrupt at latest in October -- when Inner City Press questioned Gallach, on October 19, video here, as has been timely raised to the UN Ethics Office, she should have recused herself -- has been left with office space, while Inner City Press which most actively pursues the UN corruption story in order to try to clean up and improve the UN is ousted.
Well, no. Beyond further exploration of the links of South South News and the indicted with the UN including Gallach's Department of Public Information, which she is bringing low, it is time to explore "what it takes" in her system to retain office space awarded under her predecessors. It will be, to coin a phrase, a new (Daily) Dawn.
On Wall Street, seats with Ban sold for $6,000; Bans and Pioli, at right, credit UN Photo/Amanda Voisard
And if being where a journalist supposedly should be is the pretext to oust Inner City Press without due process, what about those UNCA board members including but not limited to Pioli who have routinely been allowed by the UN to slouch and parade around the so-called Turkish Lounge, where the published rules say they should only go when invited by a diplomat? We'll have more on all this. Watch this site.
When Inner City Press came to the UN on February 22, with another journalist there to sign Inner City Press in as a guest, UN Security said, “You are Banned from the UN.” Audio here.
Inner City Press left the UN pass office, and set up shop in the Isaiah plowshares park across from the UN. Several Permanent Representatives, at least two Under Secretaries General (the same rank as Gallach) and many staff came to express outrage at the UN's censorship.
But in the UN Press Briefing Room, which was "lent" to the UN Correspondents (or Corruption) Association back on January 29, the reaction was different.
In an embarrassing colloquy, long time UNCA board member and Daily Dawn-er Masood Haider asked Spokesman Dujarric about "the blogger Matthew Lee" who has been "spewing on the Internet reports whether false or not." Vine here; Video here; UN transcript here:
UNCA Question: Stéphane, can you please tell us about the blogger, Mr. Matthew Lee, who has been very active on the internet spewing all kinds of reports, whether false or not? What is the status now?
Spokesman: Mr. Lee has available to him a non-resident pass for four months and which, last I heard, he had not claimed, but that's what he has available. I know there were reports that we had “seized his files”. Completely untrue. His office remains untouched. And we await him to return so he can vacate his office. Thank you.
Yeah - thank you for the set-up question to put propaganda in to the UN record.
On February 19 Inner City Press asked to get its passport and most important files but was pushed out onto First Avenue by UN Security Deputy Chief Michael McNulty without either. That's not seized? That's OK?
And the extortionate offer - no access unless with much reduced rights - is entirely disproportionate to the non-existent "crimes," which was to seek to cover an event in this same UN Press Briefing Room, by UNCA which took money from indicted Ng Lap Seng's and Frank Lorenzo's South South News then gave Ng Lap Seng a photo op with Ban Ki-moon.
UNCA President Giampaolo was there, leaving first from the February 22 Press-less press conference; another UNCA board member slapped Dujarric on the back. Great job!
Bloggers are, of course, hacked to death in Bangladesh, a country on whose free press record USG Gallach never even replied to a detailed email from the Free UN Coalition for Access, for protection for a Bangladeshi journalist then in the UN. Spewing indeed.
Dujarric took the opportunity to deny that the UN had seized Inner City Press' files -- the reality is, when Inner City Press asked on February 19 to take the most important of them, and its passport, it was denied by UN Security. On February 22, UN Security said Inner City Press is Banned from all UN premises.
Dujarric said, as if it's ok, that Inner City Press is being "offered" much reduced access, for four months. But Inner City Press did nothing wrong, and the "investigation" by Gallach which led to its ouster did not involve a single conversation with or reaching out to Inner City Press.
Any reduced access to loss of office space -- which Masood Haider, who hardly writes articles, has, and UNCA President Giampaolo Pioli has, a private office, while writing about Morgan Freeman -- is unfair and is to cast a chill of freedom of the press. No staged colloquy can hide that. We'll have more on this.
Later, after being told to leave even the UN Pass office, a UN Under Secretary General told Inner City Press Gallach had told other USGs that Inner City Press was in fact in the building - that AFTER Inner City Press was told by UN Security, twice, that it is banned from all UN premises and was told to leave the UN Pass office.
Gallach, and Ban Ki-moon and his chief of staff Edmond Mulet to whom Inner City Press wrote on February 19, still without response, has received a legal letter with a
"demand that Mr. Lee be immediately reissued with the resident correspondent accreditation that he has enjoyed for many years. I request these remedies pending an examination of the entire matter by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression or by any other mutually agreed and independent review mechanism.
In reaching the decision to perfunctorily revoke Mr. Lee’s resident correspondent accreditation, a number of accepted principles of natural justice and rules of administrative law were breached. These principles include, inter alia, the right to be informed before the imposition of administrative measures, the right to make representations before being subjected to those measures and the right to appellate review of such measures. Mr. Lee was denied all of these procedural safeguards which are commonplace in most democratic societies and which are routinely vaunted by the United Nations itself."
As Inner City Press sits in the park across from the UN using its phone as a hot spot -- hence no Periscope -- there has been no response.
Ban Ki-moon's Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who'd also told those who questioned him that Inner City Press could end and cover “his” briefing on Monday.
False. UN Security then said, you cannot wait in the pass office, you are banned from all UN premises. Trying to cover the UN Security Council meeting on Syria from the Isaiah plowshares park across from the UN, various Ambassadors came to say they were appalled. But Gallach's office has told then, nothing will be done.
This is disgusting censorship by an increasingly corrupt UN.
As Inner City Press at the UN pursues unfolding stories of corruption, peacekeepers committing rapes in the Central African Republic, UN inaction in Burundi, South Sudan and Yemen, on February 19 with two hours notice UN Under Secretary General Cristina Gallach ordered Inner City Press to be ousted. Letter here.
On the evening of February 19, UN Security Deputy Chief Michael McNulty, who refused to provide his name (audio), pushed Inner City Press out onto First Avenue (audio), having cut off its Periscope video livestream (video) and not allowed it to get its files, coat or passport from its longtime shared office. Gallach wants the office back, to retaliate and so the UN Correspondents Association can, in essence, sell the UN space just as it sells access to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
On February 20, Inner City Press posed four questions to Dujarric and his deputy Farhan Haq, with a copy to Gallach --which 24 hours later have not been answered or even acknowledged (while both Dujarric and Gallach were wildly spinning to those who contacted them, includingNobel Laureate Jose Ramos Horta, see here, who was told there was no problem taking over Inner City Press' office and undermining its ability to report, edit videos, conduct interviews. There is a big problem. Here are the questions:
"Please state the status and condition of all of my papers and property in my office, Room S-303A, including investigative papers, communications from sources including whistleblowers and my passport and when I will have the access to them that I was denied on February 19 and since.
Please state when the Resident Correspondent UN pass I have had for years, but which was torn off my neck on Feb 19, will be returned, in connection with 1, above, and the UNSC meeting(s) and UN Noon Briefing on Monday February 22.
Please state and explain the role of the Office of the Spokesperson of the Secretary General in the deprivations in 1 and 2, above.
Finally, for now, please state the Secretary-General's position on UN Security Deputy McNulty on February 19 threatening twice to have me “handed over to NYPD” (including the concomitant acceptance by the UN of the NYPD's jurisdiction), of UN Security officers grabbing my phone which was live-broadcasting Periscope video at the UN Security Council stakeout and turning it off.
I have other questions but these are most pressing, for immediate answer."
And as yet, no answer. Watch this site.
While Inner City Press was writing up a UN Security Council meeting on Syria that went into the evening, and Periscope broadcasting, UN Security guards walked up, grabbed Inner City Press' laptop, blocked its Periscope camera and turned off the livestream. Video here.
Then eight UN Security officers led by Deputy Chief McNulty tore off Inner City Press' UN ID badge and carted off Inner City Press' laptop and camera, returning these by throwing them on the sidewalk of First Avenue. Audio here.
They did not allow Inner City Press to get coat or sweater, or the files in its office. No provision was made for this.
The ejection letter was signed by the Under Secretary General for Public Information Cristina Galach of Spain but ultimately Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is in charge. Ban and his chief of staff Edmond Mulet and Deputy SG Jan Eliasson were all written to with details as this took place.
When Inner City Press was thrown out onto First Avenue, standing waiting, laughing and filming, was Voice of America's Margaret Besheer and another board member of the UN Correspondents Association, whose president Giampaoli Pioli told Inner City Press if it didn't remove a (truthful) article about his screening of a war crimes denial film for a tenant of his, Sri Lanka's then ambassador Palitha Kohona, he would get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN.
But who is running this asylum? Ban Ki-moon, his spokesman also involved Stephane Dujarric (who threw Inner City Press out of the UN Press Briefing Room on January 29, also trying to turn off ICP's Periscoping phone), and, some surmise, some who don't like Inner City Press' questions. We'll have more on this.
The pretext was Inner City Press three weeks earlier seeking to cover a meeting in the UN Press Briefing Room by an organization which has taken money from now indicted Ng Lap Seng and Frank Lorenzo's South SOuth News, then gave Ng Lap Seng a photo op with Ban.
(As Inner City Press reported, Gallach attended the South South Awards with Frank Lorenzo, photo here, just before his indictment. She should have been recused from any decision-making on this.)
UN Security demanded ICP's pass - and later tore it off.
UNITED NATIONS, March 10 -- After Inner City Press was summarily ejected from the UN, which it has covered for 10 years, on February 19 (audio here), the ostensibly deciding official Cristina Gallach told Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos Horta, who contacted her to oppose her arbitrary decision, that Inner City Press would still be able to cover the UN.
Now Gallach, even having been informed that Inner City Press can no longer for example go to the second floor of the UN Conference Building and speak with diplomats entering and exiting meetings like March 9 on UN Security Council reform, and March 10 on Counter-Terrorism including in Sri Lanka, repeats the same position to others - as does Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Office of the Spokesperson, under Stepane Dujarric, see below.
But Inner City Press had been told that while the pass would not allow it to enter the UN after 7 pm, if it was already inside working, it could finish.
On March 10 at 8 pm, as Inner City Press sat in the UN Lobby cafe area editing a video of the day's noon briefing, see below, UN Security officers approached and told it to leave. Immediately. Audio here. Inner City Press asked if this rule applied to all non-resident correspondents, many of whom stayed much later than 8 pm, or only to it.
"I"m just doing what I'm told," UN DSS Officer Clyde said, telling Inner City Press to take it up with his supervisor Chief (Michael or Mick) Brown.
This is harassment; it flows from the February 19 no due process order of Under Secretary General of DPI Cristina Gallach but has been enabled by inaction by the highest UN officials and some diplomats.
The March 10 session on Counter-Terrorism, including Sri Lanka Supreme Court Justice Chandra Ekanayake, was held in the ECOSOC Chamber - Inner City Press was not able to stake it out and talk to diplomats, as it had before.
Inner City Press: yesterday, your deputy, Farhan Haq, I want to ask you this because it really constrained me. There was a meeting in Trusteeship on UN Security Council reform. It was a closed meeting, but it's the kind of meeting that a journalist can stand outside and stake out and get quotes. I'm no longer able to do that. I cannot go through that glass turnstile. He said from this podium that I have the same rights as everyone else. It wasn't true. And I wasn't able to cover the meeting. And I wanted to know, one, do you retract… does your office retract this claim that I have the same rights as anyone else? And two, what's the justification for there being two classes of journalists here, those who can cover such meetings and those who can't?
Spokesman Dujarric: I think there's always been resident correspondents who have an office and non-resident correspondents. That's the pass you have. And that's the access you have.
Inner City Press: But, it's not about having an office. It's about being able to cover a meeting… [Cross talk]
Spokesman: Matthew, that's the access you have, and I think…
Inner City Press: Then why does Ms. [Cristina] Gallach claim that I have total access if I don't?
Spokesman: Matthew, inasmuch as we can continue this discussion about you and your accreditation process, it should be had with DPI [Department of Public Information]. Thank you.
Inner City Press: It's the ability to cover and claims made from this podium, which were false. False claims.
Spokesman: Thank you.
In fact, it was Dujarric who used the UN Press Briefing Room he threw Inner City Press out of to "discuss" Inner City Press' accreditation on February 22 - only, with a board member of UNCA, the UN Corruption Association / UN Censorship Alliance.
Cristina Gallach has written, "Mr Lee has a Press accreditation that allows him to cover all events in the UN, as the rest of accredited journalists." She even referred to "total access."
This is false.
For example, today's General Assembly meeting on Security Council reform is "closed." But those with Resident Correspondent accreditation, which Gallach stripped from Inner City Press without any due process and only two hours notice on February 19, can use their pass to swipe through the turnstile on the second floor and stakeout outside the meeting, speaking with diplomats.
Inner City Press cannot - its new restricted pass does not open the second floor turnstile. It has been Banned from this type of coverage.
It was precisely by staking out outside "Closed" meetings that Inner City Press got and covered such stories as Sri Lankan alleged war criminal Shavendra Silva being one of Ban Ki-moon's Senior Advisers on Peacekeeping. Staking out closed meetings of the Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping, Inner City Press quoted even South Asian ambassadors on what an outrage it was.
Now Inner City Press is Banned from such coverage, and the UN Department of Public "Information" is misleading those who contact it.
At the March 9 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq about what Gallach had said,full YouTube here, Vine here and here, from the UN transcript:
Inner City Press: Beyond the letter from the Northern Provincial Council to Secretary-General Ban, Cristina Gallach of DPI [Department of Public Information] has received a letter from a group called the Tamil Sangam, of diaspora Tamils. And the reason I'm asking you is the following: They've sent me her response to them. They raised a number of issues about Sri Lanka coverage, UN's performance in Sri Lanka, and she wrote back and said: "I want to firmly clarify that Mr. Lee has total access at the UN." And since that's actually not the case, since I can't go through the turnstile on the second…
Deputy Spokesman Haq: That is the case.
Inner City Press: No, it's not. I can't cover ECOSOC [Economic and Social Council]. I can't cover Trusteeship. I'm telling you…
Deputy Spokesman Haq: Matthew, you have access. We're standing in a briefing room in the United Nations right now. You’re asking…
Inner City Press: She said "total access", "total access", So let me ask you…
Deputy Spokesman: You can go anywhere that the other reporters [can].
Inner City Press: No, I can't. What about the 2nd Floor of the conference building? This pass doesn't work, and I'm told by Security I cannot go there. So, I'm asking you, what did she mean by "total access"?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: You can go to the Security Council stakeout or any other public area.
Inner City Press: This is not the case. Come with me…
Deputy Spokesman Haq: Matthew, I used to have a non-resident pass many, many, many years ago, and I used to go all the areas.
Inner City Press: They didn't used to have a glass turnstile there. And I'm also told to leave the building at 7 pm, that if I leave the building after 7 pm, I can't come back into it no matter what work I'm doing. Is that the case?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: Matthew, as far as I'm aware, you have the time to go about the work that you need to do. Joe?
Inner City Press: I'm totally contesting it, totally.
Again, Inner City Press is as of March 8 not allowed to cover anything on the second floor of the UN conference building (ECOSOC, Trusteeship Council), cannot effectively edit videos of UN Q&A, and must leave the building by 7 pm. These are restrictions.
But USG Gallach continues to repeat the mantra that reducing the Press' ability to do journalism at the UN by 60% is fine. A group wrote to her that
"it is paramount importance that journalists of Mr. Lee's caliber continue to monitor the UN system and we firmly stand behind him. We urge you to resolve the dispute with him and restore to Mr. Lee his Resident Correspondent accreditation and ICP's long-time office which he uses to do his journalistic work. We do not find the punishment in your February 19 letter to be proportionate even to what it's claimed he did: seek to cover an even in the UN's own Press Briefing Room. Why was that meeting in that UN Press Briefing Room anyway, if it was 'private'?"
"I can firmly clarify to you that Mr Lee has a press pass that allows him total access to press conferences, media stake outs and press conferences in the UN building. I am convinced that the coverage about the issues you care most [sic] is totally will be not at all affected."
That is FALSE. Inner City Press is now restricted from the entire second floor of the UN conference building, must leave the building by 7 pm, cannot conduct interviews or edit videos in its long time shared office - for trying to cover a meeting, in the Press Briefing Room, of an entity also connected by South South to the UN bribery scandal?Petition here.
USG Gallach's response was cc-ed to Ban's spokesman Dujarric, who cannot claim to not know the restrictions on the pass Inner City Press has been, without due process, confined to. On March 8 he said, we will not characterize it, "People are free to demonstrate." (Vine here.)
"journalists face growing efforts to silence their voices – through harassment, censorship and attacks. Journalists are not criminals. But they are often mistreated."
Note: on February 19, Inner City Press was physically ousted from the UN Security Council stakeout where it was writing up the evening's Syria meeting and was told "you are a trespasser" in the UN and that it would be handed over to NYPD. Audio here.
"During the past nine years as Secretary-General, I have been working hard to defend the press."
Well, the above happened on February 19, and restrictions remain in place with no right to appeal, and no due process. Ban and his senior advisers have been informed of it.
On February 26 the Government Accountability Project, which defends whistleblowers, wrote to the US Mission to the UN, Ambassador of Management and Reform Isobel Coleman, to ask the US to ensure Inner City Press gets back its office and Resident Correspondent's pass. GAP letter here.
GAP's Beatrice Edwards cited the UN's lack of due process and of rules, and the seeming retaliation against Inner City Press for its reporting. (There's also the physical ouster of Inner City Press, audio here.) Other missions have openly taken action: what will the US Mission do?
On February 29, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric another question about UN - this time DPI - seeming corruption, and about GAP's letter, Video here, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I'd asked you previously about South-South News, which is pretty much in… is in this indictment of Mr. [Francis] Lorenzo and Mr. Ng Lap Seng as a conduit for funds for the alleged bribery at the UN, why its… its footage and a number of its pieces are included in UNTV in an archive, and I checked today. They're still there.
I wanted to know, since there's no other med… non-UN media that I can find that has its material inside that archive, why is that, and why does it remain to be the case, given the fact that it's named as a vehicle for bribery?
Spokesman Dujarric: Obviously, I think that's a question you can address to my colleagues in DPI.
Inner City Press: Okay. They're not communicating too well.
Spokesman: [Calls on another.]
Inner City Press: Again, I'll keep it very short, but I wanted to ask you, the Government Accountability Project, which you know, which represented Mr. [Anders] Kompass and other UN whistle-blowers, has issued a letter on Friday in which they say… they call for… I guess I'll put it in personal terms… for my resident correspondent pass to be returned and my office. And they say the action was retaliatory in response to independent critical journalism. I'd like to know what your response to this respected group reaching that conclusion is.
Spokesman: My simple response would be no, and I'm sure they will get a response from whoever they addressed the letter to.
We'll see.
Meanwhile in defense of Ban and Gallach, anonymous troll account has taken to tweeting, now at Spanish journalists, that Gallach is fine and didn't throw Inner City Press out of the UN on two hours notice without once speaking to it. But those are the fact. Among the new troll account's followers are Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric and four UNCA board members, plus Reuters bureau chief Louis Charbonneau, who has a history with this, see here.
Because as a working journalist it needed access to cover the February 25 UN Security Council meeting about North Korea, and only in connection with filing a lawyer's letter telling Gallach and the UN not to touch Inner City Press' office or files, Inner City Press late morning entered the UN with a so-called "Green P" non-resident correspondents pass.
At the day's noon briefing, after asking of Burundi, Western Sahara, Darfur and the UN corruption scandals, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric two simple question, to which he said #AskGallach. UN transcript.
Wait - so the UN has no protocols on the use of force? Or DPI's Gallach is in charge of the use of force, and ordered it? How can the UN and USG Gallach be so contemptuous to the most basic forms of due process?
Inner City Press is opposing all this.
And so now are a range of people from around the world, who have signed a petition to immediately restore Inner City Press to the UN Resident Correspondent accreditation it had for nine years until, without any due process, the UN pass was physically torn from its chest as UN Security throw its laptop onto the sidewalk in front of the UN (also owned by the UN and immunity from US law including the First Amendment).
UN cover-up artists are taking advantage of the dying months of Ban Ki-moon's tenure to remove a thorn in their side, because they are worried the new SG won't want to start out with a fight. -James Bone, Shelter Island Heights, NY
ICP has been the only voice for the oppressed in #Burundi, #Haiti & #Yemen at #UN. -Eloge Tinya, Lagos, Nigeria
ICP asked questions that will bring clarity on the agreement the Prime Minister of Dominica signed in Macau on August 25, 2015 together with Ng Lap Seng and a UN official. -Hon. Hector John, Salisbury, Dominica
I am signing for UN to restore Matthew Lee Inner City Press right to access to the UN as a Resident Correspondent to question authorities because it is the fundamental of free speech as the UN preaches to other countries it must first practice itself to set example. -Smret Kibrom, San Gallo, Switzerland
Freedom of press. -Prem Kumar, India
innercitypress defends the human rights of Burundians and help to avoid genocide, please free innercitypress! - MICHAEL Tim, London, United Kingdom
I'm signing because the barring of access to Mr. Lee appears to be at worst motivated by a reluctance to engage with and continue to receive the probing questions he asks, and at best the result of a petty personal vendetta based on unprofessional antipathy towards Mr. Lee by the 'respectable' wing of the United Nations press corps. -Marlon Ettinger, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
I am signing this petition for Matthew Russell Lee and Inner City Press be restored to the shared UN office and Resident Correspondent accreditation they have had for eight years prior to this pretextual incident. It also requests, as does the Free UN Coalition for Access that Matthew co-founded, that an investigation be launched into how all of this occurred. Moreover to call for aggressive investigative journalism at the UN and to tell the leaders of the UN that the UN, too, must live up to the principles of due process and freedom of the press. -Martha Fassil, New York, NY
Han er en journalist som forteller sannheten til verden. Mussie Tesfay, Oslo, Norway
UN should walk the talk. Practice what you preach - rule of law, democracy, freedom of expression, of press. Reinstate ICP Mathew Russell Lee to full resident reporter. -Seble Ephrem, London, United Kingdom
Incredible. This banning is the exact opposite of the transparency and accountability that the UN should be defending for all institutions. This must be reversed. Denis Rancourt, Ottawa, Canada
ICP is the most reliable source of information at the UN. The other corporate media are controlled by the special interest groups. Thus their journalistic integrity is always suspect. ICP is voice of the voiceless - of course unlike the UN and its sponsors and financiers. -tsehaie mahary, edmonton, Canada
I express my solidarity with Mathew, God bless you friend Mohamed MAYARA, El Aaiun, Western Sahara
Matthew Lee has been a lone voice asking the difficult questions in the UN press gallery. -Martin Field, Geneva, Switzerland
I have seen Matthew only defending the truth. He is a journalist with a genuine journalist ethics. He is also the one of the most intelligent and courageous journalist. He is a model how other journalist should be. He should be given a noble prize for what he does not get banned from the UN. -Yacob Woldehiwot, London, United Kingdom
The UN cannot be dismissive of new media as people get their news from new media.The UN cannot pick and choose media persons according to their whims and fancies. -soraya patel, India
Shame on UN. -ibrahim alhaifi, Sanaa, Yemen
I believe this is censorship of the press. Shameful. -Douglas Smith, New York, NY
For Truth & Transparency, there must always be those who Question more. -Auet Melache, Bolton, United Kingdom
I am signing because UN is being unfair and need to take some responsibility. -Lynda Charles, Boynton Beach, FL
He's credible and follows the ethics of journalism to the fullest. -Amanuel Tseggai, Stone Mountain, GA
We need the alternative,independent and investigative media to be present everywhere. -Marja Konttila, Solna, Sweden
I demand the U.N. unconditionally and ASAP to restore access to Inner City Press`Matthew Russell Lee to the U.N. as a Resident Correspondent. -johannes abraham, Germany
InnerCity Press has been very professional and a life saver. His reports on different issues around the world helped uncover certain hidden truths. If Ban was in #Burundi 2 days ago, I can say it is mainly because of his persistence of bringing Burundi to light from the repression of de facto president Manirambona Juma, Kirundo, Burundi
Matthew Russell Lee, founder of the Inner City Press, is a veteran investigative journalist I have relied upon on UN news for the past six years. He is truthful, and pursues truth in reporting tenaciously and with integrity. We need more journalists like him at the UN to keep us informed. He and his Inner City Press must be reinstated as a fully accredited resident journalist to the UN. -Elias Amare, San Rafael, CA
Does the UN have something to hide? The UN is also obligated by the same principles and norms it preaches. I demand the UN to reinstate Matthew Russell Lee to his desk so he can do what he does best- pure journalism. He is the only honest journalist at the UN compound and being the voice of the voiceless. -Daniel Berhe, Seattle, WA
I respectively ask UNSG and Mr Ban ki-moon to return Matt to his post as a dedicated reporter in the UN. I have a huge respect for the guy. It would be a travesty of justice if a reporter like matt is out the office of the biggest office in the world when we need a reporter of such kind. -Kibrom tekeste, berkeley, CA
The UN repeatedly acts like human rights protections apply to everyone but themselves. -Betsey Chance, Cambridge, MA
Matthew is the only bona fide journalist reporting on UN. He alone is rectifying the defects created by system of diplomatic immunity. Why makes his job harder? Do you have something to hide from him? He makes UN a more acceptable organization and indeed, by genuinely reporting he makes this world a better place. -T Chan, London, United Kingdom
I am signing for UN to restore Matthew Lee Inner City Press right to access to the UN as a Resident Correspondent to question authorities because it is the fundamental of free speech as the UN preaches to other countries it must first practice itself to set example. Sara Haile, Alexandria, VA
Matthew Lee is, far and away, the hardest-working and most dogged of any journalist at the United Nations. His arbitrary expulsion is both outrageous and a reflection of the fact that things are not as they should be at the United Nations, and certainly not what YOU would expect. - alberto martin, New York, NY
I'm signing because I believe in the freedom of the press. I often reads Matthew Lee's work which reports on difficult topics and events that need covering and exposure. He should be reinstated at your earliest convenience. Rebecca Myles, New York, NY
I'm signing because I'm an advocate for real, independent journalism and condemn the UN's decision to remove Inner City Press's access based on a nonsensical pretext! -Hermon Gebrai, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
I appreciate Inner City Press' persistent and prepared journalism at the United Nations. -Brian Concannon Jr., Marshfield, MA
Freedom of the press. -Luiz Rampelotto, New York, NY
The UN needs to be held to standards of openess, transparency and freedom of the press. -Samuel Horton, Silsden, United Kingdom
Lee should not have been expelled, it's a disgrace to the UN. -Richard Johnson, Potomac, MD
It's unfair to throw someone out like that with out hearing from his side of history. -Hermon Tsegay, Slough, United Kingdom
Such a crck down on media in an organization promoting freedom of speech and information is really awkward and clearly disgraceful and unacceptable. -Florent Nduwayo, Kibungo, Rwanda
This is another in a long line of incidents conclusively evidencing the UN's complete and utter disrespect for the laws of its HOST country, the US, in particular the 1st amendment!! UN IMMUNITY = IMPUNITY--END IT NOW!! Journalists are the ultimate whistleblowers, and I am well aware of how UN whistleblowers like Mr Lee are persecuted and suffer grievous harm at the hands of rogue UN officials. The treatment of Mr. Lee is an outrage.
How ironic this has happened just as the US House Committe on Foreign Relations is today, on 24 Feb, holding a hearing about the gross mistreatment of whistleblowers at the UN and WIPO. Congress must act now to cut off 15% of US appropriations to the UN this year on account of its failure to protect and encourage UN whistleblowers like Mr Lee, as provided for in US law, as it already did to WIPO!! -ted beacher, Geneva, Switzerland
ICP is doing a great job. UN should support,respect and promote free speech. -Kalu Thapa, Kathmandu, Nepal
There are more...
But the UN Correspondents Association, at least its 15 Executive Committee members, issued a February 22 statement in context fully supporting the throwing of Inner City Press into the street, the seizure of passport, the Banning, all of it. We wonder if these scribes' employers know about this.
For now we reiterate the obvious: the UN Press Briefing Room is presumptively open to all press. If Spokesman Dujarric, or DPI's Gallach, wants to lend it to their friends, at least provide a notice so journalists hungry for news don't get excluded and get nothing.
