Reuters Charbonneau Who Stole Feltman Scoop Tried to Get UN To Eject ICP, His E-mail Shows

By Matthew Russell Lee, Media Critique

UNITED NATIONS, May 25 -- Three days after theexclusive report by Inner City Press that US official Jeffrey Feltman would replace Lynn Pascoe as the head of the UN Department of Political Affairs was stolen by Reuters, which unlike Foreign Policy's The Cable gave no credit, it is emerged that Reuters' UN reporter Louis Charbonneau sought to have Inner City Press ejected from the UN, after Charbonneau was told he was "disgusting." See Charbonneau's e-mail to the UN, here.

   Inner City Press' scoop about Feltman was published back on  March 28. Thereafter, Charbonneau wrote to the head of the UN's Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit, and to her supervisor the former spokesman of Kofi Annan, claiming that Inner City Press' reporter is "making it very hard for me and others in the UN press to do our jobs."  Reuters' Charbonneau's e-mail is in this context being put online here.

  Charbonneau sent copies of his email to, among others,Tim Witcher of Agence France Presse, who previously at the behest of the French Mission to the UN sought to have Inner City Press disciplined for reporting that the French Mission didn't know that then-President Nicolas Sarkozy would switch Herve "The Drone" Ladsous for Jerome Bonnafont as the French head of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations. 

  Hard to do their jobs, indeed.

In the "incident" Charbonneau refers to, Inner City Press had just been informed by another correspondent that Charbonneau had sought to bypass Inner City Press on communications which should have been sent to it, with the goal of getting Inner City Press ejected. (Inner City Press is choosing not to divulge more due to a rule, largely pushed by Charbonneau, that all proceeding be confidential. Suffice it for now to say that beyond seeking to serve himself and Reuters by complaining to the UN, Charbonneau was abusing power and position.)

So disgust was expressed, no violence or even the threat of it. Charbonneau tried to use this word "disgust" -- accurate, as it turns out -- to get the UN to eject Inner City Press.

On May 21 after seeing Charbonneau listed on the Reuters article which stole the Feltman scoop, Inner City Press sent him an e-mail with the full text of the initial and exclusive March 28 report. Charbonneau did not and has not responded to the e-mail.

Inner City Press then sought to post a comment on the story on the Reuters.com website. While other non-substantive comments were allowed by Reuters, this one was not.

So Inner City Press for two days sought to reach Reuters editors or officials. The links to the two editors on the triple-bylined story led only to their "blogs." (The three bylined reporters were "Arshad Mohammed, Warren Strobel and Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Vicki Allen and Eric Beech.)

Reuters' "Director of Global Communications" Barb Burg was reachable only through a secretary, Alexis who on May 23 finally said to e-mail the two of the above. One was "out of the office;" the other has yet to respond, even after a follow up telephone message on May 24.

Meanwhile we will now report that Reuter's UN Correspondent Lou Charbonneau states that he has personally adopted a policy of NOT crediting Inner City Press, allegedly based on another report more than a year ago in which after Reuters' Charbonneau reported he has "seen" a report, Inner City Press posted the whole report on line. 

  Yesterday to remove any pretext, Inner City Pressimmediately after Charbonneau's belated complaint removed from the Internet both the story and the report.

  Inner City Press previously reported that Ban Ki-moon's Darfur envoy Ibrahim Gambari had attended and taken photos with International Criminal Court indictee Omar al Bashir at a wedding reception for Chad's Idriss Deby and the daughter of janjaweed militia founder Musa Hillal. To prove the point, Inner City Press searched for and found the wedding reception photos online, with no apparent copyright.

   During a later dispute, Reuters or simply its UN correspondent Louis Charbonneau made a claim of copyright to the photographs -- the impunity significance of which Reuters had not written about -- and Inner City Press in an abundance of caution removed these and all photos from its story. But who was served? Who was protected, by whom?

  Charbonneau earlier this month, after Inner City Press asked Kosovo's Enver Hoxhaj about his country's support of Syria, took the answers as a stand-alone story with no credit. (Charbonneau has asked about Kosovo's Brussels office, a non-story). Compare UN video to Charbonneau's Reuters "story."

  It should be noted that other exclusives have been stolen at the UN. Earlier this year Inner City Press reported that 14 kilograms of cocaine were found in the UN mail room and covered up. 

  After writing the story, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky about it at the next noon briefing. He had no answer, but later in the day organized a 6 pm stakeout by UN Security chief Gregory Starr to "rebut" the charges.

The UN correspondents of Reuters, Bloomberg (changing 14 kilos to "35 pounds"), AFP (changing to "35.5 pounds")Agence France Presse (whose Tim Witcher as noted above was previously used to harass Inner City Press by the French Mission to the UN, after Inner City Press published an expose on France's use of the UN in Cote d'Ivoire, and the last minute switch from Jerome Bonnafont to Herve "The Drone" Ladsous for DPKO), Mexican media and others showed up, many complaining, then wrote stories which other than the Mexican media gave no credit to Inner City Press' underlying exclusive.

  The defense has been that once a press availability is scheduled, even if clear in response to anther media's exclusive, no credit need be given. Is this journalism? Or a club of corporate insiders who will stoop so low as to try to get Ban Ki-moon's UN to eject a reporter who "makes it hard" for them to do their jobs -- and whose exclusives they steal? Watch this site.

As Feltman to UN Scoop Stolen by Reuters, Its HQ Silent, UN Reporter Charbonneau Says It's Policy

By Matthew Russell Lee, Media Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, May 23 -- On March 28, Inner City Press exclusively reported that US official Jeffrey Feltman would replaced Lynn Pascoe as the head of the UN Department of Political Affairs. Click here to see that story.

   After Reuters stole the story on May 21, unlike for example Foreign Policy which gave credit, Inner City Press e-mailed that wire service's UN reporter Louis Charbonneau and then, receiving no response, sought to post a commenton the story on the Reuters.com website. While other non-substantive comments were allowed by Reuters, this one was not.

  So Inner City Press for two days sought to reach Reuters editors or officials. The links to the two editors on the triple-bylined story led only to their "blogs." (The threebylined reporters were "Arshad Mohammed, Warren Strobel and Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Vicki Allen and Eric Beech.)

  Reuters' "Director of Global Communications" Barb Burg was reachable only through a secretary, who a day later said to e-mail the two editors. One was "out of the office;" the other has yet to respond.

  Meanwhile it is understood that Reuter's UN Correspondent Lou Charbonneau has adopted a policy of NOT crediting Inner City Press, allegedly based on another report more than a year ago in which after Reuters' Charbonneau reported he has "seen" a report, Inner City Press posted the whole report on line. 

  Now to remove any pretext, Inner City Press has immediately after Charbonneau's belated complaint removed from the Internet both the story and the report.

  Charbonneau earlier this month, after Inner City Press asked Kosovo's Enver Hoxhaj about his country's support of Syria, took the answers as a stand-alone story with no credit. (Charbonneau has asked about Kosovo's Brussels office, a non-story). Compare UN video to Charbonneau's Reuters "story."

  It should be noted that other exclusives have been stolen at the UN. Earlier this year Inner City Press reported that 14 kilograms of cocaine were found in the UN mail room and covered up. 

  After writing the story, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky about it at the next noon briefing. He had no answer, but later in the day organized a 6 pm stakeout by UN Security chief Gregory Starr to "rebut" the charges.

The UN correspondents of Reuters, Bloomberg (changing 14 kilos to "35 pounds"), AFP (changing to "35.5 pounds")Agence France Presse (whose Tim Witcher was previously used to harass Inner City Press by the French Mission to the UN, after Inner City Press published an expose on France's use of the UN in Cote d'Ivoire, and the last minute switch from Jerome Bonnafont to Herve "The Drone" Ladsous for DPKO), Mexican media and others showed up, many complaining, then wrote stories which other than the Mexican media gave no credit to Inner City Press' underlying exclusive. 

  The defense appears to be that once a press availability is scheduled, even if clear in response to anther media's exclusive, no credit need be given. Is this journalism? Or a club of corporate insiders? Watch this site.

Feltman Scoop Confirmed, Pascoe Recalled, From Indonesia to UN, Tells ICP "You Had It First"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 21 -- Outside the UN Department of Political Affairs on Monday evening, Inner City Press once again asked outgoing DPA chief Lynn Pascoe about his replacement from the US State Department, Jeffrey Feltman. "You had it first," Pascoe said with a smile. 
 
  Previously he had declined any comment. On March 28, Inner City Press exclusively reported that "[t]he UN's top political job is slated to be filled with another American, current US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman."

  For the seven weeks since, a range of diplomats and UN officials have asked Inner City Press if it was sure: how could Ban Ki-moon so clearly (or cravenly) aligned UN policy in the Middle East with that the the US? But this Ban's UN. One source predicted that more "shoes will be thrown at Ban Ki-moon."

  Monday evening diplomats from a UN Budget committee meeting echoed that surprise, some adding that it was "disgusting" that the Reuters newswire "re-packaged Inner City Press' story" without giving any credit.


  Inner City Press wrote about it and sent an e-mail to that effect to one of the three journalists bylined on the Reuters story, which also listed two editors, without response hours later. This is corporate media, at least as it covers or does not cover the UN. (The irony is that other corporate media, protecting each other, may well credit Reuters.)

  In front of DPA and the Budget Committee, just as earlier in the day in front of the General Assembly and in the NGO Committee, no other media was present. And yet derivative stories are reported without credit.

  This will be addressed going forward. For now among reactions, it was recalled the Feltman met for the US with Ban's envoy to Iraq Ad Melkert. "Feltman IS the face of US Middle East policy," an attendee said. Now he will be, or become, the UN.

Of Pascoe we wish to say this: when he came in some pointed somewhat similarly to his State Department background. But he'd been ambassador in Indonesia, not an area so central to the UN's ostensible attempts to mediate like the Middle East.

Pascoe through time convinced many of his critics that he was "not just a tool of the US," as one of them recently put it. But Feltman comes with much more baggage. Watch this site.