By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, November 3 -- On the eve of the US midterm elections, when President Barack Obama issued a read-out of his meeting with the Federal Reserve's chair Janet Yellen citing economic grown and strong regulation, dubious in the wake of the predatory lending meltdown and the Fed's Goldman Sachs / Segarra tapes, some irregularities are even more clear.
How can mainstream media purporting to cover the election make campaign contributions at the same time? Inner City Press, reporting on this from the UN, notes that the past and seemingly future president of the UN Correspondents Association Giampaolo Pioli is undeniably a campaign contributor even as he publishes political and electoral “analysis” in writing and on video here, here andhere (albeit with only seven views.)
Pioli writes for Poligrafici Editoriale Group and its Quotidiano Nazionale, La Nazione, Il Resto de Carlino, Il Giorno and Quotidiano.net? The companies' Stefania Dal Rio was asked about this, but after confirming receipt, never responded.
Is this ethical? Well, the editor of the Boston Globe Martin Baron, among many others, opines that "It is simply not appropriate for any journalist to make a campaign contribution."
But this is at the UN, where Pioli also rented one of his apartments to Palitha Kohona, the ambassador of Sri Lanka, and then used his position as UNCA president to get the Sri Lankan government's war crimes denial film “Lies Agreed To” screened inside the UN, video here.
When Inner City Press reported on the screening and the previous financial relationship, Pioli told Inner City Press he would get it thrown out of the UN. Soon, Voice of America wrote to the UN demanding the “review” of Inner City Press' accreditation, here. These documents, it should be said, were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
But at the UN, which as noted by the new Free UN Coalition for Access has no FOIA, nothing has yet been reformed. These are your tax dollars at work. Watch this site.
