By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, January 8 -- How and to whom is news doled out at the UN, when something big, and bad in the case of today's Charlie Hebdo murders in France, happens in the wider world?
And why does the UN dole out Ban Ki-moon's quotes this way? Inner City Press asked, video here.
And why does the UN dole out Ban Ki-moon's quotes this way? Inner City Press asked, video here.
On January 7 the UN did not announce even to all journalists inside the UN, much less to reporters in New York and around the world, or to the public, that Ban Ki-moon would read a statement about Charlie Hebdo. It was not put live on UNTV. Only those who paid money were notified in writing of Ban's "remarks," and after they were read out, they rushed to file this news.
Some filed only one or two lines, like the Kuwait News Agency. (Ironic, because Inner City Press for the Free UN Coalition for Access had asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric just the day before about Kuwait imposing a year and eight months sentence for insulting the Emir). But KUNA in its short piece included the venue Ban had gift his remarks to, the UN Correspondents Association, now the UN's Censorship Alliance.
That's the larger irony or absurdity: that Ban would make remarks against censorship in the clubhouse of a group whose board tried to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN, whose then and now president demanded that an article about him and a financial link to Sri Lanka's ambassador be taken off the Internet. Ils ne sont pas Charlie.Or, #IlsNeSontPasCharlie
Mostly, Ban's line or two were worked into larger stories, without any analysis much less critique of the UN -- that's the deal. Voice of America (see here and here), Agence France Presse (see here and here), Reuters (see here, hereand straight up censorship, here).
A photographic wire service sold a shot of Ban and UNCA's president Giampaolo Pioli looking like he was asleep - this while Pioli has said no one could be a member of UNCA and of the new Free UN Coalition for Access, thereby excluding FUNCA's hard-working photographic media. This is how it works.
Ban Ki-moon's online public schedule for January 7 listed, and still at 2:45 pm only lists, two appointments: “12:00 p.m. Meeting with Mr. Mehdi Jomaa, Prime Minister of Tunisia and 3:30 p.m. Meeting with Mr. Jack Rosen, Chief Executive, Rosen Partners, LLC.”
But UN correspondents who had paid money to UNCA,now the UN's Censorship Alliance, had been sent an e-mail that Ban would make remarks in the clubhouse the UN gives them, sometime after 10:15 am.
There at 10 am, UN Television was putting cameras in -- but still, nothing in the UN Media Alert or even UNTV Pool report. It became clear, while standing in front of the UN Censorship Alliance's clubhouse, that Ban would be using this private event to make his remarks on Charlie Hebdo, and predictable take no questions.
What is the relationship between Ban's UN and UNCA? Journalists accredited to cover the UN are told, if they ask, that they are not required to join UNCA - and Inner City Press is not a member, having quit the group after being elected to its Executive Committee for 2011-12 and before, and then co-founded the new Free UN Coalition for Access.
At noon on January 7, Inner City Press for FUNCA asked Ban's spokesman Dujarric why it was not in the Media Alert. Click here for video of that Q&A, and one on Sri Lanka, and from outside the private event, here.
But the UN was using UNCA as a proxy for the whole press corps - trying, as more than one correspondent put it, to make them join UNCA to not “miss news” such as this.
The past and returned president of UNCA, Giampaolo Pioli, has said that no correspondent who is a member of the Free UN Coalition for Access can be a member of UNCA. And the notification of and invitation to Ban's “remarks” was sent only to UNCA members, who pay dues money to UNCA.
Is this appropriate?
Inner City Press, after doing its best to cover Ban's short - and yes, questionless - remarks from the space outside the UN Censorship Alliance's clubhouse, Tweeted photo here,audio from source here, went to the day's UN noon briefing and asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric why Ban's prepared remarks on the Charlie Hebdo killings had not been in the Media Alert.
Dujarric replied that it was too short notice and said that it had been “squawked” -- only to in-house journalists who were inside the UN building -- at 9:45 am. But that left a full hour to e-mail a Media Alert update to the wider list of journalists accredited to cover the UN. It wasn't done: it's the UN's Censorship Alliance.
Inner City Press for FUNCA asked Dujarric why it wasn't listed on Ban's public schedule, while Rosen Partners was (Inner City Press asked what that meeting was about but was not told.)
Dujarric replied that speaking to UNCA -- ostensibly wishing happy New Year to the journalists covering the UN, in an event publicized only to the subset which pays money to UNCA -- was an in-house event. Correspondents can, it seems, become too embedded.
When asked why he would hold a Ban Ki-moon news event without making sure it was in the Media Alert, Pioli said “we have nothing to do with the Media Alert.” And that is one of the problems, or reality: UNCA is not ABOUT wider access to news at the UN.
In fact, UNCA board members including Pioli tried to get Inner City Press thrown out in 2012, after demanding thatarticles and even photographs be taken down. #WeAreCharlie, as they say.
At the end of the day's UN noon briefing, in which another journalist reminded Dujarric that not all UN correspondents are members of UNCA and the UNCA only sends notices to its dues paying members, Dujarric said he would look into that. That is not enough.
Tellingly, from the Twitter feed of UNCA, which Dujarric claims can be relied on as a middleman to reach the UN press corps, Inner City Press is blocked. Any particular media could do it - but with UNCA doing it, the UN must cease using UNCA as a middle-man, as its Censorship Alliance.
Notices should be sent to all UN accredited media. There is no reason to use UNCA as a middle-man. That Ban should not partner in this way with censors is another question. Prepared remarks should be in the Media Alert. This is basic - and the Free UN Coalition for Access will remain on the case.
