By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, May 4 -- When Ethiopian blogger Soleyana (Soli) Gebremichael spoke on May 4 at the US Mission to the UN for World Press Freedom Day, the first question from the audience was a fellow journalist from Uganda, asking what the African Union with its headquarters in Addis does for press freedom there.
Soli contrasted the ideals in the speeches given at the AU, including on civil society, to how little her native Ethiopia is held to them.
Inner City Press ran to cover the event, eager to ask about the role of the UN, which has a large presence and regional center in Addis. In New York, Inner City Pressasked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson about the year in jail of the Zone 9 Bloggers -- without answer. Some tell Inner City Press that there is surveillance of the UN, of which the UN does not complain.
Ambassador Samantha Power, who put questions to Soli and to Kenan Aliyev of a US State Department affiliated radio station in Azerbaijan, asked of the critique that development and health come before freedom of the press. Soli said this is just what the new government in Ethiopia says, but it is not an either / or. To be afraid of bloggers in a country with 2% internet penetration shows fear.
The third and last question taken noted that at Colombia School of Journalism it's said that bloggers are not journalists.
This outmoded view has crept into the UN, for example when State Department affiliated Voice of America asked the UN to review the accreditation of “that blogger” Inner City Press, triggered by its reporting on Sri Lanka and conflicts of interest involving the UN Correspondents Association. UNCA's then and now president rented one of his Manhattan apartments to Palitha Kohona, then later screened a war crimes denial film at the request of Kohona as Sri Lanka's ambassador.
And so the Free UN Coalition for Access has been formed, and in for World Press Freedom Day 2015 as regards the UN is demanding that “alongside the UN's selected advocacy for some but not all journalists under attack, the UN Secretariat should be pressed to speak up for media freedom everywhere it has peacekeeping missions or regional offices, at a bare minimum.” Watch this site.
Footnote: while the UN itself was not raised at the May 4 event at the US Mission, the Washington Times in a World Press Freedom Day article noted that UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous blocked the Press' camera to avoid a stakeout about Sudan, here. Word is getting out. What will be done?
