By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Video
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN
UN GATE, Sept 20 – While the United Nations speaks about press freedom and the upcoming UN General Assembly week under new President Zolkan Bozkir of Turkey, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has banned Inner City Press amid its questions about his finances and failures on Cameroon and in combatting or even just disclosing UN sexual abuse.
On September 17, Guterres' spokesman Staphane Dujarric was asked about it, and said "Mr. Lee's status remains uncharged. Video here.
But then something changed. On September 19 and still as of this writing on September 20, the IP address Inner City Press uses was blocked from the UN's website. Video here. The UN sites worked when checked from another's laptop. So can the UN use public money to block Internet access to their "transparency" page by media which ask and criticize them about it? Watch this site.
From the September 17 transcript:
Q: you were talking about press freedoms, a different part of the press. What's the latest with Inner City Press? They've apparently asked to be credentialed, and that's been ignored. They've played an active part in uncovering UN corruption over the years. Where does... where do they stand regarding UN credentialing?
UN Spokesman Dujarric: Mr. Lee's status remains unchanged. Okay...
Question: And does that mean that that's going to stay unchanged, meaning he's banned for the next... for this General Assembly?
Spokesman Dujarric: Well, I mean, there's no... we're not issuing any new credentials for this General Assembly, because there's really nothing... there are no physical... barely any physical events here. So, there's no... no temporary credentials are being given, anyway. All right. Thank you very much. I will leave you in the capable hands of Mr. [Brenden] Varma....
Brenden Varma, for PGA Bozkir, has refused to answer Inner City Press' questions about his backsliding on the one reform from the UN corruption scandal Inner City Press reported on, often exclusively, about PGAs Ashe and Kutesa; Bozkir has an empty "Ethics" page.
Varma then blocked Inner City Press on Twitter. This is today's UN - we'll have more on this issue. Inner City Press should be given the codes to access and ask questions at briefings immediately, like the state media and retirees Guterres and Melissa Fleming prefer and favor.
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