By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell Book
BBC-Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN NY Mag
UN GATE / SDNY, May 23 – It was World Press Freedom Day, and in the UN which has no First Amendment there was press conference on May 3 by the US Mission to the UN. Inner City Press asked, the previous week, to attend - but as the press conference began, no answer.
So Inner City Press live tweeted it, here and below.
Nineteen days into is May UNSC Presidency, the US Mission hit new lows. In the NGO Committee, where usually the blocking of groups is by China and now Turkey, the US representative used unexplained questions to block groups, for example one from India, asking about a Swami. See here.
Maybe there is a good explanation - but if the US Mission to the UN won't even answer questions on it from US-based Inner City Press, they are just censors. The Mission has done nothing on this. And see Inner City Press May 19 tweets here & here (US)
Early on the morning of May 20, Inner City Press asked a number of people at the US Mission, including specifically the Mission's spokesperson Olivia Dalton at DaltonOA[at] state [dot] gov, this: "This is a Press question on deadline for the US Mission's explanation of why it is blocking / delaying via question, just as China does, applicant NGOs in the UN Committee, including but not limited to on May 19 the Ohio-based Hindu group and the "BRICS" NGO -
and for an explanation why USUN and Amb. Thomas-Greenfield have done nothing about the UN's ongoing ban on US-based Inner City Press entering to ask questions as before. Here is the letter the Quinn Emanuel law firm sent on my behalf, pro bono, to USG Melissa Fleming and each UNCA board members - there has been no response. There should be, from you. Today. On deadline.
Matthew Russell Lee, Esq., Inner City Press Past (and future?) Office at UN: Room S-303, UN HQ, NY NY 10017[For now SDNY] May 19, 2022 Inner City Press Q&A
But there was not answer, not from 9 am to 5 pm when the NGO Committee turned to an absurd round of Q&A, including again by the US Mission which will not answer. Video here.
By the end of May 23, the UN Secretariat reported that of 266 new applicants asked (abusive) questions, only 17 have answered. And so the meeting that had been scheduled for the morning of May 24 to at least give groups a chance of access was canceled, while still no answers from the US Mission. Inner City Press insists they must answer, and act to end the UN's ban on US-based Press.
From May 3: US Mission has not even answered, much less acted on, request by banned Inner City Press for access to ask of #Haiti #Cameroon #Honduras & UN corruption
Linda Thomas-Greenfield just said that on #Ukraine the UN Security Council has been successful. Really? How?
In fairness, LindaT_G 's claim that the UNSC has succeed on Ukraine was that it has succeeded in isolating Russia. But even the League of Nations could "isolate" wrong-doers. It just couldn't do anything about it - and so it was dissolved. UN?
Now @LindaT_G says that the Administration is raising human rights with the Egyptian government. But what is coming from it? And what about #Cameroon, for example? And #Nigeria?
Next question in UN Briefing Room Inner City Press is banned from, @LindaT_G is asked if the leaked Supreme Court decision will make the US look bad in the UN. What, the UN that covers up its peacekeepers' rapes in DR Congo and Haiti?
Now while banning Inner City Press, USUN Spox Olivia Adair Dalton gives an early question to a retired man who only asks about one issue, again and again. LindaT_G says, "Thank you for the question."
Now the question to @LindaT_G , chosen by USUNSpox OliviaAdair is from a person who held a fundraise with global pedophile Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted in SDNYLIVE trial covered by Inner City Press which @USUN bans from its "press" conference Photo here
It is 1:33 pm and @USUNAmb @LindaT_G 's 1 pm "press conference" - from which Inner City Press was banned - is already over. There were questions from pedophile (Ghislaine Maxwell) supporters, but none allowed from Inner City Press.
Inner City Press wrote to several officials at the Mission beyond spokesperson Olivia Dalton also Jeffrey DeLaurentis, GorurA and ChatterjeeS and others and at the State Department (Laurel Rapp), last week:
Dear Secretary Blinken and Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield:
I am an American journalist who has reported on the United Nations since 2005. Until July 3, 2018 an accredited correspondent, having accompanied UNSC missions to Sudan, Kenya, DRC, Cote d'Ivoire.
Then, without due process of any kind, I was outed while covering a UN Budget Committee meeting and questioning Cameroon's ambassador, the Committee chair.
I have been banned since, and my written questions for Inner City Press are not being answered, whether on Ukraine or recent sexual abuse charges against UN peacekeepers, or the extradition of Honduras' former president Juan Antonio Hernandez I reported on at the SDNY court I now cover as in-house media.
On April 27 I was at DOJ's press conference about the indictment of Archegos' Bill Hwang; on April 28, the IMF took my questions on coups in Africa. But the UN won't let me in, nor answer written questions. The purpose of this letter is to formally ask the US State Department and US Mission to ensure that I am now readmitted as a resident correspondent, before the USUN's upcoming UNSC Presidency in May.
In July 2021 the law firm of Quinn Emanuel on my behalf, pro bono, sent a polite letter to UN Under Secretary General Melissa Fleming seeking a dialogue to accomplish the above.
But as was confirmed at the UN noon briefing, while the letter has been received, there is "no change in Mr. Lee's status" (banned) - and no answer to the letter. Q&A video.
UN transcript of August 9, 2021:
Question: The law firm ‑‑ what is it called? ‑‑ Quinn Emanuel wrote a letter to the UN asking about reinstatement of our colleague Matthew Lee into the UN press corps. Do you have any comment on that?
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric: No. All I can tell you is that we've received the letter, and I'm not aware of any change to his status.
Question: You're not aware? I mean, aren't you part of the group that decides the fate of... or even the negotiations... The letter calls for renegotiation [Cross talk]
Spokesman: I decide the fate of no one. [Laughter] Trust me, trust me, my authority is extremely limited, whether at home or at work. What I can tell you and, joking aside, is that the letter has indeed been received, and I'm not aware of any... and there has been no change in Mr. Lee's status. Question: Has the letter been answered? Do you plan to answer it?
Spokesman: It's been received. Whether or not it's been answered, I don't know yet.
It has still not been answered, in any way. So pro bono law firm Quinn Emanuel wrote to Laurel Rapp at the State Department. Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2021 2:33 PM Subject: FW: Media Accreditation of Matthew Russell Lee Dear Laurel, As you know, Matthew Russell Lee is an American journalist who reported from the United Nations as a resident correspondent from 2006–2018, including accompanying and covering UN Security Council missions in Africa and Haiti. Mr. Lee is currently a member of the in-house press corps for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and reports on the IMF. Mr. Lee’s accreditation was withdrawn as he was doing investigative reporting into the UN. This autumn, Mr. Lee re-applied for accreditation but neither his application, nor the attached friendly letter sent by Quinn Emanuel on his behalf (see below), has received a response. Consequently, Mr. Lee has been unable to access the United Nations building or even obtain responses to written questions. Mr. Lee seeks an amicable path to restoration of his press credentials at the United Nations and would be deeply grateful for the assistance of the U.S. State Department in support of his First Amendment-protected reporting on the UN, consistent with UN regulations and protocols."
It is time for you to act. I believe your job includes representing the US, including American journalists, to the UN, and not only representing the UN to the US. Legally, I believe it is Constitutionally problematic for the US government to collude in denying access by a US journalist to question US officials, when for example they enter and take questions (including from state media from China and elsewhere) inside the UN. So please respond, and contact the UN / USG Fleming to ensure that I am re-accredited as a resident correspondent. For your information I am invited to WebEx briefings by the IMF and others, and am in-house media at the SDNY. The UN's banning of me and Inner City Press is pure censorship, offensive to and I'd argue now violative in your case of the First Amendment of the US Constitution. Thank you for your prompt attention, Matthew Russell Lee Inner City Press
Watch this site.
***
Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron.
