By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell book
BBC - Honduras - CIA Trial book - NY Mag
UN GATE, Nov 16 – For the FIFA World Cup that Qatar paid bribes to get, it issued restrictions on the media that go to cover it, including that journalists will not be allowed to film or photograph in "residential properties, private businesses and industrial zones."
Reporting on the deaths of migrant workers is not permitted.
Nor is blowing the whistle. Not only jailed, but now in solitary confinement is whistleblower Abdullah Ibhais, a former Media Manager within Qatar’s World Cup organising committee, the Supreme Committee for "Delivery and Legacy." He had filmed the plight of migrant workers in the Al-Shahaniya labour camp outside Doha.
Qatar also bans filming in “restricted areas where filming requires prior permission” and at “any site with signage or security advising of no photography/videography."
Some who are criticizing these restrictions, however, say nothing when the United Nations does the same. Consider the reasons given by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric for having Inner City Press roughed up and banned from the UN, for three years and counting, from CJR:
"access is not a right, it’s a privilege,” Dujarric says. “None of this is happening now because of what he writes.” Dujarric says that Lee is often critical of fellow journalists; walking the halls in the evenings, he’ll live-stream running commentary criticizing other reporters. Not long ago, encountering a crew from Al Jazeera—which Lee believes has misled viewers about its connection to the Qatari government—Dujarric says that Lee Periscoped while shouting, “Fuck you!” repeatedly. (Lee says he was complaining that Dujarric had given the Al Jazeera crew a private interview, and excluded him.) “He creates an atmosphere of incivility within our working environment,” Dujarric says."
So Inner City Press is banned by MALU's Melissa Fleming -- no solidarity for other "Media Managers," or anyone else - because it filmed on the fourth (media) floor, and for what it said? We plan to publish some of the streams.
Or for criticizing his and Guterres' relations with Qatar's Al Jazeera, which got the exclusive to Guterres' two stolen UNSG elections?
We'll have more on this.
***
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.
Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
