by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
UN GATE, June 12 – On World Press Freedom Day, the United Nations of Antonio Guterres and Melissa Fleming was more hypocritical than usual.
While UN Global Communications chief Fleming put out a video of Guterres equating what he (and she) characterize as disinformation as the threat to press freedom, Guterres has banned Inner City Press from entering the UN since 2018, when it exposed the omission of links to bribery firm CEFC China Energy from his financial disclosure.
On June 12, Guterres while plopped down in the propagandist-only UN Press Briefing Room "launched" his proposal to blue wash dictators' censorship efforts as a war on disinformation - which he defines as anything critical of the UN or, even more so, of him. Video with commentary here. His Melissa Fleming carries it out.
Fleming, who has refused to answer a polite pro bono letter from the Quinn Emanuel law firm seeking a dialogue to end her ban of Inner City Press, was intoning, as echoed by another paid UN system communications staffer, "We're creating at the UN a central capacity to monitor and …rapidly react when mis- and dis information and hate speech threaten not just our people, our operations, but also the issues and causes we're working on," -Melissa Fleming."
What is the accountability for this "central capacity" that, without explaining or answering, has the Press roughed up and banned?
Law firm Quinn Emanuel, on a pro bono basis, wrote to Fleming and the UN Correspondents Association (with state media of China on its board of directors) seeking a dialogue to reinstate Inner City Press.
There has been no answer, nor to an appeal to Guterres head of security Gilles Michaud.
Still, ill-informed media run the Guterres video without commentary. Disinformation, indeed.
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