by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
UN GATE, May 27 – 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.
Jump forward three weeks and 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?
Now on May 27 we'll give an example of UN officials gaming, or in this case trying to case, the system of social media platforms. Inner City Press received notice from Blogger than two of its articles were being removed, having been "flagged."
Inner City Press checked it out - both articles involved UN DGACM, and Franz Bauman. Neither contained any malware - as provide once Inner City Press re-upped them and was informed, restriction removed. They are now (again) here and here.
But how can a platform allow a subject of two investigative articles to have them removed, based on false flagging? This is Melissa Fleming's, and ultimately Guterres, UN of censorship.
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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