On #FreeAJstaff, UN's Ban Ki-moon Belatedly Recalls His Previous Statements, FUNCA UNconvinced

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 29 -- Amid news that Egypt imposed prison sentences on Al Jazeera journalists Mohammed Fahmy, Baher Mohamed and Peter Greste, at 5 pm in New York while the UN had still said nothing at all, the US State Department said it was disappointed, see below.

  At 10:30 pm in New York, 5 and a half hours after the US, the UN's Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a canned statement, "recalling" his own earlier canned statement - this from an organization which allowed its head of Peacekeeping to use Ban's guards to eject the Press from an open meeting, and refused to answer this week about the torching of a radio station in Burkina Faso. Here's what Ban belatedly said:

"The Secretary-General deeply regrets the decision by the Egyptian court of Cassation today to uphold the sentencing of Al Jazeera journalists Baher Mohamed, Mohamed Fahmy, and Peter Greste (in absentia), as well as others.

"The Secretary-General recalls his earlier appeals for their cases to be resolved expeditiously and in accordance with Egypt’s international obligations to protect freedom of expression and association and in full observance of due process guarantees.

"The Secretary-General underscores once again the importance of pluralism and respect for fundamental freedoms for the long-term prosperity and stability of Egypt."

  The US's 5 pm statement:

"The United States is deeply disappointed and concerned by the verdict handed down by an Egyptian court to the three Al-Jazeera journalists - Mohamed Fahmy, Baher Mohamed, and Peter Greste. The freedom of the press to investigate, report, and comment – even when its perspective is unpopular or disputed – is fundamental to any free society and essential to democratic development.

"We urge the Government of Egypt to take all available measures to redress this verdict, which undermines the very freedom of expression necessary for stability and development."

  But what will the US actually DO about this? And the UN? It remained silent, just as it refused to answer Press questions about the burning-down of a radio station in Burkina Faso, as raised by the Free UN Coalition for Access (FUNCA).

  Back on February 13, 2015, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said:

"The Secretary-General welcomes the decision by the Egyptian authorities to release on bail the journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed. He hopes that their cases, as well as those of other journalists in detention, will be resolved expeditiously and in accordance with Egypt’s international obligations to protect the freedoms of expression and association."

   Ban Ki-moon didn't explain his silence while in Ethiopia for the recent African Union summit about the terrorism trial of that country's Zone 9 Bloggers.

  The Free UN Coalition for Access has been asking Ban's UN, and those who pass through it, about #FreeZone9Bloggers, as it asked about Peter Greste and his colleagues, for example here.

  On February 12, 2015 across First Avenue from the UN there was a panel discussion on protection of journalists at the International Peace Institute. Al Jazeera's Gabriel Elizondo spoke.

 Inner City Press ran across First Avenue and posed a question: does the UN system do for independent journalists and bloggers what it does for corporate or state media?

  The panelist who answered was David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression. Kaye said, "As an independent journalist, it's good to see you here. From different perspectives, I think that's right. Sometimes the UN can do so loudly and publicly. Some situation might call for a little bit more of a quieter engagement."
 
  Rapporteur Kaye said that "from the OHCHR perspective, we have different tools. Our first tool is to communicate with governments on the quiet side, send them allegation letters or urgent appeals, Zone 9 Bloggers being a good exampe of that.
If we don't get a response, to issue press releases, to call out bad behavior. I agree with the tenor or your comment -- we should be out there calling out the bad behavior at the moment that it happens, quietly or more publicly. Article 19 is not written to protect only journalists, it protects everyone's right to seek, receive and impart information."
 
  The other panelists were Bård Glad Pedersen, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Agnes Callamard, Director of the Global Freedom of Expression and Information Project at Columbia University and former Executive Director of Article 19, Matthew Rosenberg, Foreign Correspondent of the New York Times (with interesting stories of Afghanistan but who declined to discuss the NYT's coverage of Iraq before the US invasion) and Judith Matloff of Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. There will be video.

   

On #FreeAJstaff, US Urges Egypt to Redress Verdict - Or What? UN Silent

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 29 -- Amid news that Egypt imposed prison sentences on Al Jazeera journalists Mohammed Fahmy, Baher Mohamed and Peter Greste, while the UN had still said nothing at all, the US State Department said:

"The United States is deeply disappointed and concerned by the verdict handed down by an Egyptian court to the three Al-Jazeera journalists - Mohamed Fahmy, Baher Mohamed, and Peter Greste. The freedom of the press to investigate, report, and comment – even when its perspective is unpopular or disputed – is fundamental to any free society and essential to democratic development.

"We urge the Government of Egypt to take all available measures to redress this verdict, which undermines the very freedom of expression necessary for stability and development."

  But what will the US actually DO about this? And the UN? It remained silent, just as it refused to answer Press questions about the burning-down of a radio station in Burkina Faso, as raised by the Free UN Coalition for Access (FUNCA).

  Back on February 13, 2015, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said:

"The Secretary-General welcomes the decision by the Egyptian authorities to release on bail the journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed. He hopes that their cases, as well as those of other journalists in detention, will be resolved expeditiously and in accordance with Egypt’s international obligations to protect the freedoms of expression and association."

   Ban Ki-moon didn't explain his silence while in Ethiopia for the recent African Union summit about the terrorism trial of that country's Zone 9 Bloggers.

  The Free UN Coalition for Access has been asking Ban's UN, and those who pass through it, about #FreeZone9Bloggers, as it asked about Peter Greste and his colleagues, for example here.

  On February 12, 2015 across First Avenue from the UN there was a panel discussion on protection of journalists at the International Peace Institute. Al Jazeera's Gabriel Elizondo spoke.

 Inner City Press ran across First Avenue and posed a question: does the UN system do for independent journalists and bloggers what it does for corporate or state media?

  The panelist who answered was David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression. Kaye said, "As an independent journalist, it's good to see you here. From different perspectives, I think that's right. Sometimes the UN can do so loudly and publicly. Some situation might call for a little bit more of a quieter engagement."

  Rapporteur Kaye said that "from the OHCHR perspective, we have different tools. Our first tool is to communicate with governments on the quiet side, send them allegation letters or urgent appeals, Zone 9 Bloggers being a good exampe of that.
If we don't get a response, to issue press releases, to call out bad behavior. I agree with the tenor or your comment -- we should be out there calling out the bad behavior at the moment that it happens, quietly or more publicly. Article 19 is not written to protect only journalists, it protects everyone's right to seek, receive and impart information."

  The other panelists were Bård Glad Pedersen, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Agnes Callamard, Director of the Global Freedom of Expression and Information Project at Columbia University and former Executive Director of Article 19, Matthew Rosenberg, Foreign Correspondent of the New York Times (with interesting stories of Afghanistan but who declined to discuss the NYT's coverage of Iraq before the US invasion) and Judith Matloff of Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. There will be video.

   

Amid Good News of Peter Greste Extradition from Egypt, Of Silence at UN on Ethiopia's Zone 9 Bloggers and Others, Selective Views

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 1 -- Amid news that Egypt is extraditing journalist Peter Greste, statements are churning out from all corners. If UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon chimes in, however, he should explain his silence this week while in Ethiopia about the terrorism trial of that country's Zone 9 Bloggers.

  The Free UN Coalition for Access has been asking Ban's UN, and those who pass through it, about #FreeZone9Bloggers, as it asked about Greste and his colleagues, for example here.

  (While Mohammed Fahmy may be renouncing his Egyptian co-citizenship to follow Greste, the situation of Mohammed Baher must also be resolved, and the journalist released - like others.)

  When the UN held a “Social Media Summit” on January 30, it concluded with a panel about trends, from mobile to analytics to video and Facebook's acquisition of Snapchat. 

  But what about the UN defending or at least speaking up for freedom of expression on the Internet?

  Earlier on January 30, Inner City Press for the Free UN Coalition for Access asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric why Ban while in Ethiopia for the African Union summit had not raised the terrorism charges brought against the Zone 9 Bloggers.Video here.

   Dujarric said Ban has spoken elsewhere about freedom of expression in Africa, and that the (other) contents of his AU speech were interesting. 

   So Inner City Press went to the #SocialUN final panel and asked, does the UN do enough to speak up for freedom in social media? One of the panelists had just finished praising high tech in Qatar. What about arrests for insulting the leader? What about Nabeel Rajab in Bahrain? Video here.

  Panelist Hayes Brown of BuzzFeed, who advised and practices Be a Person on Twitter, including baking and (good) jokes, said it is hard for the UN, since it has member states that pay its bills. He said he agreed about bloggers in Ethiopia but wasn't sure what the UN could do, beyond speaking up.

  Well, as to the Zone 9 Bloggers, the UN has yet to speak up. That would be a start.

  Panelist Liz Borod Wight, who moderator Sree Sreenivasan marveled is paid to do Instagram for the BBC, cites those who tweeted #JeSuisCharlie and said those who have freedom of expression should use it.

  Panelist Adam Glenn from CUNY Journalism School said, hoping not to offend the hosts the UN, that the UN should ensure that all of its staff have training and can tweet.

  Inner City Press and FUNCA note, for example, that a UN staffer in South Sudan abruptly stopped tweeting after she tweeted this: "#breaking Lou Nuer youth are mobilising in big numbers leaving #Akobo town empty heading towards Dengjok #Southsudan."

   As Inner City Press reported at the time, after Mathilde Kaalund-Jørgensen raised this alarm, the tweet and her Twitter account profile both disappeared. So much for Rights Up Front.

  At the end of the panel a UN staffer took the floor to acknowledge that UN staff cannot tweet what they think. But can't Ban Ki-moon say what he thinks? Or doesn't he think it? We'll have more on this.

    

At UN, Ban Ki-moon Meets Burundi for 8 Minutes, France for 19, Poland and Panama 12 Minutes Each; Egypt on Journalists?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 4 -- When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon held six photo-ops and meetings with new Ambassadors to the UN on September 4, the shortest meeting at a mere eight minutes was with Burundi's Albert Shingiro.

  To Inner City Press, which throughout this year has here and elsewhere covered the UN's belated inquiry into complaints to Ban that Burundi's ruling party was arming its youth wing, and then the expulsion of a UN staffer from the country, that the meeting with Burundi would be shortest seemed strange. Shouldn't Ban have something to say or ask about?

  With France's new Ambassador Francois Delattre, by contrast, Ban met for 19 minutes. Delattre was accompanied by his spouse, so that might be some explanation. But Ban met with both Boguslaw Winid of Poland and Laura Elena Flores Herrera of Panama for 12 minutes; Costa Rica's Juan Carlos Mendoza Garcia also had a longer meeting than Burundi. Why?

  With Egypt's new Ambassador Amr Abde-latif Aboulatta, the Free UN Coalition for Access wonders whether the plight of jailed journalists, including but not limited to #FreeAJstaff, was raised. Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric was spotted on the 38th floor at the end of the photo ops, but was not present during the meetings.

   Instead it was Ban's outgoing Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez Taranco (he is only shifting to Peacebuilding, under Ban's so-called Five Year rule of mobility). So what could be discussed for 19 minutes with Gerard Araud's successor Francois Delattre, from whom we hope to hear more soon, or for eight minutes with Burundi's Albert Shingiro?

  At the September 4 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Dujarric's deputy Farhan Haq:

Inner City Press: in Burundi, a coalition of opposition parties wrote to the Secretary-General in February with the allegation that the ruling party was arming its youth wing. And I know there have been developments since then, but the new development is that the head of the opposition parties is being… faces five years in jail for having written a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about these troubling obligations. And I wanted to know what — almost in the context of kind of witness protection or whistleblower rights — what is the UN's response to someone facing jail time for raising an allegation like this to the Secretary-General?

Deputy Spokesman Haq: I will check on that and we will try to get back to you.

  Five hours later, including after Ban's meeting with Burundi's Albert Shingiro, there was no answer. Watch this video - and watch this site.

   

UN Censorship Alliance, Whose Head Pamela Falk Is Quoted Calling the UN "We," Is Exposed in Dutch

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 18 -- Is it the function of journalists ostensibly covering an institution to providephoto-ops for the head of the institution? 

  Inner City Press and the Free UN Coalition for Accessasked that question two weeks ago, when the UN Correspondents Association promoted Secretary GeneralBan Ki-moon's appearance at their soccer game with ambassadors they also purport to cover. 

   Now, that UNCA's Executive Committee and its head, Pamela Falk of CBS, are too close to Ban Ki-moon and the UN has been outed in Dutch, as well, here, by Maite Vermeulen of De Correspondent. As auto-translated:

“Pamela Falk is the head of the UN Correspondents Association. They just got a new lounge in the UN building. But how journalism is her job really? Falk talks about 'we' when she talks about the UN. To what extent such a journalist can have an independent way to do post about the UN? Its news agenda is not fully determined by the UN itself, rather than by its own journalistic instincts? And if these 200 accredited journalists are the only ones on whom the UN in the news, is not it misleading?”

  We'll have more on this: the scribes saying "we" when they talk about the UN they are supposed to be covering and holding accountable says it all. UN Censorship Alliance.

   It is symbiosis: the scribes want to be seen as having access, and in this case the group UNCA which has a documented (by FOIA) history of trying to get investigative media thrown out of the UN, doing nothing when the News Agency of Nigeria was evicted from the UN due to a lack of space when the UN gives UNCA a big room that sits empty and dark most days -- UNCA is grateful to be promoted by Ban's spokesman. But why is he doing it?

  The UN's Office of the Spokesperson these days even more than before won't give straight answers, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Darfur to South Sudan, while increasingly on the margins of issues like Iraq and Ukraine, it's now a time for bread and circuses. 

  This group, the old UN Correspondents Association, in 2012 demanded the censorship of Inner City Press reporting on its screening in the UN of Sri Lanka's goverment film denying war crimes, which noted that UNCA's President had previously had a financial relationship with Sri Lanka's Ambassador.

  And there at the game, which the UN's own Twitter account promoted along with its handpicked scribes, the former UNCA president was in his UNCA jersey. To whom is he renting now?

  UNCA itself promoted without irony or comment the participation of "Egypt Ambassador Mootaz Ahmadein Khalil" -- which push came to shove, or push-over, there was no mention of #FreeAJstaff. Here was Ban with Egypt's Permanent Representative, here.

  On July 3, an UNCA board member from Reuters tried to re-purpose the promotional photograph as.... Journalism is not a crime. A day late - and this is the same Reuters which has via a bogus Digital Millennium Copyright Act filing gotten Google to ban from its Search a copy of Reuters "for the record" complaint trying to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN. The DMCA filing is here, via the Electronic Frontier Foundation's ChillingEffects.org; the (now half censored) underlying filing with Dujarric is here.

  After similarly trying to get removed from the Internet factual coverage of the UNCA president's diplomatic rental income, the UNCA Executive Committee not only tried including through Dujarric to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN -- they also refused to implement any reforms or best practices in its relationships those it is ostensibly covering. Financial relationships? No problem, apparently. 

  Nor has UNCA adopted any rule that it will not seek to censor or get journalists thrown out of the UN - it continues as the UN's Censorship Alliance.

   So Inner City Press quit UNCA, to whose Executive Committee it had been elected, and it co-founded the newFree UN Coalition for Access, which is for example pushing for, wonder of wonders, accurate answers in the UN Press Briefing Room by the UN Spokesperson.

  Typically, when on April 15 outgoing French AmbassadorGerard Araud right in the Briefing Room told a Lebanese reporter, who had paid dues to UNCA, that "you are not a journalist, you are an agent," UNCA dragged its feet.

  The Free UN Coalition for Access formally asked Dujarric to convey to Araud and the French mission the stated position, that accredited journalists should be treated with respect. But Dujarric declined.

Watch this site.

   

After UN Misleads on DRC, Promotes Soccer with Censors, No #FreeAJstaff Much Less #FreeALLjournalists

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 2 -- In a UN which won't give straight answers, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Darfur to South Sudan, while increasingly on the margins of issues like Iraq and Ukraine, it's now a time for bread and circuses. 

  Or rather for softball soccer between UN-based officials and those who are ostensibly supposed to hold them accountable. 

  On July 2, moments after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric had refused to explain his inaccurate or misleading answer to a Press question about the UN flying a sanctioned FDLR militia leader around the Democratic Republic of Congo on June 27 (Inner City Pressvideo here), he was invited to play soccer or football with a group of some reporters. UN Video here, Minute 16:22.

  This group, the old UN Correspondents Association, in 2012 demanded the censorship of Inner City Press reporting on its screening in the UN of Sri Lanka's goverment film denying war crimes, which noted that UNCA's President had previously had a financial relationship with Sri Lanka's Ambassador.

  And there at the game, which the UN's own Twitter account promoted along with its handpicked scribes, the former UNCA president was in his UNCA jersey. To whom is he renting now?

  UNCA itself promoted without irony or comment the participation of "Egypt Ambassador Mootaz Ahmadein Khalil" -- which push came to shove, or push-over, there was no mention of #FreeAJstaff. Here was Ban with Egypt's Permanent Representative, here.

  After trying to get removed from the Internet factual coverage of the UNCA president's diplomatic rental income, the UNCA Executive Committee not only tried includingthrough Dujarric to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN -- they also refused to implement any reforms or best practices in its relationships those it is ostensibly covering. Financial relationships? No problem, apparently. 

  Nor has UNCA adopted any rule that it will not seek to censor or get journalists thrown out of the UN - it continues as the UN's Censorship Alliance.

   So Inner City Press quit UNCA, to whose Executive Committee it had been elected, and it co-founded the new Free UN Coalition for Access, which is for example pushing for, wonder of wonders, accurate answers in the UN Press Briefing Room by the UN Spokesperson.

  Typically, when on April 15 outgoing French AmbassadorGerard Araud right in the Briefing Room told a Lebanese reporter, who had paid dues to UNCA, that "you are not a journalist, you are an agent," UNCA dragged its feet.

  The Free UN Coalition for Access formally asked Dujarric to convey to Araud and the French mission the stated position, that accredited journalists should be treated with respect. But Dujarric declined.

  This is the context of the (softball) soccer game that UNCA President Pamela Falk promoted, including with photographs of a jersey branded “UNCA” just as she (and Dujarric) try to brand each UN press conference with the name “UNCA.”

  And the UN's main Twitter account promoted UNCA, just as Ban's UN gives a large room which sits empty and dark most days, even as the UN evicted the News Agency of Nigeria claiming it needed space. Other journalists working at the UN have no workspace. But UNCA's big wigs need space to practice - to flop?

  They said a ceremonial kick-off wout be performed by Ban Ki-moon, who hasn't held a press conference in New York in months, instead faux "press encounters" and now an interview, on LinkedIN.  And it was, after Ban Ki-moon left an event on the death penalty, which on his first day he said is a matter for each member state. They whispered that Ban's senior adviser Kim Won-soo would play on the “Ambassadors” team - and he did.

  Some ambassadors were told this confab is of all journalists covering the UN -- it is not. Several Permanent Representatives asked Inner City Press if it or FUNCA would participate -- the answer is no -- and some more questioned the appropriateness of the marketing, including by the UN, and of UNCA's direction generally. So it goes - for now: softballs with censors. Watch this site.

   

As #FreeAJstaff Used in UN Gabfest, Will Ban Ki-moon Raise #FreeALLjournalists to al-Sisi, Free UN Coalition for Access Asks

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 25 -- While Egypt's sentencing of the three Al Jazeera journalists to seven years in prison was condemned in the UN on June 25, sometimes sincerely and often self-servingly, Egypt's logic remains alive and well in the UN.

  Troublingly, other imprisoned journalists in Egypt and elsewhere are being ignored. And it remains unclear if UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who will be with Egypt's al-Sisi at the African Union summit in Malabo, will even asked to meet Sisi on the topic. Video here; from the UN transcript:

Inner City Press: In his trip to the African Union Summit in Malabo, will the Secretary-General be meeting with President [Abdel Fatah] al-Sisi of Egypt, who’s scheduled to be there? And in that case, will… does he intend and can you say that, now that he will be bringing up the issue of the condemned journalists of Al Jazeera and other journalists, including Coptic and others, condemned in Egypt?

Spokesman Stephane Dujarric: The Secretary-General’s meetings, obviously, have a bilateral schedule, having accompanied… having attended as an accompanier a number of these summits, the bilaterals are very fluid — some scheduled, some not scheduled. So, what we will do is we will announce them after they happen. My colleague Matias [Gillmann] is there. As soon as something is confirmed, we will be able to confirm it. Obviously, the Secretary-General has in the past spoken out and raised the issue of mass trials, including the conviction of the journalists, with Egyptian authorities. And it is always best to issue a readout after meeting.

Inner City Press: But, has he sought a meeting with President al-Sisi?

Spokesman Dujarric: As I said, you know, once the bilateral happen… these things are truly very fluid, and we will give you a readout as soon as the meetings happen.

  Rather than press Ban, the big-wigs of the old UN Correspondents Association were tweeting at Western ambassadors to please come to the big room the UN gives them, for a "town hall." 

  Present there was UNCA's past president, who tried to censor Press coverage of his past financial relationship with Sri Lanka's ambassador; past UNCA board members fromVoice of America (which then tried to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN) and Reuters (who has outright censored his own "for the record" complaint to the UN, getting Google to block it from Search, here).

 In the UN Security Council in the early afternoon of June 25, speakers included Turkey, which at the end of 2013 had fully 40 journalists imprisoned, and Italy, which had one: Francesco Gangemi of Il Dibattito.

   In the UN Press Briefing Room on April 15, 2014, outgoing French Ambassador Gerard Araud told a Lebanese reporter, "You are not a journalist, you are an agent" -- Egypt's logic.

  But on June 25, there were at least two representatives of France's mission to the UN headed to a #FreeAJstaff "town hall."

  The UNCA big-wigs never issued any public letter to Araud for attacking their own dues paying member, in the UN. They wrote to Egypt's Perm Rep, receiving in reply the Deputy, at whom attendees say one of the recent UNCA board members laughed.

   Back in April, Inner City Press on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric if he would convey to Araud and the French mission the stated position that reporters should be treated with respect. Dujarric declined.
 
   The board members of old United Nations Correspondents Association has "dragged its feet" on any defense of its own dues paying member from Lebanon. But now they scheduled an "Emergency Town Hall meeting" on the Al Jazeera case, tweeting photos of themselves with Western mission spokespeople. 

  UNCA head Pam Falk tweeted that #JournalismIsNotACrime -- strange, from a person who shouted in a meeting she'd already said she knew would be reported, on the record, that covering her and UNCA made a one not a reporter but a “mugger” -- audio here, here andhere.

  Again, that is the logic used by Egypt, that if you don't like coverage, the reporter is not a journalist but a criminal, or mugger. This is the UN's Censorship Alliance.

Footnote: After UNCA's Falk and Evelyn Leopold wasted the two and only questions at UNDP, mid-layoffs, they had UN (and former UNDP) Spokesman Stephane Dujarric's office squawk over the loudspeaker system that UNCA would be showing the World Cup in the large room the UN gives it, usually to sit empty, while the UN evicted the News Agency of Nigeria for lack of space. Here is background on UNCA's television games under Falk. Watch this site.

   

At UN, Gabfest to #FreeAJstaff Includes Jailers, Press Attackers, UN's Censorship Alliance

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 25 -- While Egypt's sentencing of the three Al Jazeera journalists to seven years in prison is rightly being condemned in the UN on June 25, sometimes sincerely and sometimes self-servingly, Egypt's logic is alive and well.

  And, troublingly, other imprisoned journalists are being ignored. 

  In the UN Security Council in the early afternoon of June 25, speakers included Turkey, which at the end of 2013 had fully 40 journalists imprisoned, and Italy, which had one: Francesco Gangemi of Il Dibattito.

   In the UN Press Briefing Room on April 15, 2014, outgoing French Ambassador Gerard Araud told a Lebanese reporter, "You are not a journalist, you are an agent" -- Egypt's logic.

  But on June 25, there were at least two representatives of France's mission to the UN headed to a #FreeAJstaff "town hall."

  At the June 25 UN noon briefing, citing not only the three from Al Jazeera but other journalists sentenced in Egypt, including a Coptic journalist sentenced in Minya to five years, another to three years in Suez, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric if Ban has even ASKED to meet al-Sisi when both are in Malabo for the African Union summit. 

   Dujarric did not say yes.

   Back in April, Inner City Press on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric if he would convey to Araud and the French mission the stated position that reporters should be treated with respect. Dujarric declined.
 
   The old United Nations Correspondents Association has "dragged its feet" on any defense of its own dues paying member from Lebanon. But now it schedules an "Emergency Town Hall meeting" on the Al Jazeera case.

  In fact, UNCA executive committee members have tried to get reporting they didn't like removed from the Internet, about a financial link between Sri Lanka's ambassador and UNCA's head and the latter unilaterally holding an "UNCA" screening of a Rajapaksa government film denying war crimes.

  When censorship failed, UNCA executive committee members tried to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN - one of them later made a Digital Millennium Copyright Act sworn statement to Google that his "for the record" complaint was copyrighted - and got it banned from search: censorship.

  Now this UN Censorship Alliance schedules an "Emergency Town Hall meeting" on the Al Jazeera case. Watch this site.

 On June 24 the UN Development Program, which under Helen Clark is moving for massive layoffs of its staff, held a press conference in UN Headquarters, very rare for UNDP. 

  But avoiding questions on layoffs, UNDP set aside the first question for Pamela Falk of CBS, for UNCA. Falk's softball question ignored what Palau's representative said on the record in February. Will CBS be reporting on this press conference, or was the question essentially wasted such that layoffs could not be asked about?

  Then the UNDP spokesperson gave Falk's sidekick the second -- and LAST, he said -- question, which was wasted on a mere follow up to Falk's. Inner City Press objected to the mere two question press conference; it and the Free UN Coalition for Access formally oppose the setting aside of the first (and here, second and last) question for UNCA a/k/a the UN's Censorship Alliance.

Under Falk, even more than under her rarely present predecessor, UNCA has taken to branding and claiming the first question press conferences and even stakeouts, even if Falk does NO reporting on the topic.

  On June 24, Falk lamely asked exactly the same question that had already been asked, not only about illicit financial flows but even the important topic of the journalists in jail in Egypt. Al Jazeera had already asked, but Falk asked exactly the same question (when there were many real questions to ask about the jailing and the wan response by the UN, whosecredibility on press freedom is in question -- for example, in Sri Lanka.)

  Falk then tweeted that #JournalismIsNotACrime -- strange, from a person who shouted in a meeting she'd already said she knew would be reported, on the record, that covering her and UNCA made a one not a reporter but a “mugger” --audio here, here and here.

  Again, that is the logic used by Egypt, that if you don't like coverage, the reporter is not a journalist but a criminal, or mugger. This is the UN's Censorship Alliance.

Footnote: After UNCA's Falk and Evelyn Leopold wasted the two and only questions at UNDP, mid-layoffs, they had UN (and former UNDP) Spokesman Stephane Dujarric's office squawk over the loudspeaker system that UNCA would be showing the World Cup in the large room the UN gives it, usually to sit empty, while the UN evicted the News Agency of Nigeria for lack of space. Here is background on UNCA's television games under Falk. Watch this site.