Reuters' Shift to Paying for Claimed Exclusives Led Its UN Bureau to Predation, Under Charbonneau, Like Army Living Off the Land

By Matthew Russell Lee, Media Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, May 27 -- As corporate media gets squeezed, now does it react? At Reuters, the response was to tell reporters that analysis was no longer important, only stories labeled as exclusives, whether accurately or not.

  Some Reuters reporters complained; others left the company. Some in both categories have spoken to Inner City Press. At the UN, bureau chief Patrick Worsnip used to give credit to others, for example to Inner City Press on the North Korea UN Development Program whistleblower story it was first to report, here.

  But along with the change in Reuters' compensation scheme, now tied to the number of claimed exclusives, at the UN it changed bureau chief, to Louis Charbonneau.

  Ultimately when challenged about his uncredited use of Press exclusives, Charbonneau would use his position as First Vice President of the old UN Correspondents' Association to seek censorship of Inner City Press stories and photographs, then to seek expulsion from the UNCA Executive Committee to which Inner City Press had been elected, then expulsion from the UN.

  The actual request for expulsion, which Voice of America said was pushed (with reference to UNDP Watch, see above) and supported by Reuters, was exposed under the US Freedom of Information Act. But when the documents and issues were shown to Reuters executives Stephen J. Adler, Greg McCune, Paul Ingrassia and Walden Siew, the pattern did not cease.

  Rather it became more vicious, anonymous social media trolling falsely accusing Inner City Press of being funded by terrorists, more false complaints filed with UN Security, involving Charbonneau's subordinate Michelle Nichols and, rather desperately, Charbonneau himself. 

   Third time's the charm? Their anonymous social media trolling has continued online, even into Memorial Day weekend.

At the UN, Charbonneau even went so far as to tell an accreditation official that if the UN didn't throw out Inner City Press, he might well leave the UN. While the FOIA exposures stalled the open part of the campaign, Charbonneau has not left.

  The wider comparison might be between this "new' Reuters and the Congolese army. You change the mode of compensation and tell underlings they must "live off the land." 

  Get claimed exclusives how ever you can, and do whatever you deem necessary to try to maintain this predatory turf. When there is trouble, invoke wider bodies like UNCA, or the UN itself. The analogy could be extended. Watch this site.

As Wannabe Hipster Reuters Studies Bloomberg on Tweets and Social Media, Tone Deaf on Free Press, Gramsci on Call?

By Matthew Russell Lee, Media Comparison

UNITED NATIONS, April 11 -- That mega corporations nevertheless want to appear to be hip is, well, a symptom of cultural hegemony. 

  Take Reuters: their business is selling information to high frequency stock traders. In this, they underperform for example Bloomberg and its terminals.

  But Reuters is hip, or wants to be. It has a social media editor, it looks at the business models of BuzzFeed, of Google allowing people to designate heirs for their data -- even of Bloomberg moving to include the tweets of some high profile economists and pundits in their terminals.

  You might think that such a company, seeming to favor the free flow of information and even freedom of the press, would pause when one of its bureau chiefs was caught, via the Freedom of Information Act, lobbying to get a smaller media -- a blogger -- thrown off of a beat. But you'd be wrong.

  In this case, Reuters' UN bureau chief Louis Charbonneau went so far as to threaten that if the UN did not throw Inner City Press out, for articles particularly media critique that it published, he would have no choice but to ask about transferring out of the UN to another beat at Reuters.

  This threat obviously implicates Reuters and the role it has come to play for the UN and some Permanent Missions like those of the UK and France. But did Charbonneau tell his boss about the threat and do they stand behind it? 

  They have been urged to inquire into their UN bureau's anti-Press moves, in their own names and as anonymous trolls.(This has continued.)

  Those asked include, so far, Stephen J. Adler, Editor in Chief, Paul Ingrassia, Deputy Editor in Chief, Walden Siew, Top News Editor, Greg McCune, “Ethics,” and one other. But despite the issues raised, twice now, this mega corporation will not respond or more importantly reform.Hip or a kingdom of trolls?

  To continue with the contrast to Bloomberg -- documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that faced with the same inquiries as Inner City Press sent in June 2012 to the Reuters quartet, Bloomberg's John Walcott, if not Matt Winkler to whom the inquiries were directed, made a decision.

 The Bloomberg correspondent who signed a letter starting the kangaroo court proceeding of the UN Correspondents Association should thereafter not participate in it, or in the campaign. While this has not entirely been carried out, it still show a difference between Bloomberg and Reuters.

  Bloomberg for whatever reason realized that attacking free press may not be a good idea, perhaps or probably only for business reasons. Reuters, the hipster wannabe, still doesn't seem to “get” this. Calling Antonio Gramsci. Watch this site.

As Reuters Brags of Bagging Syria Letters, For & From Whom, Threats to Leave

By Matthew Russell Lee, Media Critique

UNITED NATIONS, April 11 -- In the stand-off between Syria and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's UN on whether to start a chemical weapons probe with one site or agree on more before beginning, the use of who leaks to whom, and why, has come to the fore.

  Reuters brags that Syrian foreign minister Walid al “Moualem also complained about the leak of previous letters exchanged between Syria and the United Nations to Reuters, saying it 'left the impression of a lack of seriousness on the part of the (UN) secretariat on cooperation in good faith.'”

  Beyond the bragging, a question being asked is who leaks to whom, and why? How does a negotiation letter from Syria to Ban Ki-moon and his German negotiator Angela Kane get leaked to Reuters, in Reuters own description?

  Either Ban's UN Secretariat gives it to Reuters, or there is a middle man. Some surmise that Ban's UN gives the letter to the Missions of the UK or France, which in turn give it to Reuters.

  (This is not unlike, at a lower level, the UN's photos of its raid on Inner City Press' office on March 18 being leaked to BuzzFeed on March 21, through an anonymous “Concerned UN Reporter” -- not unrelated to Reuters, not unrelated at all.)

  Journalists general like leaks, and Inner City Press is no exception. But there are different kinds of “leaks.” When the Bush Administration gave material about Iraq to Judith Miller, and she gave them anonymous, was that a good leak? An honorable leak? A “scoop”?

  While an angry individual whistleblower in the UN Secretariat might be one thing, for the Ban Ki-moon administration to intentional leak the negotiating document submitted to it be a member state would be a problem. Since the UN is owned by all 193 member states, who would authorize such a leak?

  But perhaps Ban's UN would think it fine to share Syria's letter with France and the UK (one wonders if this would go the other way). One would expect a “no leaking” commitment be sought and obtained, but who knows?

  While one is for some reason not supposed to say so, Reuters is often used by the UK, French and other other missions for intentional leaks. This makes Reuters' UN bureau and its bureau chief valuable to these important Permanent Five members of the UN Security Council.

  (Again turning to the smaller press freedom picture, this is what makes it so outrageous that Reuters UN bureau chief threatened that if the UN did not throw Inner City Press out, he would have no choice but to ask about transferring out of the UN to another beat at Reuters.

  Given the functions he and Reuters serve at the UN, at least for some important Missions, was that an appropriate threat? Did he inform the big wigs at Reuters about it, and do they stand behind it? 

  They have been urged to inquire into their UN bureau's anti-Press moves, in their own names and as anonymous trolls. (Which has continued.)

  Those asked include, so far, Stephen J. Adler, Editor in Chief, Paul Ingrassia, Deputy Editor in Chief, Walden Siew, Top News Editor, Greg McCune, “Ethics,” and one other. But despite the issues raised, twice now, this mega corporation will not respond or more importantly reform. Kingdom of trolls? Watch this site.

In Ban Ki-moon's UN, Agence France Presse Complains for Ladsous, Fake Tweets Tied to Reuters, UNCA of Falk of CBS News: Issues Raised

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 10 -- Emboldened by the UN's raid on Inner City Press' office on March 18, and un-acted on leaking of photographs of Inner City Press' desk and bookshelf to BuzzFeed on March 21, the UN correspondents of Reuters, Agence France Presse and CBS have hit new lows.

  After inquiries within and outside of the UN, including yesterday's expose of anti-Press moves by and in the UN of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Inner City Press is raising the issues, including to the top executives of Reuters, AFP and CBS News. In that order:

  Reuters UN bureau chief Louis Charbonneau led a campaign starting in 2012 to seek to get Inner City Press dis-accredited from the UN. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from Voice of America show this, but Charbonneau has refused to answer questions about them, and so far Reuters has done nothing.

  As a continuation of the Reuters campaign, Reuters UN correspondent Michelle Nichols filed a false complaint with UN Security on March 8, 2013.

  Nichols' complaint, which Inner City Press must assume she has shown or will now show to Reuters executives, complains, to UN Security no less, about articles Inner City Press has published.

  Nichols intentionally mis-describes a verbal disagreement in which she spoke to Inner City Press first, and Inner City Press criticized a story which was spoon-fed to Reuters by UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous after he refused Inner City Press questions on the topic for over three months, but which tellingly Nichols' complaint calls a Reuters “scoop.”

  Also tellingly, Charbonneau after the false complaint filed by Nichols whom he supervises filed his own complaint with UN Security, re-submitting a stealth complaint he had filed with UN official Stephane Dujarric in 2012; Charbonneau now complains to UN Security about the content of Inner City Press' articles.

  For the UN correspondent of a major wire service -- whose executives have been on notice as least since e-mails of May 30, 2012 through July 2, 2012 -- to file a false security complaint against the content of a smaller more investigative media is troubling. For the Reuters bureau chief to repeatedly do so is more troubling.

   But there's more.

  So far in 2013, at least five anonymous social media accounts have been established seeking to undermine both Inner City Press and the new Free UN Correspondents Association, which Inner City Press co-founded.

   One account began on March 23, 2013 with a reference to a non-consensual entry into the Inner City Press office on March 18, resulting in anonymously leaked photos appearing on BuzzFeed.com on March 21. The account fired off 18 messages from March 23 to March 29, when it stopped entirely for ten days.

  The account re-started just after midnight today, with five messages now referring to anonymous comments entered below the BuzzFeed article. The new messages also refer to UNCA -- the UN Correspondents Association of which Reuters' Charbonneau was and is first vice president.

  Probatively, the Twitter account of Michelle Nichols, which is also syndicated on the Reuters web site, also stopped for ten days starting on March 29, when Nichols said that she was going to Australia, and also restarted only yesterday.

  What will Reuters top executives, including Stephen J. Adler, Editor in Chief, Paul Ingrassia, Deputy Editor in Chief, Walden Siew, Top News Editor and Greg McCune, “Ethics," who were already on notice in 2012, now do? Inner City Press has previously brought it to the attention and sought recourse from Reuters social media guru (who asked a question, then never followed up), and several Reuters correspondents in Africa. But nothing has been done.

That's Reuters.

  As to Agence France Presse, its Tim Witcher began a campaign in September 2011 to seek to Inner City Press expelled from UNCA, then dis-accredited from the UN. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from Voice of America show this, but AFP has done nothing.

  Now as a continuation of the AFP campaign, Witcher also filed a false complaint with UN Security on March 8, 2013.

  Witcher like Nichols complains, to UN Security no less, about articles Inner City Press has written.
 
  Witcher also intentionally mis-describes the verbal disagreement in which he spoke to Inner City Press first, hissing the words “lies and distortion,” and Inner City Press criticized a story which was again spoon-fed to AFP by UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous after he refused Inner City Press questions on the topic for over three months.

  Tellingly, Witcher began his complaint asking the UN to act against Inner City Press for shouting at and abusing UN under secretary general Herve Ladsous as he came down the stairs for the meeting.

  First, what Inner City Press asked Ladsous was for the identity of the two Congolese Army battalions he had supposed given an April 1 ultimatum (still not acted on as of April 10). Witcher's description is false.

  Second, it is inappropriate for AFP to formally complain to the UN about how another media asks questions of Herve Ladsous -- particularly but not only because Ladsous previously served on a management board of AFP. Big wigs at AFP were asked in June 2012, and responded according to documents obtained from VOA under FOIA by seeking to join the request to expel Inner City Press from the UN.

 Margaret Besheer of VOA wrote to her government office in Washington, “My AFP colleague asks if they could possibly get the tenor of our letter so they can stay on message and ask In the same way. Their legal dept is in France, so it would be their regional director in Washington contacting UN on their behalf.”

  Now those at AFP who have been asked again include Jean-Pierre Gallois, David Millikin, Emmanuel Hoog, Christophe Vogt, Remi Tomaszewski, Philippe Massonnet, Beatrice Andre, Marielle Eudes, Juliette Hollier-Larousse, Yves Gacon, Sylvie Vormus and Bernard Pellegrin.

  Witcher was witnessed by a FUNCA member tearing down substantive fliers posted by FUNCA. Is this AFP's commitment to freedom of speech and freedom of association? Or does AFP stand for, at least at the UN, Anti Free Press?

  All of this has taken place under the UNCA leadership of Pamela Falk of CBS, who ghoulishly took photographs of the UN's March 18 raid and then issued a legal threat to Inner City Press, from her CBSNews.com e-mail account, to not even ask about it. 

 Now CBS News' Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews, after big wig Jeff Fager, and Joseph Gelosi and Kevin Rochford, have been asked about it.

 The UN, at least under current management, undermines freedom of the press and has created this climate. The reporting will continue. Watch this site.