As UN's Ban Ki-moon Celebrates With Censors, Stories on Nepotism, Union Busting and Sri Lanka Are Banned

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 4, updated -- While the UN Security Council heard behind closed doors Wednesday about a UN staff member killed Tuesday in Syria, one story above Secretary General Ban Ki-moon raised a toast to the UN Censorship Alliance.

   This group, formally known as the United Nations Correspondents Association, has shown itself willing tolobby the UN to try to get the investigative Press thrown out. Wednesday it cravenly gave one of its three prizes to an in-house UN Photo taker who works for Ban Ki-moon. 

  What kind of "correspondents' association" is this? Ban's kind. 

Update: We note that photographer Cia Pak organized the competition, using the UNCA space because it's there [or, because the UN gives UNCA that space, rather than calling it for example the "UN Journalists' Club" and letting other use it.] Pak says he sent out the invitation to apply worldwide, for any UN related photographs. He indicates that in future years the volunteer judges will not vote on photos by those whom they supervise. Vaya con Dios.

   After opening a South Korea-funded UN Accessibility Center in the UN basement -- click here for Inner City Press' tweeted photo -- and before meeting Israel's foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, Ban went to the large clubhouse his UN gives to the Censorship Alliance

   Ban gave a speech, partially put online, which acted as if "all the correspondents accredited at the UN" are members of UNCA. They are not.  And while UNCA "leaders" purport to speak for all correspondents, they should not.

  Ban's UN has a strange approach: it openly allowed its audio visual contractor Team People to break the existing union. Only now are the jobs becoming re-unionized, and only because the union sued. Despite ILO principles, this UN is a place of union busting.

   On December 4, Ban put off his already long-delayed press conference until December 16, and cited the third prize photograph of "the urgent focus of a reporter's raised pen." That blue pen is that of this reporter, raised persistently because UN bureaucrats automatically give the first question to the Censorship Alliance.

  After having seen UNCA "leaders" try to expel after attempts to censor were unsuccessful, Inner City Press quit UNCA and co-founded the Free UN Coalition for Access. 

  Now when UNCA insists on offering thanks to speakers in its name for all reporters, FUNCA then offers a more nuanced, forward looking thanks - please answer more questions. When UNCA didn't say its name, Inner City Press merely said it was sure the journalists present were grateful for the briefing. That's how it should be.

 Some background: how does censorship work at the UN?Yesterday Inner City Press asked the UN spokesperson about Ban's son in law Siddharth Chatterjee being named country representative to Kenya of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.

  The spokesperson did not answer that, instead telling Inner City Press, "I think you know how to reach UNFPA." Video here, from Minute 6:30. The questions Inner City Press submitted are below, along with UNFPA's answer confirming their hiring of Ban Ki-moon's son in law.

  When Inner City Press reported on complaints of nepotism in the hiring of Ban's son in law Chatterjee, and another publication picked up and credited Inner City Press' reporting, Chatterjee contacted that publication and demanded that its story be taken off the Internet, which happened.

  Chatterjee asked the publication's reporter to tell Inner City Press to also remove from the Internet its story. Inner City Press refused.

  This is too widespread in the UN system. After Inner City Press reported as context for the screening in the UN's Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium of a Sri Lanka government film denying it committed war crimes that thepresident of the United Nations Correspondents Association had previously rented a Manhattan apartment to Sri Lanka's Ambassador, other threats began.

  Inner City Press was told to take its report off the Internet. Instead, Inner City Press offered to publish any response; none was ever provided. Instead, the Executive Committee of the UN Correspondents Association, now known as the UN's Censorship Alliance, began a kangaroo court proceeding seeking to expel Inner City Press.

  In the midst of this, in a meeting of the UNCA Executive Committee (to which Inner City Press had been elected, before now having quit the organization and co-founded the new Free UN Coalition for Access to actually advocate for rather than undermine freedom of the press), Inner City Press was quizzed about its sources. As it always does and will do, Inner City Press refused to disclose its sources.

When the UNCA proceeding against Inner City Press was reported in Sri Lanka (and supposedly internal UNCA documents from it were immediately leaked to the UN byUNCA's first vice president Louis Charbonneau of Reuters, click here for that), death threats began to arrive from extremist supporters of Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa government. The UNCA Executive Committee's response was that this was not its problem.

  This all culminated in UNCA Executive Committee members from Voice of America and Reuters urging the UN to throw Inner City Press out of the UN. 

   Since VOA is a US government agency, Inner City Press continuing its reporting has been able to use the US Freedom of Information Act to obtain hundreds of pages of documents, including VOA's request that Inner City Press' accreditation be "reviewed," and its statement that UNCA spoke with the UN about throwing Inner City Press out of the UN and that Reuters' Charbonneau and Agence France Presse's Tim Witcher supported its request.

So this is the UN's Censorship Alliance, UNCA. In 2013, UNCA "leaders" responded to the formation of the new Free UN Coalition for Access @FUNCA_info by creating multiple imposter Twitter accounts of FUNCA, then of Inner City Press itself, as exposed by MediaBistro.

  That outside exposure slowed it, temporarily; nothing had been done by current and apparently future UNCA president Pamela Falk of CBS, who was directly told on the recordabout the UNCA trolling ultimately attributable to her under command responsibility. Audio here and here; here for the statement "the fundamental problem is your website" from the Reuters first vice president of the UN Censorship Alliance. 

  They continued with their trolling campaign as recently as November 27, the day before Thanksgiving.

  And today in the clubhouse the UN gives to what has become its Censorship Alliance, Ban Ki-moon was the invited guest to toast an UNCA photo competition in which UN Photo was given one of the prizes, second place, for a shot of what Ban called "the bustle of an intense meeting," a shot independent journalists are not allowed to take, only Ban's own photographers.

  FUNCA has previously noted that just as journalists in the US White House complain when in-house administration photographers are given exclusive access banning the independent press, the UN too should stop this. But UNCA is giving this award. 

  What's next, when the UN Censorship Alliance again invites Ban later this month and charges guests $250 a plate -- an award to UN News Centre or Ban's speech writers, from the UN's Censorship Alliance? Falk is running unopposed to continue this, along with a Reuters replacement, other censors, indicters and kangaroo court "judges." There have been no reforms at all this the above described. This is how censorship at the UN works.

  Here are the questions Inner City Press has put to the two top spokespeople at UNFPA:

This is a request for UNFPA to confirm or deny that Siddhartha Chatterjee has been selected "as the new head of the United Nations Population Fund in Kenya."

If so, please confirm or deny that the government of Kenya has "delayed accept[ing] the appointment" and describe how that acceptance process works, what has happened so far and where it stands.

Also, please describe in detail the recruitment and selection process for the position and how the son in law of the UN Secretary General was selected, and please comment on those who see the potential for nepotism or favoritism.

We have received the following from UNFPA, which we publish in full:

Subject: Re: Press questions about UNFPA, Siddhartha Chatterjee and Kenya, on deadline, thanks
From: Omar Gharzeddine [at] unfpa.org
Date: Wed, Dec 4, 2013
To: Matthew.Lee [at] InnerCityPress.com
Cc: kibel [at] unfpa.org, FUNCA [at[ funca.info

Dear Mr. Lee,

Thank you for your message.

Mr. Siddhart Chatterjee was indeed selected to be the UNFPA’s incoming Kenya Representative.

This selection was conducted following established recruitment policies and procedures. Mr. Chatterjee was the candidate who emerged as the most suitable for the position, based on his qualifications and vast experience in his own country, within the United Nations -- which he first joined in 1997 -- and with other reputable international organizations.

UNFPA has completed its recruitment. Acceptance of such appointments is the preserve of the Kenyan Government, which is working on the clearance process.

As mentioned above, the recruitment followed established policies and procedures. That included advertising the post online and in international publications, such as the Economist. Working with an independent external head-hunting agency, several candidates were then interviewed by a panel, which recommended the most suitable candidate for the job.

Best regards.

Omar Gharzeddine

UNFPA

Watch this site.

As UNTV Goes Silent on South Sudan and at Noon, FUNCA Presses Questions, Amid UN Accrediation Threats & Twitter Blocks

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 8, updated -- When the Security Council met Monday about South Sudan, the UN didn't broadcast any sound. On screen, envoy Hilde Johnson's mouth was moving. But nothing could be heard.

  The Free UN Coalition for Access took to Twitter to ask why; the question was seconded. To his credit, UN official Stephane Dujarric acknowledged a “tech glitch” and asked for patience.

  But he and the UN have yet to answer why the noon briefing was not webcast live. [Update: Dujarric says it was, seemingly referring to "EZTV" and not how the outside world access the UN - a concern of FUNCA's, including with regard to the General Assembly, now with no seats for public or press.]  Some who came to complain at noon wondered aloud if this might be UN censorship. 

  Inner City Press, FUNCA co-founder, asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokeperson Martin Nesirky if the snafus were related to the UN hiring a low-bid contractor TeamPeople which laid off many long time workers. See previous Inner City Press coverage, here. 

  Back at the Security Council stakeout, US Acting Permanent Representative Rosemary DiCarlo came out to speak of South Sudan. But the microphone was too low, and the new quite young boom microphone TeamPerson didn't know it was his job to raise it. 

  No one could hear anything; an AP reporter leaned in through the UNTV filming box to extend his microphone. To this has the UN descended.

Footnote: FUNCA began its new @FUNCA_questions feed today. The UN mission in Mali @MINUSMA responded -- more on Mali in another story later today -- and thenDujarric, also to @InnerCityPress. Only one problem: Dujarric has blocked @InnerCityPress on twitter. There is a history to this, too long for this piece.

  Meanwhile the Department of Public Information has still not rescinded its June 24 threat to suspend or withdraw Inner City Press' acccreditation for merely posting a single Free UN Coalition for Access sign, when it allows UNCA two signs and much more. We'll have more on this -- and on South Sudan, if despite the UN “black out” we can find out more. Watch this site.

  

UN Says Layoffs in UN Television Won't Impact Service, in Static-filled Webcast, Live Streams for Sale?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 28 -- On the eve of UN Television shifting to a “skeleton crew” and laying off dozens of long time workers, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey about the cuts. Video here, from Minute 5:50.

  “There won't be any impact on service, Matthew,” he assured. He pulled out a piece of paper and read an if-asked answer, that the Broadcasting and Conference Support Section was re-organized in 2010 and 2011 and that most of the contractual technicians got trained in the new technology.

  But he reiterated the UN's written answer to Inner City Press of the day before, that it entirely up to contactor TeamPeople who to hire, and how many people to hire, and how to treat them. This is not what the UN's Global Compact preaches with regard to, say, clothing and sneaker manufacturers. But the UN is above that, right?

  TeamPeople also seems to be above answering questions. The Free UN Coalition for Access has directed questions at TeamPeople, without response. Perhaps it's only for SOME people.

  In fact, even the webcast of the June 28 noon breifing where Inner City Press asked these questions had loud static making it unintelligible, video here from Minute 0:42 through 2:02.

  And as has been noted in the UN, a slew of Department of Public Information officials responsible for all this are conveniently gone when it “hits the fan.” We'll have more on this. Watch this site.

Footnote: earlier this week, the UN chose not to live webcast the stakeout of Lakhdar Brahimi about Syria, then counseled FUNCA on “#patience.” On the morning of June 28, a speech by High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay was live webcast -- but not by the UN. FUNCA has asked why, here.

  Meanwhile Streamworks International continues to say to contact them to “book delivery of this stream” -- that is, of the UN's ostensibly free live webcast. What's going on?

  

Amid UNTV Lay Offs, UN Says Its Up to Contractor, Like Garment Industry; Of TeamPeople Skeleton Crew, EZTV & Banning Dissent

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 27 -- Two days before long time UN sound engineers and camera operators stand to lose their jobs, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey about Ban's labor practices and new and mounting criticism of them.

Del Buey declined to respond to the critical letter of the ITUC federation of unions, with 176 million members, which Inner City Press put online yesterday. On the situation of the audio visual technicians, he said he'd supply an answer. And now he has:

Subject: Your question on TV services at the UN
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] org
Date: Thu, Jun 27, 2013 at 2:39 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

Regarding the contract for Audiovisual Services at the UN, we have the following to say:

Following a standard procurement solicitation process, a new contract for Broadcast and Audiovisual Services at UN Headquarters in New York has been awarded to TeamPeople, a media talent staffing company based in Virginia. TeamPeople has broad experience in providing technical staffing to broadcasters, media operations, video production companies and conference facilities in the US and the UK. TeamPeople will assume full operational responsibilities on 1 July, and the contract will run for a period of two years with options to extend.

The new contractor has sole responsibility for supplying the technicians, i.e. sound engineers, camera operators and studio technicians. The UN's contract is with the contractor only and the UN is not involved in the contractor's hiring processes.

  Not only does this sound suspiciously like a clothing company saying it is not responsible for its contractors, like the one's whose factory recently collapsed in Bangladesh -- it ignores the question of the quality of the broadcasts.

  Already on Thursday when Iraq's foreign minister Zebari spoke, there was no boom microphone operator. Inner City Press shouted out its question about the $11 billion Iraq still owes Kuwait -- but still on the webcast, trying to transcribe it, questions could barely be heard.

  And it stands to get worse. TeamPeople has told those it has interviewed that it plans to go to a “skeleton crew” through August. They will be doing trainings this weekend -- the two days before they become entirely responsible for UNTV productions.

  Meanwhile on the UN's new “EZTV” system, already not working at BBC, Al Jazeera English, TV5 Monde, MSNBC and all local stations. The UN says it wants the news out, but of late makes things difficult for reporters, and even threatens them with the suspension or withdrawal of accreditation for aligning with and hanging the sign of the Free UN Coalition for Access, pushing for more access, to hold the UN to its stated principles. Watch this site.

  

At UNSC as July Nears, Still No Media Work Table, Advocates Disfavored but UNbowed, Skeleton Crew

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 26 -- As the UN Security Council's first month back in its historic home comes to a close, conditions to cover it could be quite a bit better, but threaten to get worse.

  Despite there being a media worktable in front of the Council before and during the relocation, the Department of Public Information and its UN Censorship Alliance issued a rule saying there could be no “permanent workspace” there now. This has been implemented to mean, no table to type on.

  The Free UN Coalition for Access commented against the rule as soon as it saw a draft, on May 21. Based on FUNCA's comment, a proposal telling journalists not to be at the stakeout when there was not a formal Council meeting going on -- but during, say, bilateral meetings -- was dropped.

  But when Inner City Press brought a table to the stakeout, it was seized by DPI. Eventually, after FUNCA collected signatures on a petition, two small benches were installed. But they are too small, not allow for typing, and there are few to no electrical outlets even after a $2 billion renovation.

  On June 26 a journalist was told, for the first time, that they could not bring a guest they had signed in onto the second floor where the Security Council is. @FUNCA_info asked @UNMediaLiaison and its supervisor Stephane Dujarric why this was.

It was not @UNMediaLiaison which replied, but Dujarric, saying “@FUNCA_info: 2nd floor stakeout is 4 journos but not their "guests.". If u have specific need, walk over 2 @UNMediaLiaison. They r :) 2 help.”

  Really? It was this office, MALU, which seized the table Inner City Press brought, and which passed on DPI's or Dujarric's threats to suspend or withdraw Inner City Press' accreditation for maintaining a single FUNCA sign on its office door, while UNCA has two signs, a big meeting room, a separate office and even a locked pantry it stores it wine glasses in.

  FUNCA replied to Dujarric asking who then the people who stop and take photographs of themselves at the stakeout microphone are? They have on white stickers, meaning they are guests. So some guests can come in, for tourism, but others can't, even for work? Dujarric did not answer.

  As noted @UNMediaLiaison did not reply at all, despite churning out notices all day. In fact, @UNMediaLiaison has replied to other more softball questions, including to the UN Correspondent Association's first vice president recently shown to have sent an internal UNCA document to Dujarric's private email address three minutes after it was produced.

  So UNCA spies for the UN, then gets its softball questions answered, while FUNCA which is advocating is not replied to, and is threatened with dis-accreditation? That's Ban's UN.

  Also typical of Ban's anti-labor UN, many of the TV broadcast and conferencing engineers are slated to lose their jobs on Friday. Meanwhile new contractor TeamPeople says it will hold trainings -- over the weekend -- for the fewer non-union workers replacing them as a skeleton crew. 

  This would, of course, make it harder to cover the UN. But whose pressing for that? Watch this site.

Footnote: at the June 26 noon briefing something similar happened -- Inner City Press pushed to get an additional question, then deferred when one of UNCA's Executive Committee members indicated they had one too. 

   It was a softball - and then UN spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey said that it had replaced the question Inner City Press had pushed to asked. Duly noted.

  

After Not Showing Brahimi Live, UN's Streamer Brags of Distribution, Amid Skeleton Crew, Banned by DPI?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 26 -- What is the UN Department of Public Information doing? Despite questions from the public, including the Free UN Coalition for Access, there is little clarity.

  After DPI chose on June 25 not to live webcast the media stakeout of Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, FUNCA asked why. DPI official Stephane Dujarric replied that “in as much as we would like to cover everything live all the time, we just can't.”

  This still didn't explain why DPI didn't live stream Brahimi, but worked on the Day of the Seafarer. FUNCA also asked, “Why's UNTV going to skeleton crew July 1?” 

  The reference was to the UN's new contactor TeamPeople, which is letting long time audio visual engineers go on Friday, telling them it will use a “skeleton crew” through August.

(On June 26, there were brand new people at the UN Security Council stakeout camera, and no one to man the boom microphone.)

This question about the skeleton crew has yet to be answered.

Early on June 26, @FUNCA_info asked a follower from @Streamworks_int, which states that it “has partnered with the United Nations Department of Public Information in a deal which sees Streamworks handling the streaming of United Nations Television (UNTV) coverage of the proceedings taking place at the UN headquarters in New York,” the following question: “is DPI deal with @Streamworks_int outsourcing as with TeamPeople? Is the UN paying?”

  FUNCA cc-ed this question to Dujarric, who is in charge of UNTV. But it was Streamworks that replied, “@streamworks_int is partnered with DPI purely as a distribution mechanism for UN content.”

This didn't answer if the UN is paying them -- perhaps it's Dujarric who should answer this -- nor did it explain whyStreamwork's site says to contact them “to book delivery of this stream.”

  FUNCA replied, “thanks, but is your content different than on UN Webcast?” And again, no answer yet. Inner City Press finds that it is blocked by Dujarric's twitter account.This is how DPI interfaces with the press? Watch this site.

  

Leaving UN, Susan Rice Tells Inenr City Press Cutting South Sudan Oil Flow Shaded View of Nafie Visit

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 25 -- When US Ambassador Susan Rice Tuesday did what was billed as her final UN stakeout, nearly all of the questions were about Syria. Inner City Press asked her about Sudan -- specifically, about Omar al Bashir's adviser Nafie Ali Nafie's postponed or canceled trip to Washington, what it would take to revive it, and where Sudan is going. Video here, from Minute 21:56.

  Ambassador Rice said that while the Obama administration has a preference for improving relations with Sudan, there's Darfur and more recently the Two Areas (Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, see last week's Inner City Press story here) and Sudan's violation of the September 27, 2012 agreement with South Sudan.

  On that, Rice focused on the flow of South Sudan's oil, which she was was only to be stopped for technical and not political reasons. Khartoum claims that South Sudan is assisting the SPLM-North rebels, whose shelling of Kadugli killed an Ethiopian UN peacekeeping in mid-June.

  She said the halt on South Sudan oil flow shaded the view of the timeliness of the encounter with Nafie, and that there are steps that ought to be taken.

  Inner City Press' talks with Sudanese diplomats finds them giddy that Rice is getting this promotion to National Security Adviser in Washington. But do they know what Samantha Power would bring? Can you say, A Problem from Hell? Watch this site.

Footnote: Rice spoke more than one might have expected about cost-savings at the UN, even about whistleblower protection (which Inner City Press in recent reporting on awhistleblower in Mogadishu finds to be almost non-existent, click here for that). 

 But the sound quality of UNTV during her final stakeout certainly seemed to indicate cost-cutting: an almost unintelligible echo, video here from Minute 21:56.

  As Inner City Press reported this morning, the UN's new audio visual contractor TeamPeople is planning to shift down to a “skeleton crew” on July 1, when the US takes over the Presidency of the Security Council.

   The new Free UN Coalition for Access, formed due to attempts at censorship in the UN,  has asked the Department of Public Information why it is going to a skeleton crew, here, so far without response. As Rice said, many improvements are needed. Watch this site.

From the US Mission to the UN's transcript:

Inner City Press: You mentioned Darfur and the Two Areas, and I wanted to know—since you’ve been here, in terms of Sudan as a whole, where is it going? There was—Nafie Ali Nafie was supposed to visit the US. It’s been put off. Do you think you will continue to work on this issue in your new role? And what can you say beyond sort of putting out the fires in the three areas that you’ve mentioned? There seem to be problems throughout the country. What’s the U.S. strategy? And what would it take for Sudan to do to have someone like Nafie or someone else actually come to the United States.

Ambassador Rice: Yes, Matthew, I expect to continue to work on this issue along with many others. (background noise) Hold on—if I might finish the answer. Yes, indeed, I will continue to work on the issue. The issues of Sudan and South Sudan have from the very beginning of the Administration been high priorities for President Obama and will continue to be.

We have long indicated that our preference is for an improved relationship with Sudan but in the context of Sudan meeting the most fundamental obligations to its own people. And what we have seen tragically in Darfur and more recently in the Two Areas—and now with Sudan’s violation of the September 27th Agreement with South Sudan reflected in their decision to suspend oil flows, which are not meant to be suspended under the September 27th Agreement but only for technical reasons, not for political reasons—is discouraging and has certainly shaded our view of the timeliness of such an encounter. We remain in communication with the leadership in Khartoum. We will continue to do so. But there are important steps that the United States feels ought to be taken to protect the people of Sudan, which is the responsibility of the government, and those have always been central to our interest in and ability to make meaningful progress in improving the relationship.

On Syria, UN Doesn't Live Broadcast Brahimi, Won't Answer Why, Collusion and, Soon, Skeleton Crew

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 25, updated -- There had been talk of having the “Geneva Two” talks on Syria in June. But on Tuesday morning in Geneva, before a stakeout packed with reporters, UN and Arab League Joint Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi said, “I doubt whether the conference will take place in July.”

  This was newsworthy, but search as one might from New York, Brahimi's stakeout was not on the UN live webcast. This is the type of issue worked on by the Free UN Coalition for Access, so @FUNCA_info put the question to the UN in Geneva and a UN spokesperson there, Jens Laerke.

  The UN in Geneva replied to @FUNCA_info that “this short press briefing wasn't webcast but we have published a transcript: http://ow.ly/mmAL0.”

FUNCA quickly thanked the UN in Geneva and added, “would like to know how / who decides what's webcast.”

  A reply came not from Geneva, but New York-based Stephane Dujarric, who has previously defended the turning off of the UN Webcast just as Syria Permanent Representative Bashar Ja'afari began to speak, and theblacking out of a speech by Palestine's negotiation Saib Erekat.

  Dujarric wrote to FUNCA (and Inner City Press) that “Actually the Syria Brahimi presser IS available the UN webcast page.”

  Archived video was put online after the stakeout was over. (In the case of Erekat, the blacked out video eventually went up; not so in the case of Ja'afari.) @FUNCA_info replied and asked Dujarric, “It wasn't live on the page: point of webcast. Why not?”

  But as of publication, there has been no answer. Search Dujarric's feed to see if it was somehow answered there, one finds banter with Margaret Besheer of Voice of America, which previously conversed with Dujarric trying to get Inner City Press UN accreditation “reviewed.”

Yesterday, faced with a threat from Dujarric's office to suspend or withdraw Inner City Press' accreditation for merely hanging a Free UN Coalition for Access / FUNCA sign on its office door, Inner City Press published a document showing that the first vice president of the old UNCA, Reuters' Louis Charbonneau, sent Dujarric an internal UNCA document three minutes after it was produced.

 Here is the article, including audio.

  Troublingly, Dujarric accepted it on a non-UN email address steph [at] dujarric.com. Is Dujarric an UNCA member? Does UNCA or at least its first vice presidence do intelligence work for the UN? After this improper collusion, what to make of a DPI-UNCA rule being cited to censor or expel Inner City Press for a mere FUNCA sign? Watch this site.

Footnote (and update): Things threaten to get worse, including on the webcasting front, at UN headquarters in New York. The UN gave the audio visual contract to “TeamPeople,” which has told existing workers they will be laid off this Friday and a “skeleton crew” kept through August. Does that mean Brahimi has told them Geneva Two won't happen in August, either?

Update: after publication, Dujarric replied to @FUNCA_info and Inner City Press, "In as much as we wud like to cover everything live all the time, we just cant. #patience." But why has the audio visual contract been given to a union buster who will go to an even more skeleton crew?