Ban's
Spox Pick
Raises
Questions of
Censorship,
Due Process,
Impartiality
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 19 --
Putting a face
on the
succession of
UN
spokespeople,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon came
to the noon
briefing
on February 19
to announce
that Stephane
Dujarric is
slated to take
over from
Martin Nesirky
on March
10. Video
here, from
Minute 4:10.
The pick raises
a number of
questions
that will be
explored in
the next 19
days. But
threshold
questions
include the
need for
impartiality,
the need to
strictly
separate the
roles of
spokesperson
and Media
Accreditation,
and Dujarric's
position on,
and role in,
censorship.
The
last, on
censorship, is
something of a
litmus test.
In his current
position which
includes
overseeing UN
Media
Accreditation,
Dujarric
received (and
in some cases
appears to
have
solicited)
anti-Press
complaints.
Despite a subsequent
request by the
New York Civil
Liberties
Union,
Dujarric has
yet to agree
that the UN
should provide
due process to
journalists
who are
subjects of
complaints by
competitors:
to be notified
of and have a
right to
respond to the
complaints, in
a content
neutral and
impartial
system.
One
of the
complaints
addressed to
and received
by Dujarric
was from Lou
Charbonneau,
then as now
Reuters UN
bureau chief.
The complaint
said
that it was "for the record"
(UN Media
Accreditation
still
does not
acknowledge a
journalist's
right to see
his or her
Accreditation
record
including
complaints).
As
elsewhere in
the UN,
anonymous
whistleblowers
and leakers
attempt to
substitute for
rights
of due process
and
transparency.
Inner
City Press obtained a
number of the
complaints,
including the
first
of
Charbonneau's
complaints
and another
under
the US Freedom
of
Information
Act.
But in August
2013, despite
the fact that
Charbonneau's
first
complaint said
it was "for
the record,"
Charbonneau
made a Digital
Millennium
Copyright Act
filing with
Google,
claiming that
"The
copyrighted
material is a
private email
I wrote in
April 2012 and
for
which I never
gave
permission to
be published.
It has been
published
on a blog and
appears in on
the first page
of search
results for my
name and the
firm I work
for, Reuters.
It can be seen
here:
http://www.innercitypress.com/reutersLC3unmalu.pdf"
A
complaint to
UN Media
Accreditation,
particularly
saying that it
is
"for the
record," is
not plausibly
subject to
copyright --
Reuters'
ill-logic
would apply to
any leaked
document. But
Charbonneau filed the
above-quoted
under oath,
and his "for
the
record"
complaint to
Dujarric has
been blocked
-- or banned
--
from Google's
search.
This is
censorship.
What is
Dujarric's
position
on it?
After
discovering
under the
Freedom of
Information
Act that not
only
Reuters /
Louis
Charbonneau, Agence
France-Presse
and Voice
of America
but "UNCA"
had met with
Dujarric's
Media
Accreditation
pushing to get
Inner City
Press thrown
out of the UN
-- Dujarric
never notified
Inner City
Press of this
--
along with
another
independent
media Inner
City Press
founded the
alternative Free UN Coalition for Access.
Dujarric
was
put in charge
of "dealing"
with FUNCA,
and among
other
things sent a
letter attempt
to preclude it
from working
on reform.
It drove a
wedge between
FUNCA and the
wider
Department of
Public
Information,
but FUNCA's
work has
continued, as
far away as
Somaliland
and including
through @FUNCA_info
as close as
the privatized
or outsourced
UNTV
webcast that
Dujarric has
also
been in charge
of.
To have
not been
impartial,
to have
insisted particularly
despite this
history on a
"one party"
system, was
not appropriate
while atop UN
Media Accreditation
- but it would
be
impermissible
to continue,
allow or
enable as UN
Spokesperson.
A
question now
is to ensure
that as
spokesperson,
Dujarric plays
absolutely no
more role in
UN Media
Accreditation,
an essential
separately of
powers. Along
with questions
of favoritism
and
censorship,
these issues
will continue
to be explored
as March 10
approaches.
Watch this
site.
, 
