In
Ban's UN,
Investigative
Press Banned
&
Excluded,
Taste of North
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
7 -- Is it
just those
around him,
some ask, or
does UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
himself have
an aversion to
investigative
press that is
more North
than South
Korean?
On
March 5 Inner
City Press asked Ban a
question
it had been
trying to
ask his head
of
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
since
November: when will
the UN act on
the 126 rapes
in Minova by
the Congolese
Army the UN
partners with?
Ladsous
refused
to answer,
three times on
camera, then
after advocacy
by the
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
took the
question from
Inner City
Press on
February 6. He
said the UN
knew the
identify of
most of the
perpetrators.
So
a month later,
with no UN
action taken,
Inner City
Press insisted
on
a Congo
question at
Ban's Congo
stakeout, and
asked when the
Ladsous
and the UN
would finally
act on the
rapes. Ban's
answer was
described
by many as
unimpressive,
or entirely
vague. But
Inner City
Press
reported
it.
What
was the
response to
this Inner
City Press
question to
Ban Ki-moon?
It
was to
spoonfeed an
answer, two
days later, to
friendlier
journalists
from Reuters
and Voice of
America --
which late
June 20 asked
UN
official
Stephane
Dujarric
to “review”
the UN
accreditation
of
Inner City
Press.
This
is a sleazy
move, not only
unfair but
designed to
discipline the
media: if you
press too
hard, we will
give the
answers to
your
questions to
others, who
didn't even
ask.
Meanwhile,
Ban's
Media
Accreditation
unit, through
Dujarric, is
threatening
Inner City
Press with false
complaints
that it
impermissibly
quoted
Reuters' Louis
Charbonneau
and Pamela
Falk of CBS,
the “new”
president of
UNCA, known as
the UN's
Censorship
Alliance.
Inner City
Press said,
"you're on the
record," and
Falk said,
"He's going to
write this
up." Audio
here.
But
here's more:
some time ago,
Inner City
Press was
invited by a
country's
Permanent
Representative
to an event
where Ban
Ki-moon let
it be known he
would be
working on a
book with
author Tom
Plate.
Inner City
Press wrote
about it;
Ban's spokesperson
issued a few
non-answers,
and it was
done.
Now
the book,
“Conversations
with Ban
Ki-Moon”
published by
Marshall
Cavendish
International
(Asia),is
being
launched,
March 12 at
the
Princeton Club
of New York.
Inner City
Press asked to
attend and was
told yes, no
problem, “you
are confirmed
for March 12.”
Then
yesterday,
this: “we need
to cut the
press list
from the
event.”
That is, don't
come.
Inner
City Press
replied, “do
you mean no
press is
invited? Or if
some
media are
still invited,
which ones?”
This
question was
never
answered.
Rather came
the injunction
to be sure
NOT to try to
attend and
cover the
event: “you
will not be on
the
attendee list
and will not
gain access to
the event.”
Back
in December,
Inner City
Press
conducted
stakeout
interviews
outside
the $250 a
plate dinner
of the UN's
Censorship
Alliance - so
why not
now?
There
came a message
from the
book's author
Tom Plate,
“you are an
important
writer around
the UN and
your site is
extremely
helpful to
all of us in
our work. I
hope you will
accept my
apology and
consider
attending
Tuesday night.
I personally
look forward
to welcoming
you.”
An
“important
writer” -- but
one that Ban's
Ladsous openly
tried to
work around,
spoonfeeding
vague answers
to questions
Inner City
Press
asked to
friendly
journalists --
North Korea
style, some
day. This is
Ban's UN, this
is the UN's
Censorship
Alliance.
Watch this
site.
, 
