UN
Charges
ICP With
Misconduct For
Signing In
Yemeni Nobel
Winner,
Serving Lanka
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 14, updated
-- Two days
after Inner
City Press
signed in to
the UN as a
guest Yemeni
Nobel Prize
winner
Tawakkol
Karman, who
ultimately
spoke to the
Press and
others about
Syria and the
Arab Spring,
the UN's
response is to
charge Inner
City Press
with
misconduct.
See e-mail
below.
This
comes after
this same Ban
Ki-moon Media
Accreditation
& Liaison
Unit blocked
Inner City
Press from
covering
the
alleged war
criminal Sri
Lankan general
Shavendra
Silva advising
Ban on
peacekeeping,
and then
reneged on its
commitment to
renew Inner
City Press'
accreditation
on June 4,
amid death
threats
against Inner
City Press
from Sinhalese
extremists
supportive of
Sri Lanka's
government.
Significantly,
back
in October
2011 Inner
City Press
also signed in
Tawakkol
Karman, who
then spoke on
the UN
Television
camera at the
stakeout.
Inner City
Press at that
time -- before
challenging
Ban and his
MALU about
Shavendra
Silva --
received no
complaint at
all, and
Tawakkol
Karman's
stakeout was
broadcast and
put on the
UNTV archive.
This
time, Tawakkol
Karman's
question and
answer
session,
conducted
under the
not-disapproving
eye of UK
Permanent
Representative
Mark Lyall
Grant and UN
Envoy Jamal
Benomar, among
many others
including
other media
which used
quotes from
the stakeout,
was NOT
broadcast
live, and
despite
promises by
Ban spokesman
Martin Nesirky
and MALU
supervisor
Stephane
Dujarric was
not, even mid-day
the day
after, put on
the UNTV
Archive.
Inner
City Press
worked and put online its own
hand-held
video of the
morning on its
YouTube
channel here:
this depicts
what Inner
City Press is
being charged
with
misconduct
for. All this
takes place in
the run-up to
the Department
of
Public
Information
being taken
over by Ban's
Austrian pick,
Peter
Launsky-Tieffenthal.
As
reported here
and, for
example, by
the Sri Lanka
Campaign
which is
chaired by
Kofi Annan's
former
communications
director
Edward
Mortimer,
Ban's UN is at
a minimum
playing into
the hands of
Sri Lanka
extremists by
publicly
calling into
question Inner
City Press'
accreditation
as a
journalist at
the UN, here
with MALU
chief Isabelle
Broyer using
the word
"misconduct"
for signing in
a Nobel Peace
Prize winner.
By
contrast, when
a
controversial
screening was
arranged in
the UN's Dag
Hammarskjold
Library
Auditorium
featuring
Shavendra
Silva and his
fellow alleged
war criminal
and Sri Lankan
diplomat
Palitha
Kohona, the UN
did nothing.
In
fact, Inner
City Press'
reporting
about Silva's
and Kohona's
appearance to
screen a
government
propaganda
film "Lies
Agreed To,"
which
purported to
rebut the UK
Channel 4
documentary
"Killing
Fields of Sri
Lanka" which
was NOT shown
in the UN due
to a
celebration
for Ban
Ki-moon, has
triggered a
proceeding
which has
given rise to
death threats
against Inner
City Press' UN
reporter, one
of them copied
to Marie Okabe
and two others
in Ban's UN
Secretariat.
Part
of the threats
is the
repetition of
what some Ban
senior
advisers have
whispered,
that Inner
City Press
must be funded
by the
(defunct)
Liberation
Tigers of
Tamil Eelam,
since it asks
questions
about the
40,000
civilians
killed by the
government in
Sri Lanka in
May 2009.
So
the UN has
fanned the
anti Press
flames leading
to death
threats, and
now accuses
Inner City
Press of
"misconduct"
and seeks to
move closer to
expelling it,
for having
signed into
the UN a Nobel
Peace Prize
winner. This
is Ban
Ki-moon's
United
Nations. Watch
this site.
Subject:
Security
Council
stakeout
To:
matthew.lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
From: Isabelle
Broyer [at]
un.org
Date: Thu, Jun
14, 2012 at
9:04 AM
Cc: Stephane
Dujarric [at]
un.org, Hua
Jiang [at]
un.org
Good
Morning
Matthew,
Two
days
ago you signed
in several
guests to
enter United
Nations
premises and
brought them
to the
Security
Council
stakeout area.
While you are
clearly
permitted to
sign in
guests, you
overstepped
your
privileges as
an accredited
UN
correspondent
by organizing
a press
stakeout by
one of your
guests.
As
you
may be aware,
the microphone
set up in the
stakeout area
is reserved
for
representatives
of member
states, UN
officials and
others who may
have official
business in
the Security
Council and
who are
sponsored by
either an
official
delegation or
UN staff. When
you sign in a
guest it
becomes your
responsibility
to ensure that
they follow
the proper
rules.
I
take this
opportunity to
remind you
that all UN
Resident
Correspondents
are expected
to carry out
their work in
a professional
manner and
urge you to
refrain from
repeating this
misconduct in
the future.
Thank you.
Isabelle
Broyer
Chief, Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit
United Nations
- L-248C New
York, NY 10017
Update
of
10:29 am --
the UN's
response to
the above is
this quibble
(at the time
Inner City
Press wrote
about the
failure to put
the stakeout
online, it was
not online,
that was the
point.) But we
publish this:
From:
Stephane
Dujarric [at]
un.org
Date: Thu, Jun
14, 2012 at
10:24 AM
Subject: Re:
to stakeout
S-G's Special
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations
To: Inner City
Press
Contrary
to
what your
write in your
latest piece,
the video of
your guest was
put on the
webcast
yesterday, as
I had to told
you it would.
The
reference
in the header
to "stakeout
S-G's
Special
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations" is
to Dujarric's
DPI and
Broyer's MALU
hiding behind
"non-UN"
parties to
block coverage
of alleged war
criminal Sri
Lankan general
Shavendra
Silva serving
on Ban
Ki-moon's
Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations,
even after
saying they
would
facilitate it
or be happy to
help: never
explained.
, 
