UNITED
NATIONS, June
18 -- This UN
is
incompetent,
petty and has
no
commitment to
freedom of
speech or
association.
Its Department
of
Public
Information,
which in
2012 worked
with the
UN
Correspondents
Association
to try to
silence or throw out the
Press,
started 2013
in
a different
way.
Under
a new chief of
DPI, it met on
January 17 and
February 5
with the new Free UN Coalition for Access, on such
issues as the
due process
rights of
journalists
and access to
the Security
Council.
The new
chief
expressed
openness. His
deputy
Stephane
Dujarric
repeatedly
expressed a
preference for
the old UNCA,
even saying
"it's in
everyone's
interest that
there is one
organization...
it's not
feasible for
the UN to deal
with three or
four
federations of
journalists."
But
as the talks
continued, he
found another
way to try to
bring this
about. A
meeting of
UNCA and FUNCA
was convened,
as which
UNCA's 2013
president
Pamela Falk
shouted that
Inner City
Press is not
real
journalism.
She knew
the meeting
was on the
record and
said so;
it
was, and was
written up.
(At the same
meeting,
UNCA's first
vice president
Louis
Charbonneau of
Reuters
refused to
explain
Reuters' documented
support for
the campaign
to get Inner
City Press
thrown out of
the UN, audio
here.)
Then
Dujarric issued
a letter
claiming that
a never said
"off the
record" status
was broken,
and that FUNCA
was not the
right
interlocutor.
DPI negotiated
a new set of
rules with
UNCA,
trying to
outlaw FUNCA
fliers and
even its sign,
as well as banning
press
workspace from
in front of
the Security
Council.
Now
-- no thanks
to DPI -- some
workspace on
benches is set
to be
restored,
after advocacy
by FUNCA. But
Dujarric's
plot has borne
fruit to this
pathetic
extent: he has
Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit chief
Isabelle
Broyer
pestering
Inner City
Press on June
14 and June
17 to take
down a mere
FUNCA sign on
its door,
by June 19.
It's
been raised to
the chief and
he said "Okay,
I'll talk to
them on
Monday," June
17. But the
pestering and
threats have
continued,
without
explanation.
And
so at the UN's
June 18 noon
briefing
Inner City
Press asked:
Inner
City Press:
This goes to
the idea that
there can be
more than one
organization
advocating for
media access
in the UN and
I have been
told by [the
Department of
Public
Information]
that any sign
mentioning the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access has to
come down,
whereas
an [United
Nations
Correspondents
Association]
sign can
remain up. And
it seems so
inconsistent
with the UN’s
idea of kind
of
multi-party
systems and
freedom of
speech... I
haven't heard
from the
individual you
usually refer
me to
[Stephane
Dujarric] so I
am asking
you for a
statement of
how it is not
just a
violation of
free speech
and a sort of
a favoritism.
Deputy
Spokesperson
Del Buey: I’ll
have to check
with [the
Department of
Public
Information]
on that,
Matthew, I
don’t have the
information
on that, okay.
Inner
City Press:
Wednesday
seems to be
the deadline
for them to
take it
down.
Despite
this
interchange,
transcribed by
the UN, and
despite a
reiterated
request to at
least three
DPI officials
including the
chief, there
has eight
hours later
been no
response, no
explanation.
Now some
explanation is
promised.... on
Wednesday. Watch
this
site.
, 
