On
Its
Malala Day, UN
Silent on
Media Access
as Bans Press
from GA
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 12 –
Three hours
before the
UN's Malala
Day, media
access to the
Youth Assembly
as which she
will speak is
still left
murky by the
UN.
More
than a week
ago on July 3,
the UN
Department of
Public
Information
announced that
“Education
activist
Malala
Yousafzai will
mark her 16th
birthday,
on Friday, 12
July 2013, by
giving her
first
high-level
public
appearance and
statement...a
limited number
of seats will
be
available for
media,
contact” the
UN Media
Accreditation
and
Liaison Unit.
Inner
City Press
immediately
wrote to MALU,
also on behalf
of the new Free UN
Coalition for
Access,
asking
“this
is a timely
request for
access to
cover youth /
Malala events
on July
12. Please
confirm, and
also, How many
media seats
ARE available?
Also, what
about media
seats to cover
the new /
interim
General
Assembly hall,
and
separately,
media
worktables in
the photo
booths,
as the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
raised to DPI
on June 10?
The request
for media
worktable(s)
at Security
Council
stakeout also
remaining
outstanding.”
The
chief of MALU
wrote back
that “We have
put you on the
list of people
who have
requested a
ticket. I am
waiting to
hear from the
organizers how
many
tickets there
will be for
the press.
There is no
mezzanine in
the
temporary GA
for extra
seating.”
But
a week late
on the eve of
Malala Day, as
resident
correspondents
covering the
July 11
Security
Council
meetings on
Sudan / South
Sudan and
the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo
were told to
stand back and
not
block
photographs of
Gordon
Brown and his
entourage,
there was
still
no word on
media access
to cover
Malala Day and
her speech.
Inner
City Press,
again on
behalf of
FUNCA,
inquired with
UN Media
Accreditation
Thursday
afternoon and
was told they
still didn't
know how many
tickets there
would be.
Despite
further
explanation by
FUNCA of how
bad the UN
will look if
it continues
to
totally
exclude the
public from
the new
General
Assembly hall
in the
North Lawn
building, and
excludes the
press from
all but a
handful of
translation-less
photo booths
during the
General Debate
in September,
both positions
were
reiterated.
At
the UN's noon
briefing on
July 10, Inner
City Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky:
Inner
City
Press: This
has to do with
GA access to
the General
Assembly.
There are
increasingly
plenary
meetings
there, I have
gone there a
number of
times, and
there are in
the interim
North Lawn
General
Assembly Hall,
no seats for
the press or
for the
public. So the
only
way to cover
it is to be a
photographer
and be in a
booth, but
then
also you have
no
translation. I
understand
it’s a smaller
space
than the old
General
Assembly Hall,
but I am
wondering, is
that the
plan for
September that
no member of
the public
will be able
to
attend the
meetings? And
even in terms
of the press,
if you go to
the photo
booth, how can
it be done
without any
translation at
all? I am just
wondering if
this is gonna
be fixed
before
September,
what
the status is.
Spokesperson:
Well, I think
that you have
had a fairly
detailed
response from
the
Department of
Public
Information on
this topic
already. I am
happy
to revisit
that with them
to see if they
have anything
further to
say. But I
think the key
word in
everything
that you said
just then
is “interim”.
I think
everybody
understands
that this is a
temporary
arrangement
while the true
General
Assembly
building is
renovated, and
there may be
some
inconveniences
for the time
being,
and people may
need to adjust
to that for
the time
being, for an
interim
period. And
we’ll
certainly do
our level best
to help all
media who wish
to cover the
deliberations
in the General
Assembly,
not just
during the
general
debate, which
of course will
be a
particularly
busy period,
but throughout
the period
when it is in
that temporary
location.
We
will return to
that ongoing
issue, and to
recent UN
reductions in
access and
even threats
to
accreditation.
But as to
Malala Day,
after
the second
inquiry on the
afternoon of
July 11, there
was still no
word that
evening, nor
on the morning
of the speech
/ Day, less
than
two hours
before it's
all set to
begin.
Like
the exclusion
of the press
and public
from the new
General
Assembly
Hall, and the
continuing
defense of
that despite
detailed
critique
and
constructive
suggestions
from FUNCA,
the Free
UN Coalition
for
Access,
what does this
say about the
UN? Watch this
site.
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