UNITED
NATIONS, July
3 -- With the
UN less and
less willing
to answer
questions,
whether about
which
Congolese Army
units it works
with or
even which
Syria villages
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon was referring
to
in a July 2
statement,
there's been
talk of a
media strike
at the
UN.
Some
have proposed
not going to
the UN noon
briefing, not
asking
questions,
even not
writing
stories. But
that might be
just what the
UN has in
mind. And many
large media
have already
reduced their
UN
presence and
coverage
substantially.
The
view of Inner
City Press and
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
is
that in New
York and
places like
it, the better
response is
simply to
report more,
to ask more
questions and
report on the
(non) answers,
to talk with
more sources
and dig
deeper.
But
we realize
that in some
other places
the
possibilities
and dynamics
are different.
For
example in
Somaliland, on
which Inner
City Press has
been reporting
for months, Free UN Coalition for
Access
member
Mohamoud
Walaaleye has
protested the
Hargeisa
Regional
Court's
sentencing to
prison of
Hubaal
newspaper's
manager
Mohamed
Ahmed Jama
Aloley for one
year and
editor Hassan
Hussein
Kefkef, for
two years.
This
was on charges
of
“propagating
false
information,”
reporting on
smuggling by
diplomats and
the capacities
of elected
officials, and
came after an
attack on the
newspaper's
office by
authorities
and a
suspension of
publication.
Mohamoud
Walaaleye,
who asks
questions not
only in
Hargeisa but
to UN officials,
tells us that
the
“Somaliland
media
association,
(SOLJA)
is
incapacitated
to reach a
common stand
condemning
this action.
For
that, I,
Mohamoud
Walaaleye,
reached a
decision of
withholding
all my
journalism
activities
till the
discharged of
the jail
sentences of
my
colleagues at
Hubaal
newspaper.”
Now
that, and to a
lesser degree
this, is what
solidarity is
all about.
By contrast,
UN
headquarters'
chosen partner
UNCA
tried in 2012
to
get the
investigative
press thrown
out of the UN;
its first
vice
president
passed
internal “UNCA
only”
documents
immediately to
UN
officials,
here.
The
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
has been
founded to
counter all
that.
Not only has
the UN fought
it, it has tried to
even outlaw
the name
and sign
of FUNCA.
But UNCA
has two signs
and more, much
more. We'll
have more on
this. Watch
this site.
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