By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, June
10, audio
here -- In
today's UN,
press
questions
about the use
of drones are
not answered;
events
promoting
drones are
tweeted as
"join us" -
and then the
press is told
to leave. This
is today's UN.
At the UN,
events about
Many meetings
are needlessly
closed to the
press and
public at the
UN, but a new
and absurd low
was hit on
June 9 - and
then June 10.
On June 10 the
"UN Summer Academy"
gushed on Twitter,
"Hervé Ladsous
Undersec-General
of
@unpeacekeeping
will discuss
innovation
&
technology for
peace &
security. How
shld @UN do
it? Join us."
Even without
the irony
below, this
seemed
strange: Ladsous
on May 29
refused a
Press question
about why he
is procuring
drones from use
out of
northern Mali
without any
approval;
before that Ladsous had repeatedly refused
questions on
rape by Army
units he
supports,
here.
The further
irony: on June
9, the
organizer of
this "UN
Summer
Academy" had
told the Press
to leave its
events, they
are closed and
for a small
group of
people. Join
us?
Of this "UN
Summer
Academy," the
head of the UN
Correspondents
Association
Pamela Falk
had been
tweeting for
weeks, even as
both UNCA
and she
bought and
then deleted
Twitter
followers,
once uncovered.
On
June 9 itself,
Falk promoted
her
appearance,
citing UNCA.
So Inner City
Press, after covering
Libya and
the UN's
continuing
failure to
issue a
promised
"Bulletin on
Accessibility"
for persons
with
disabilities,
went to cover
the event.
It was in the
Dag
Hammarskjold
Library
auditorium,
where notably
UNCA
screened a Sri
Lanka
government
film denying
war crimes,
then tried
to get
Inner City
Press thrown
out of the UN
for its
reporting on
it, summary
here.
There have
been no
reforms of
UNCA since.
On June 9 no
sign said
"closed;"
there was a UN
Summer Academy
banner in
front. Inner
City Press
went in and,
in order not
to take any
seat that
could be sold
-- UNCA as
noted charges
money, then
holds
faux UN
briefings in
the room the
UN gives them
for free,
now long
sitting empty
until an
upcoming scam
"reopening" --
stood in the
back.
Down on the
stage, Pam
Falk was
citing anger
at sovereignty
and
non-interference.
Inner City
Press began to
record and
prepare to
report on this
event which
had been and
was being
publicized. Audio here.
Then a man
rushed up from
near the stage
and asked
Inner City
Press to step
outside. He
said the
session was "a
closed
meeting" for
"a small group
of people."
Inner City
Press made its
argument to
continue to
record and
report on the
substance of
this meeting
being held in
the UN. He
declined to
let Inner City
Press back in.
Audio
here, from
0:19.
What is the
purpose?
How can a
supposed group
of UN
correspondents,
or at least
its two year
figurehead,
promote such a
meeting which
is then closed
to the
press?
This question
UNaddressed,
Falk promoted
her mid-day
toasting with
UN officials
whom correspondent
purportedly
cover. This is
the UN's
Censorship
Alliance.
Needless to
say, the new Free UN Coalition for Access, formed
after UNCA's
board tried to
get the
investigative
Press thrown
out of the UN
and then
remained
unreformed,
opposes and
will have more
on this.
#Ladsous2014.
.
, 
