As
NYCLA Asks UN
Respond on VOA
Bid Against
Press, BBG
Resists
FOIA
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 5 -- Two
weeks ago the
US government
agency Voice
of
America pushed
the UN to
review the
accreditation
status of
Inner
City Press.
This afternoon
the New York Civil
Liberties
Union has
written to the
UN to
"ensure that
the U.N.’s
procedures for
granting or
withholding
press access
are fair and
that
journalists
are not denied
access
arbitrarily or
due
to the content
of their
reporting,"
NYCLU
Executive
Director Donna
Lieberman said.
The
NYCLU
letter
begins, "We
have been
informed that
Steve Redisch,
the Executive
Editor of
Voice of
America, has
written a
letter of
complaint
regarding a
journalist,
Matthew
Russell Lee,
who currently
enjoys press
privileges
conferred by
the UN
Department of
Public
Information.
The letter
requests that
the News and
Media Division
of
DPI review Mr.
Lee's
accreditation
status."
Immediately
after
Inner City
Press became
aware of the
complaint --
of which VOA
did
not send it a
copy, and for
which the UN
has no
procedure to
provide
notice -- it
submitted a
Freedom of
Information
Act request to
VOA's
parent, the US
Broadcasting
Board of
Governor on
which
Secretary of
State Hillary
Clinton has a
seat.
Inner
City
Press sought
to confirm
that the
"other"
journalists
beyond VOA's
Margaret
Besheer whom
VOA editor
Redisch said
were being
curtailed in
their abililty
to report what
they see and
know of the
UN included
three other
Big Media
representatives
would are
seeking
to use the UN
Correspondents
Association to
oust Inner
City Press.
These
include
Bloomberg
News, Agence
France
Presse's
Timothy
Witcher and
Reuters bureau
chief Louis
Charbonneau
who
most recently
mis-labeled
his June 30, 5
pm story about
Saudi al-Faqih
and sanctions
as a
Reuters-compensated
"exclusive"
although Inner
City Press
had previously
published the
information
more than five
hours
earlier.
But
on
July 3 the US
government BBG
denied Inner
City Press'
request for
expedited
treatment of
its FOIA
request, and
even denied
its request
for a FOIA fee
waiver, which
for example
the Federal
Reserve Board
routinely
grants Inner
City Press.
Voice
of
America, it
seems, does
not want to be
transparent
about how it
spends US
taxpayer funds
seeking to
expel an
investigative
web site
from covering
the UN.
In fact,
Reuters'
Charbonneau
and UNCA
President
Giampaolo
Pioli on June
29 sought to
push Inner
City Press
to withdraw
its FOIA
request, and
after it did
not, moved
forward
with a
kangaroo court
proceeding
against Inner
City Press.
But
it
would seem
that the New
York Civil
Liberties
Union knows a
little
bit more about
the rights of
the Press than
Hamptons
landlord
Pioli,
Reuters'
Charbonneau,
AFP's Witcher
and their
cabal do.
Defending
journalists as
the UN was
supposed to be
the UNCA
Executive
Committee's
job but they
have done
precisely the
opposite, even
continuing
with a
proceeding
that gave rise
to death
threats to
Inner
City Press by
extremist
supporters of
Sri Lanka's
government.
In
September
2011, Pioli
granted the
request of Sri
Lankan
ambassador
Palitha Kohona
to screen
inside the UN,
under the UNCA
banner, a
government
propaganda
film "Lies
Agreed To" which
purports
to rebut a UK
Channel 4
documentary
which was NOT
shown in the
UN,
due to a
celebration
for Ban
Ki-moon.
Pioli
did
not seek the
consent of
other elected
UNCA Executive
Committee
members such
as Inner City
Press, which
traveled to
Sri Lanka in
May
2009 and
reported on
the aftermath
of war crimes.
Inner City
Press
reported
the fact that
Pioli had
previously
rented one of
his twelve
apartments to
Kohona, when
he was head of
the UN Treaty
Section.
Pioli demanded
that the
article be
removed from
the Internet
or he
would have
Inner City
Press thrown
out of the UN.
(Now, records
show Pioli is
renting out a
house in the
Hamptons for
$90,000 a
month, UNclear
to whom.)
Pioli's
response,
beyond the ongoing UNCA
kargaroo court,
has been to threaten to
sue Inner
City Press for money.
Is
VOA
working for
Pioli (and Sri
Lanka's
government),
or are Pioli
and
his First Vice
President
Charbonneau of
Reuters now
working on
behalf
of VOA, asking
that Inner
City Press
withdraw a
journalist's
Freedom
of Information
Act request?
Watch this
site.
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