UNITED
NATIONS, April
12 -- A day
after Inner
City Press
asked, on the
126
rapes in
Minova, what
“assurances”
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous had
gotten, the
question was
belatedly
half-answered
at
Friday's noon
briefing.
“Several”
alleged
rapists have
been
arrested; some
commanders of
unnamed
battalions
have been
suspended.
Inner City
Press
immediately
asked if
"several"
arrests meant
just the three
it asked
about, and for
the UN to now
name the
battalions.
We
say
“belatedly”
because after
Inner City
Press on April
11 asked the
question,
and before
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo
Del Buey read
out the UN's
response 24
hours later,
Ladsous'
spokesman
Kieran Dwyer
gave the
answer to
Inner City
Press'
question
to Louis
Charbonneau of
Reuters
and Tim
Witcher of AFP,
Ladsous'
first and main
defender.
In
the past Ban's
lead spokesman
Martin Nesirky
has tried to
excuse this
blatant
favoring or use
of media
friendier to
Ladsous as out
of his
control. He
told Inner
City Press
that when HE
get the
answer, he
gives it to
Inner City
Press.
But
on Friday
Ban's deputy
spokesman Del
Buey said that
HE had the
answer
to Inner City
Press'
question, but
that Reuters
and AFP
telephoned
for it and it
was given.
He then
claimed
paradoxically,
but we include
it here in
fairness, that
it is not a
question of
"favored"
media. How
then should it
be phrased?
How about,
lapdogs?
Why
not at least
make sure to
give it to the
media which
actually asked
the question?
Del Buey had
no answer,
said he “noted
the
objection,”
which is also
on behalf of
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access.
This
type of
practice by
the UN should
have been
confronted by
the old UN
Correspondents
Association,
but never was.
It is that
UNCA is run by
and for Big
Media, mostly
the wire
services, who
benefit as
friendly
stenographers
of UN
officials like
Ladsous.
One
Reuters
reporter, Michelle
“The Troll”
Nichols,
even claimed
that
to be
spoon-fed
answers to
Inner City
Press' public
questions by
Ladsous and
his three
spokespeople
constitutes a
“scoop” for
Reuters.
Nichols
said
this in a
false
complaint she
filed against
Inner City
Press on
March 8,
mis-describing
a verbal
disagreement
at the UN
Security
Council
stakeout about
exactly this
practice, of
DPKO handing
Reuters
and AFP
answers to
questions
Inner City
Press has
asked Ladsous
or at
the noon
briefing for
weeks.
Nichols'
cynical
attempt to
turn a verbal
disagreement
-- which she
initiated
-- into a
supposed
security
incident
followed the
strategy laid
out
by her bureau
chief Lou
Charbonneau,
who told the
Department of
Public
Information
that unnamed
diplomats --
can you say,
French? --
asked him
whether based
on Inner City
Press'
published
media critique
he didn't feel
insecure.
Physically,
he hastened to
add.
Inner
City Press
told him,
there's
nothing to
fear in that
regard. But
media critique
is legitimate
and will
continue.
Meanwhile, the
anonymous
social media
trolling of
Reuters and
UNCA
continues.
UNCA
long ago lost
its way. But a
company
like
Reuters?
Perhaps from
naivete, it's
surprising.
Watch this
site.
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