US
Call for
Inebriation-Free
Zone Draws
Double Reuters
Coverage,
Reality
Ignored
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 4 --
Some say
corporate
media is
suffering and
slimming down,
and largely
that is true.
But not at the
UN, at least
not for
Reuters.
How else to
explain the
listing of two
separate
reporters,
then an
additional
editor, on a
story that is
little, very
little, more
than a mere
transcription
of a public
UN-televised
speech by
US ambassador
Joe Torsella?
On
Monday morning
in the UN's
Fifth (Budget)
Committee,
Torsella spoke
and memorably
asked that
“negotiating
rooms should
in future be
an
inebriation-free
zone.”
He
was referring
to the
tradition that
late in the
budget
negotiation
sessions,
usually near
Christmas,
delegations
along with
bringing in
pizza and
other food for
the group will
sometimes
bring in
liquor.
Some
of this takes
place after
all deals have
been reached,
but while the
documents to
vote on are
being printed
-- thus, not
impacting
negotiating at
all. Even the
drinking
before the
deals has
sometimes
been useful.
None
of this is
mentioned,
however, in
the Reuters
two-reporter
story. It
simply transcribed
what Torsella
said, and
added this
“analysis”
--
“Diplomats who
participate
sessions have
told Reuters
that it is
not unusual to
see delegates
showing
visible signs
of having
imbibed
heavily.”
There's
a word missing
in the
sentence, more
than an hour
after
publication.
Who's been
drinking?
(Can't ask
Reuters, or
even raise the
typo: UN
Censorship
Alliance
president
Pamela Falk of
CBS intoned on
February 22 in
front of UN
offocials who
did not
disagree that
contacting
such a media
company "might
be a crime.")
One of the
two reporters
on the Reuters
story, who has
complained
about his name
being
published
while saying
that the Inner
City Press
website is the
“fundamental
problem,” has
quoted also
unamed
diplomats
asking if
the way he is
covered makes
him worry
about his
“personal
safety.”
Click
here for story,
here
for audio.
If
the Torsella
transcription
story is any
measure, of
over-capacity
at
Reuters, job
safety might
seem to be a
more realistic
worry. Watch
this site.
, 
