UNITED
NATIONS, April
12 -- In a
sign of how
intertwined
the UN and its
UN
Censorship
Alliance have
become, even
in the
unseemly world
of
corporate
trolling, the
anonymous
social media
account linked
this
week to
Reuters
has taken
today to
re-tweeting UN
official
Stephane
Dujarric.
The
point, if
there is one,
is to cite
Dujarric's
quoted
definition of
journalist as
disqualifying
Inner City
Press as a
journalist.
Notably,
it
was to
Dujarric
that Voice
of America
directed its
June 20, 2012
request to
dis-accredit
Inner City
Press, and to
whom Louis
Charbonneau
of Reuters
directed an
earlier
request.
US Freedom of
Information
Act requests on
Voice of
America and
its
affiliates,
ongoing,
continue to
reveal a lot.
Now
we can begin
reporting
that,
troublingly,
Dujarric took
to directing
and fielding
such requests
on a separate,
non-UN e-mail
account. Can
this be
consistent
with the rules
of the UN
Department of
Public
Information?
Oh
we forgot - there
ARE no rules,
at Dujarric's
insistence in
July 2012
to the New
York Civil
Liberties
Union.
As
is relevant
here, on
February 22,
2013 Dujarric
was made of
aware of
the
counterfeit
social media
accounts
linked to the
UN
Correspondents
Association.
At
the meeting,
UNCA president
Pamela Falk of
CBS News
claimed loudly
that she had
no idea who
was behind the
accounts.
Dujarric,
of
course, has
had at least
since then to
figure this
out.
But
similar to his
inaction or
too-silent
work after UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous had
his spokesman
try to avoid
Inner City
Press'
questions on
the Minova
rapes by seize
the UN
Television
microphone,
which Dujarric
is in charge
of, nothing as
been done. To
put it
diplomatically.
Tellingly,
Dujarric response
was to
criticize
Inner City
Press for
reporting on
the February
22 meeting,
and on Falk's
denials.
The
links,
however, are
eminently
clear: photos
for the
account were
taken by the
UN Security
Council
stakeout,
where only
those with
accreditation
and ground
passes can go;
the posts
openly defend
UNCA.
While
Inner City
Press is
increasingly
critical of UN
correspondents
who try to
abuse their or
their media
organization's
power by
trying to get
competitors
thrown out,
what Inner
City Press
does is in its
name. It's
UNCA and its
affiliates
which troll
anonymously,
like corporate
cowards.
If
necessary, we
will now
report that
the account as
issue follows
nearly all
UNCA Executive
Committee
members, no
matter how few
other
followers they
have, from
Sylviane Zehil
of L'Orient le
Jour (700
tweets, 104
followers)
through Tim
Witcher of AFP
(139
followers),
and Falk and
yes, Michelle
“The Troll”
Nichols. There
are more.
The
irony is that
today's UNCA
trolls'
re-tweet of
Dujarric is
from a
speech by the
founder of
Mediapart.
Back in
February,
Inner City
Press pointed
out how the
pro-power
attacked on
Mediapart by
AFP and
Reuters were
similar to the
two wire
service's
servile
approach to
coverage of
the UN, for
example UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous.
What
responsibility
do Dujarric
and the UN
have in all
this?
Watch this
site.
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