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At UN, Letter Banning Use of Ki-moon Said Not Received by Spokesperson

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, April 24, updated April 26 -- On March 31, UN chief of staff Vijay Nambiar wrote a "Dear Colleagues" letter asking that his boss be referred to as Secretary General BAN, leaving off the "Ki-moon" since some media outlets now called him Ki-moon instead of Ban. On April 24, Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesperson Marie Okabe about the letter. Ms. Okabe said, " I am not familiar with what you are discussing." See transcript, here.

            Later on April 24, Inner City Press asked Mr. Nambiar about Ms. Okabe's response, and about the letter. "She can't say she didn't get it," Mr. Nambiar candidly said, to his credit, adding that it is unfortunate that 14 months into Ban's term, there are still problems with getting his name right.

            Since Nambiar's letter, available here, says its goal is to correct the media's use of Ban's name, it sees strange that the unit in charge of dealing with the media would claim not to be aware of the letter. Why would a UN spokesperson in essence deny getting a letter, or even knowing about it, once it has been published in a major magazine in the UN's headquarters city, New York? The UN's Department of Public Information has a staffed "News Monitoring Unit, "which culls articles from all over the world that mention Ban even obliquely. Did they miss New York Magazine, which is on sale on newsstands all over the UN's headquarters city?

The letter: if NY Magazine has it, how can BAN's spokesperson's office not?

   Even ten hours after Thursday's noon briefing, the Spokesperson's office had not provided any follow-up to this exchange:

Question:  There is this letter that has become public by Vijay Nambiar, a 31 March letter, and it is not clear whom it is addressed to, telling people to henceforth put in writing, call him Secretary-General BAN with a capital B-A-N, and not call him Ki-moon.  Somehow there has been some confusion about what his name is.  This letter has now been put in New York Magazine.  Are you aware of this letter?  Is the press being asked to change any way as they refer to...?

Deputy Spokesperson:  I don't think so.

Question:  Who is that letter sent to?  It says, "Dear colleague, I address you on a matter of some delicacy" and it has a number of paragraphs on this very issue.

Deputy Spokesperson:  I am not familiar with what you are discussing.

            Video here, from Minute 18:47. Ten hours later, there was still no conceded familiarity. Is there any wonder, then, that Ban Ki-moon can't even get his name, much less his message, out to the public at large?

Update of April 26: for the record, eleven hours after the exchange, "what do you want to know about the letter?" was asked. It has been explained that was in response to the above-quoted exchange at the noon briefing, and some of the delay was attributed to Inner City Press' failure to send a copy of the letter to the Spokesperson's Office. The following morning, 12 hours after the piece above was written, the letter flap was characterized as a tempest in a teapot. The media's confusion about how to write the Secretary-General's name was downplayed.
 
  It is noted that it was only on April 23 that the Spokesperson's Office for the first time sent out a transcript attributed to BAN Ki-moon (with the BAN in all capital letters). One correspondent noted that Ban himself adds to the confusion, by signing letters "Ki-moon Ban." Onwards and upwards -- or, said otherwise, it's "Ban Ki-moon Rising"....

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Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

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