From
UN
Kangaroo
Court, Letter
Leaked to
Diplomats,
Press' Public
Reply
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 15 --
Media coverage
of the UN is
dying: there
were
only three
journalists
beyond Inner
City Press
asking
questions at
the June 15 UN
noon briefing.
Video
here.
And
some
in the UN
Correspondents
Association
are seeking to
speed the
process, even
helping
get
the Press
targeted for
death.
Below since
not allowed on
the UNCA
e-amil list
serve is Inner
City Press'
response.
When
made aware
that threats
to "swim like
a brick" have
been triggered
by
an UNCA "Board
of
Examination"
to investigate
Inner City
Press,
requested by five big
media members
of the UNCA
Executive
Committee
- from
Reuters,
Bloomberg,
AFP, Voice of
America and
Al-Arabiya --
UNCA President
Giampaolo
Pioli's
response was
to try to
use the
threats.
Pioli
told Inner
City Press
that the Board
of
Examination,
whose chairman
he chose
despite the conflicts
of interest
summarized
here,
would only be
called off if
Inner City
Press resigned
and issued a
blanket
"apology" for
a factual
Press report
that he rented
his
apartment to
Palitha
Kohona, now
Sri Lanka's
Ambassador to
the UN,
and screened
his government
propaganda
film denying
war crimes.
On
June 14 just
before the UN
noon briefing,
Pioli sent
Inner City
Press a draft
letter he
proposed to
vote on at 1
pm and then
send to all
UNCA
members.
Inner
City Press
even at fast
glance
disagreed with
the letter,
just as it had
disagreed in
detail with
draft minutes
of meetings,
which omitted
Inner City
Press' demand
to to be
informed of
the charges
and
witnesses
against it.
At the 1 pm
meeting, Inner
City Press
informed
the assembled
UNCA Executive
Committee
members that
the letter was
sure to spread
beyond the
UNCA
membership,
and would
trigger more
threats.
But Inner City
Press was not
allowed to
send a
response to
the letter on
the UNCA
e-mail list
serve, and the
letter went
out.
On
June 15,
multiple
diplomats and
other non-UNCA
members told
Inner City
Press
they had seen
the letter and
were surprised
by it. Several
asked,
"Have you
responded?"
Given the
above, and
several UNCA
Executive
Committee
members'
justification
of banning
Inner City
Press from the
UNCA list
serve by
saying,
"you've got
your blog,"
here it is:
You
might well be
getting tired
of hearing
about the UNCA
Executive
Committee's
issues
with Inner
City Press.
But I know
you've all
received a
fresh email
from the other
board members;
I asked to be
able to
respond on
"their" same
UNCA NEWS
list, but this
was rejected.
So I'd
just like to
address some
of the most
damaging
allegations in
their
e-mail, as
best as I can.
The
UNCA Executive
Committee
letter
says that I
have attacked,
intimidated,
and threatened
my colleagues.
This is not
true. I have
apologized
several times
to the
Giampaolo
Pioli
appointed
member of the
Board of
Examiners who
resigned; I
regret very
much that she
felt attacked.
She said she
is a twenty
year friend of
Pioli, which
is fine: but
it seems
obvious she
cannot
then be my
judge in a
proceeding
brought
against me by
her long time
friend.
I
think part of
the
problem is
that this
examination
process is
inherently
upsetting.
Again, I never
meant to upset
my colleague;
what I have
tried to do
is point out
conflicts of
interest that
make certain
people
inappropriate
to serve as
examiners, in
much the way
that lawyers
point out
unsuitable
jurors. I have
written about
this on Inner
City
Press because
I believe a
trial,
particularly
an
unprecedented
show
trial or
kangaroo court
of censorship
such as this,
at the UN is
newsworthy --
and because I
was denied
access to the
UNCA NEWS
e-mail
list.
I've
tried,
repeatedly, to
clear up some
people's
misunderstanding
around my
reporting on
Giampaolo
Pioli. He
rented his
apartment to
Palitha
Kohona, a
person he was
purportedly
covering
objectively,
when Kohona
was an
official in
the UN Office
of Legal
Affairs.
Later, after
Kohona
became Sri
Lanka's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN,
Pioli did not
recuse himself
from deciding,
and in fact
never formally
asked me as
an elected
UNCA Executive
Committee
member, if
Kohona's
request to
screen inside
the UN a
government
propaganda
film
purporting to
rebut
a UK Channel 4
documentary
depicting war
crimes in the
killing of
40,000
civilians in
Sri Lanka in
2009.
When Piolo and
then UNCA's
Executive
Committee
demanded an
apology from
me for this
factual
reporting, I
proposed a
nuanced
statement
trying to
accommodate
Pioli.
However, Pioli
refused to
accept
anything but a
blanket
retraction. I
continue to
believe that
their past
financial
relationship
is newsworthy,
and I cannot
simply wish it
away. It
would be
reported in
many, even
most reputable
newspapers
covering
war crimes and
access to the
UN. I will
not, now
cannot, accept
censorship of
it.
I
have been
receiving
threats, which
I initially
informed Pioli
and UNCA's
Executive
Committee
about until I
saw they were
using these as
leverage
against me to
extract a
blanket
apology or
resignation.
Now
in the face of
the threats, I
cannot pull
back: it would
call into
question my
reporting on
Sri Lanka and
similar
issues, and
would in
fact just lead
to more
threats.
For
this, please
read
http://blog.srilankacampaign.org/2012/06/long-arm-of-sri-lankan-government.html
[which]
concludes:
"As
for the
UNCA, their
role is to
stand up for
its members,
not to expel
them
and we can see
no
justification
for the
continuation
of this 'Board
of
Examination.'
Both the UNCA
and the UN
have played
straight into
the hands of
the Government
of Sri Lanka's
attempts to
silence its
critics."
I
ask you: who
is
bringing UNCA
down? I think
part of the
problem here
is that UNCA
really has no
business
interfering
with what any
of us write.
UNCA
Executive
Committee
members may
not like my
coverage --
but they have
no right to
try to censor
my writing
and, frankly,
I think it's
outrageous
that they've
tried,
particularly
since as noted
several of
them have made
unauthorized
uncredited use
of exclusive
stories I
have broken,
from cocaine
in the UN mail
room in
January 2012,
the
fight between
Turkish and UN
Security in
September
2011, and my
March
28 exclusive
that US
official
Jeffrey
Feltman will
come to head
the
UN Department
of Political
Affairs.
I
have asked to
be shown the
list of
charges
against me,
and to be
informed of
how this
"Board of
Examination"
proceeds. I
have submitted
lists of
questions to
be examined,
beyond the
intended
and
inappropriate
UNCA probe
into my
sources, but
these have
been
ignored. It
seems to me
the fix is in,
but if you
have read down
this
far, I ask you
to look into
it, and even
if Pioli et
al. try to set
up a General
Meeting on
short notice
-- even if the
notice they
give
is short, I
ask that you
attend. These
people, I
believe, are
not
only putting
me at risk:
they are
destroying
UNCA.
Even
before this
most recent
turn of the
screw in the
kangaroo court
of the UNCA
Executive
Committee, a
senior UN
official told
Inner City
Press on the
night of June
12 that he no
longer thought
the UN should
have an
agreement with
UNCA, "given
what they're
up to."
We'll see.
, 
