UN
Judges
of Press
Ignore
Requests &
Leave Town,
State Media
Hatchmen
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 5, updated
4:50 pm
-- When the
UN's Big Five
media and
their Hamptons
landlord
frontman
Giampaolo
Pioli
appointed a
nearly-retired
state
media hack to
chair their
Board of
Investigation
into Inner
City
Press, their
goal was
clear.
They
ordered
up an unfair
hatchet job by
a man whose
pay depends on
the
approval of
his state
media bureau
chief who told
Inner City
Press,
"Respect
authority."
Then
on
June 20, the
one of the Big
Five (which
include Reuters,
Bloomberg,
Al-Arabiya and
Agence France
Presse) which
is a US
government
agency, Voice
of America,
formally asked
the UN to
review
Inner City
Press' accreditation
status: that
is, to throw
it out.
On
that, the
applicability
of due process
and of the First
Amendment to
the US
Constitution
is being
explored.
But
the
report
unsealed on
July 3 was so
laughably
one-sided and
incomplete
that Inner
City Press'
first response
was to write
to the
chair, William
M. Reilly of
Xinhua and his
two
remaining
henchmen,
Ali Barada of
An-Nahar and
Tarek Fathi (who
has
conveniently
already
left town),
and ask:
This
is
a formal
request to be
sent,
immediately,
the
"information
available on
request"
alluded to in
your "Board
of
Examination"
report:
"Several
members of
UNCA have
accused Lee,
in addition to
harassment, to
cyber-bullying...
Documentation
was provided
to the
Board to back
up their
accusations.
That
information is
available on
request."
I
am also hereby
demanding the
basis of the
statement in
Paragraph 36
of the
Report... I am
extremely
clear what I
said during
the "2.5
hour" session
with you, and
I flatly deny
what you have
written.
I
am requesting
responses to
the emails I
sent to the
Board of
Examination
and its chair
on June 2
("Matters the
Board of
Examination
must review
& issue
written
finding on;
request to
get list of
charges before
10 day
"investigation"
begins")
and June 8,
which I am
re-pasting
below.
Bill,
I
ask against
that you as
appointed
Chairman now
belatedly
provide
answers to the
questions I
previously
asked you in
writing
(re-pasted
below) as well
as the
information
you refused to
provide in the
2.5
hour session
regarding your
claim that Mr.
Gu has no
effect on your
getting paid
by Xinhua...I
ask to
immediately be
provided with
this
information.
More
than
24 hours
later, none of
the requested
information
has been
provided.
Since William
M. Reilly has
a history of
not knowing
how
to send or
even receive
e-mail (for
example the
legal letter
sent to
him on June
28), Inner
City Press
asked Ali
Barada, the
other other
remaining UNCA
"Examiner" in
New York.
(As
noted, Barada
on July 3
tried to claim
as his own
what Inner
City Press had
reported on
July 29, that
General Robert
Mood would
leave the UN
mission in
Syria as it
loses its
military, even
military
observer,
component. The
derivative
nature of
Barada's
"reporting"
was raised to
him, without
response.)
Barada
told
Inner City
Press he
immediately
deleted and
deleted
e-mails from
Inner City
Press without
reading them
-- despite
being on the
panel
that issued
its bogus
report and
said that
information
about the
still
undefined
"harassement
and
'cyberbullying'"
would be
"available on
request."
Beyond
Barada's
pre-judgment
in the case
(he told Inner
City Press to
resign), how
could he be an
impartial
Examiner if he
has now
admitted to
deleting all
communications
from one side,
the defendant?
Updated
4:50 pm --
after
publication of
this article
and its
inclusion in
Google News,
Ali Barada
went to file a
pretextual
complaint with
UN Security
against Inner
City Press,
with no
material other
than what
Inner City
Press thought
of him
deleting all
e-mails
requesting
information
about his
stint as a
"judge." Some
judge.
Meanwhile,
UNCA
Secretary
Barbara Plett
of BBC, which
previously
used Inner
City
Press' January
2012 cocaine
in the UN
mailroom
exclusive
without
giving
any credit to
Inner City
Press -- while
crediting
derivative
quotes
garnered by
AFP and AP
-- issued an
email to all
UNCA members
that "The
Executive
Committee will
make a
decision on a
date to submit
the
report and
recommendations
to the UNCA
General
Meeting."
Inner
City
Press remains
on this
Executive
Committee, to
which it was
elected before
seeing what
this UNCA is
really about.
This
"decision"
must be made
at an
Executive
Committee
meeting, and
in full
knowledge
of how this
UNCA process
does not
comply with
New York State
and
other
applicable
law. Watch
this site.
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