After
UN Evicted Inner City Press, Long
Lines at Metal Detectors,
FUNCA Sign Torn Down
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Series,
Video
I,
II
UNITED NATIONS,
March 9 – The day after
the UN's full eviction of
Inner City Press and all its
files, at the 46th Street
entrance there was an huge
crowd of children, to be
toured around the UN and lied
to. There was supposed to be a
lane to the metal detectors
for staff and, it was said,
downgraded journalists. But a
guard told me no. I turned on
my Periscope and started
broadcasting; I turned it off
to call Media Accreditation.
No one answered, no one came.
I missed a briefing, and later
when I got in, I was Banned
from covering a meeting
between John Kerry and Iran's
Javad Zarif. This would be the
future. How could I continue?
A guy on Capitol Hill
told me “someone in the US
Mission values you as
source.” I thought I knew who
he meant. But this guy said
everything had to be through
Isobel Coleman. And there was
nothing. The New
York Times article had
not come out and probably
never would. The reporter
Corey would e-mail me every
few days with another stray
question but they never led
anywhere. He'd said, don't go
after me if you don't like how
it comes out. Fine. But what
if it never came out?
A source sent me Ban
Ki-moon's Western Sahara
report, which wouldn't be
public for days. I put it
online, part of me thinking
this might be the silver
bullet, an exclusive. But
nothing. I was told Gallach
didn't even watch the noon
briefing; anyway, her
government of Spain was on
Morocco's side. I started
tweeting with a guy who covered
that. That night
the Free
UN Coalition for Access
sign was torn off the door to
my old office; anyone could
look inside and see my empty
desk, the empty desk that had
been mine.
I asked Luiz and he got
mad, saying he never told MALU
that they could do it. This is
how it worked at the UN.
***
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earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in
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2006-2017 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
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