Media
Handpicked By UN Spokesman Like
By Tillerson,
Complaints
in Turtle Bay from ICP & FUNCA
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
March 15 – Which media could
cover UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres' trip to
Somalia and Kenya was decided
unilaterally by UN Spokesman
Dujarric and his two hands, he
told Inner City Press on March
15. US Secretary of
State Rex Tillerson selecting
Independent Journal Review's
Erin McPike to cover his trip
to Asia is already catching
flak. But did these same media
organizations say anything
when UN Secretary General
Guterres took no press with
him on his recent trip to
Kenya and Somalia, then invited
Al Jazeera to witness in
Somalia, and the Washington
Post for a laudatory
interview? No, they did not.
So what is the standard?
On March
15, including on behalf of the
Free
UN Coalition for Access,
Inner City Press asked UN
spokesman Dujarric, video
here, UN
transcript here:
Inner City
Press: the
Secretary-General's trip to
Kenya, unannounced, but,
obviously, important trip to
Somalia… how is it decided
how… what media would
accomplish… would accompany
him? And I ask it
because…
Spokesman: I decided.
Inner
City
Press:
Okay. There's now a big
outcry. As you know, the
Secretary of State… US
Secretary of State is
traveling to Asia. The
press corps there has said
there needs to be input; you
can't just hand-pick
people. So, did you, in
fact, hand-pick people?
Spokesman: First of all,
I think you're comparing
apples and oranges. When
the Secretary-General travels,
he travels, for the most part,
on commercial flights.
We do not have the
infrastructure that a lot of
Member States have, that their
foreign ministers or leaders
have in terms of… of taking
journalists along.
That's just an infrastructure
we don't have. When we
feel we need to take
journalists along, we take
them along, and we figure out
what… in the best possible
way.
Inner
City Press:
Right, but…
Spokesman: And it's… I…
I decide…
Inner City Press: You
[inaudible] that it's
hand-picking? How is
this different than what…?
Spokesman: Well, I have
two hands. It's… I think
you're comparing apples and
oranges.
When the
US State Department on
Tuesday's snow day held its
media briefing by telephone,
many of the questions were on
Secretary Tillerson (not)
taking media on his trip to
Asia. Acting Spokesperson Mark
Toner was asked, if one seat
was devoted to the media,
would Tillerson hand-pick its
occupant? It's a good question
- but the United Nations
already does
this, without complaint
except from the Free
UN Coalition for Access.
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' recent trip to Kenya
and Somalia was
journalist-free, except
that Al Jazeera was called in
to witness the Somalia leg,
and the Washington Post was
given an interview for a
highly positive profile piece.
What if Tillerson did this?
With the media he prefers?
Toner was asked why
Tillerson's meetings with Gulf
leaders have been closed
press. But Guterres didn't
even disclose his
telephone call with Morocco's
King about Western Sahara;
only Inner City Press, as the
UN's in-person briefing,
complained. AFP asked Toner
about the Netherlands and
Turkey; AP asked about
Bahrain.
NPR
raised the question of UN budget cuts,
but Toner put off answering at
least until Thursday. Inner
City Press has been wondering
of the Administration's review
of the UN's recent belated
announcements on whistleblower
protections and
peacekeeper sexual
abuse. But the question
Inner City Press submitted
after the call by e-mail
concerns Cameroon.
We now expect an answer on the
ides of March. Watch this
site.
***
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
Past
(and future?) UN Office: S-303, UN, NY 10017 USA
For now: Box 20047,
Dag Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in
the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-2017 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
for
|
,
