In
UN, Ban
Ki-moon's
Censorship
Partners Mock
Woman Alleging
Sexual
Harassment
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 8 –
The group UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
gave lunch and
quotes to on
February 7,
the Executive
Committee of
the UN
Correspondents
Association,
is not only
engaged in censorship
and trying to
get the
investigative
Press thrown
out of the UN.
As
became more
evident on
February 8,
they are also
prepared to
mock a
woman
complaining of
sexual
harassment,
and to make
anonymous
postings to
this effect.
This is Ban
Ki-moon's UN
Censorship
Alliance:
UNCA.
On
the morning of
February 8 an
off the record
briefing was
held at a UN
member state's
mission.
Because it was
deemed off the
record, Inner
City Press
which like the
UNCA Executive
Committee
members and
some
others
attended, is
not stating
which
country's
mission it
was.
A
UN accredited
journalist,
also on the
list and let
into the
mission,
was seated
when she was
asked into the
entrance to
speak with a
mission
representative.
She was asked
to leave; she
asked Inner
City
Press and
another member
of the Free
UN Coalition
to Access
to try to
mediate.
This
proved
impossible.
But during the
discussion,
the UNCA
Executive
Committee
members gawked
through the
open door, and
mocked the
woman
who was being
asked to
leave.
Finally
the
woman came
into the
briefing room
and asserted,
with quaking
voice, that
she was being
asked to leave
due to a past
case of quid
pro quo
sexual
harassment.
“He tried to
conquer me,”
she said.
Several
UNCA
Executive
Committee
members
laughed
openly. The
Wall Street
Journal's part
time UN
correspondent
Joe Lauria
joked, “Did
anyone get
that on tape?
How can I
cover it if I
don't have it
on tape?”
But
none of the
UNCA Executive
Committee
members
present,
including UNCA
President
Pamela Falk of
CBS, covered
the woman's
complaint.
Rather,
through a
counterfeit
social media
account they
established,
they
joked that the
woman,
identifying
her as a FUNCA
member, "was
expelled from
[name of
country's]
briefing" and
said that
Inner City
Press "broke
solidarity and
stayed."
The
woman in
question has
now authorized
and asked
Inner City
Press to write
about her
case. The
briefer, in
fairness, is
one of the
most astute UN
observers.
Back
inside the UN,
Inner City
Press for
FUNCA asked
Ban Ki-moon's
spokesman a
question about
Ban's favoring
of
UNCA despite
its record – a
question that
got cut
off and
censored
from UNTV,
click here for
that.
Meanwhile
upstairs on UN
press(second)
floor
material was
torn down from
the
door to Inner
City Press'
cubible
office, and a
new flyer was
posted:
“We will not
be conquered!”
Inner
City Press
cubicle door
at UN Feb 8,
2013: Ban
Ki-moon not
shown
This
is a reference
to the woman's
sexual
harassment
claim. This is
taking
place inside
the UN, on the
second floor
over the Dag
Hammarskjold
Library, by
the group that
Ban Ki-moon
partners with
on media
matters.
The
tearing down
of FUNCA
flyers and the
counterfeiting
has been
raised to UN
officials,
including at
least one in
attendance at
Ban's February
7 session with
the UNCA
Executive
Committee, and
"new" UNCA
President Pam
Falk, have
been made
aware, but
both have
continued.
Ban
Ki-moon's UNCA
Lunch of the
Lost, Feb 7,
2013, credit
Evan
Schneider,
UNPhoto. From
left: OSSG's
Del Buey;
Denis
Fitzgerald of
Saudi Press
Agency; OSSG's
Nesirky;
Melissa Kent
of CBC;
Sylviane Zehil
of L'Orient le
Jour; Tim
Witcher of
AFP; Ali
Barada of
An-Nahar; Ban
Ki-moon,
Kahraman
Halicelik of
Turkish Radio
& TV;
Pamela S. Falk
of CBS; Lou
Charbonneau of
Reuters;
Bouchra
Benyoussef of
Maghreb Arab
Press; Yasuomi
Sawa of Kyodo
News; Masood
Haider of
Dawn; Unkonwn;
Zhenqiu Gu of
Xinhua;
Stephane
Dujarric of UN
DPI
Who
are followers
of UNCA's
counterfeit
social media
account now
mocking
a woman
alleging
sexual
harassment?
These include
UNCA first
vice
president Louis
Charbonneau
of Reuters, as
well as his
predecessor
Evelyn Leopold
and his
co-worker
Michelle
Nichols, whose
news sense is
tweeting on
the
Mercedes-Benz
Fashion Week.
Did that anger
them, or a
reference to
Charbonneau's
stumpy blazer?
Reuters is
responsible
for them, even
their thinly
veiled
"anonymous"
mocking of
those alleging
sexual
harassment.
Documents
obtained under
the Freedom of
Information
Act reflect
the adoption
of a policy of
not responding
to any Inner
City Press
question or
complaint on
the part of Reuters
editors Stephen
J. Adler,
Walden
Siew, and
Paul
Ingrassia,
and the more
anonymous
editors of Agence France
Presse.
The followers
include two
reporters of
another wire
service cited
favorably by
Ban's
spokesman
on February 8.
They
include the
former UK
spokesman
Daniel
Shepherd and
the current
spokesman for
the French
Mission to the
UN, Brieuc
Pont, as well
two French
reporters at
the UN: Karim
Lebhour of RFI
and Adele
Smith of Le
Figaro. Joe
Lauria of the
WSJ, with his
less than 300
followers,
after laughing
at the woman
alleging
sexual
harassment,
has also
followed.
The followers
also include Voice of
America, whose
Margaret
Besheer pushed
to get Inner
City Press
expelled from
the UN
in 2012,
saying she had
the support of
Charbonneau of
Reuters
and Tim
Witcher of Agence
France Presse.
There are
more, and
there is more
to
say. Watch
this site.
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