Inner City Press -- Investigative Reporting From the United Nations to Wall Street to the Inner City

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 1 – The UN believes in free speech, but only for some, and not in freedom of the press.

 This we are forced to conclude from a still-unexplained letter sent Wednesday evening to Inner City Press by UN official Stephane Dujarric.

  Dujarric, who is in charge of media accreditation for the UN, wrote that “we are deeply disappointed” with an article Inner City Press published on February 25.

   Dujarric took issue with Inner City Press' use of direct quotes, and audio to back them up, from the top two officials of the United Nations Correspondents Association.

  What is the interest of Dujarric, and more generally of the UN, in if and how Inner City Press runs admittedly accurate quotes from UNCA officials?

   Dujarric's letter claimed, falsely, that the session at which UNCA President Pam Falk -- who was not named in the February 25 report -- screamed that Inner City Press is a “mugger” and bellowed that “you call yourself a journalist,” was understood by all to be off the record.

 In fact, Inner City Press said clearly “you are on the record,” and Falk said “he's going to write about this.” Click here for audio.

  Inner City Press replied immediately to Dujarric, noting this and that

Louis Charbonneau of UNCA (and Reuters) said that the problem is the Inner City Press website. This is inappropriate, given freedom of the press. But you said nothing. Please state whether your formal letter about an article I wrote is intended to be placed in some file, regarding discipline or accreditation, and what my due process rights are.

I reiterate my question: the description in the Voice of America document I cited which says UNCA met with the UN "very quietly" in the middle of 2012 about dis-accreditation -- please state who was at the meeting(s) from the UN (and UNCA) sides. Due process rules are absolutely needed.

I am pasting below the 10 reforms the Free UN Coalition for Access] raised on February 10, to which we as yet have no response - beyond an invitation to a meeting to be screamed at by UNCA's President -- who was told, this is on the record, and even said, you will report this -- and now your formal letter. I will appreciate your soonest response.

  But in the 36 hours since, there has been no response. As reported in the interim, when Dujarric on June 29, 2012 offered Inner City Press re-acceditation to the end of the year, he seemingly conditioned it on not criticizing UN Peacekeeping's Herve Ladsous or Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, even on Twitter.

  As the year closed, Dujarric twit-icized an Inner City Press quip about France and the Central African Republic, which is fine, but see below.

    One might surmise that the goal of the February 27 letter, sent by the official in charge of accreditation to the UN and expressing in UN-ese “deep disappointment” about critical reporting was intended to stop that reporting, or that reporter.

    Well, no. In February 28 Inner City Press published an account and video of another session moderated by Dujarric the day previous, this time with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, at which Inner City Press asked about recent meningitis vaccinations in Chad which sickened 38 children.

  An answer was promised but, as with Dujarric's letter, there's been no follow up for two days.

   Nor has there been anything from Pamela Falk, the UNCA President. At the still only half-quoted session she made many loud claims, or denials, about social media.

  That is increasingly Falk's mode of communication, flurries of tweets directed at the spokespeople of the Missions to the UN of the United States, UK and France (those to non-Western missions were sent from another account), promoting stories that are sometimes two days old.

  On February 28, Falk tweeted about the February 25 UN announcement that it belatedly took Osama bin Laden off its Al Qaeda sanctions list.

  On February 27, Falk mis-tweeted that the Iran nuclear talks had taken place in Rome, rather than where they actually were in Kazakhstan. This is the UNCA chief who screamed at Inner City Press, “you call yourself a journalist.”

 (We won't here cite, only yesterday, to Inner City Press scoops on Sudan, UN corruption and union busting, and even Palestine, except to note we never mentioned Falk in any way until she took the UNCA post, apparently without due diligence, and then things got worse under her.)

   Now to make some point, Falk had made herself into a hashtag, lists UNCA as part of her one-line journalism pedigree and links to her TwitPic profile sitting behind a CBS news desk.

  But where again were those Iran nuclear talks? And is three day old news Up To The Minute?

  Most recently, Falk has taken to sending UNCA promotional tweets such a one containing only the phrase, “UNCA Executive Committee” and a link to the photographs of the 15 members.

  We were and are tempted to write on this, since the topic has been opened. But we continue to await explanation -- on the record, of course, and so best in writing to avoid the confusion Dujarric seems or claims to have had. Watch this site.

Footnote: Dujarric claims that his goal is or was to improve the “climate” in the UN and its press corps. But issuing formal complaint letters about articles, when one controls accreditation, and so openly siding with one group over another is not designed to improve any climate. This and the subsequent failure to explain or answer direct questions only worsen things. FUNCA will Press forward.