UN
Refuses To
Explain Taking
Photos &
Passing
Them to
BuzzFeed
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNdisclosed
Location,
March 23 --
When the UN
and its UN
Censorship
Alliance want
to retaliate
against and
throw out a
journalist,
what do they
do?
They
raid the
reporter's
office without
notice or
consent,
search papers
and take
photographs
and give them
out,
anonymously,
to BuzzFeed.
Inner
City Press has
three times
now asked the
UN “to state
its knowledge
of how
photographs
taken during
the
non-consensual
entry / search
of
Inner City
Press' office
on March 18
were then sent
from a
'Concerned
UN Reporter'
account to
BuzzFeed.”
Specifically,
“were
these the
photographs
that the UN
allowed UN
Correspondents
Association
president
Pamela Falk of
CBS to take
that day?
Or were these
the
photographs
the UN took?”
If
the UN took
the photos
ostensibly for
health
reasons, why
did they
give them out?
(In terms of
health,
remember, this
is the same UN
that brought
cholera to
Haiti by
pouring raw
sewage into
drinking
water then
denied all
claims after
more than 5000
were killed.)
UN
official
Stephane
Dujarric, who
in 2012 on
grounds having
nothing to do
with
cleanliness
but only
content was
asked by UNCA
and Voice
of
America to
“review”
Inner City
Press'
accreditation,
twice evaded
and the third
time not
responded to
the simple
request.
Dujarric
replied,
“Regarding the
photos on
BuzzFeed. they
were not
shared by
the UN with
the author and
I can't very
well ask her
where she got
them.”
The
“her” is Rosie
Gray, who
beyond this
story has
been breaking
ground exposing
lobbying by
Malaysia
and others,
and for
example interviewing
Susan Rice.
It's fine to
publish
material given
anonymously.
But
how can the UN
explaining
giving out
these
photographs?
(Or, embedded
Pam Falk
of CBS and
UNCA being
allowed by the
UN to take
them?)
Inner
City Press has
followed up,
“aware that
DPI shared
photographs
taken during
their
non-consensual
search of
Inner City
Press office
with other
resident
correspondents.
That was
inappropriate,
especially now
that digital
copies of said
photographs
were sent to
BuzzFeed --
anonymously,
of course, in
fine UNCA
fashion -- by
'Concerned UN
Reporter.'
"This
is a request
that the UN
explain why
DPI shared
these
photographs,
ostensibly
taken for some
UN safety and
security
purpose, with
scribes known
to have
sought, and to
seek, the
expulsion of
Inner City
Press?”
With
some, the
photos are
having their
intended or
predictable
effect. As
simply one
example, an
individual
from "Think
Progress" has
opined that
"I've had a
problem with
the tone of
his posts for
years" and
"having seen
the pictures
in Gray's
piece, if
real, I'd have
reported Lee,
too."
Reported?
Some,
titillated by
photographs
without asking
their context
or provenance,
have
mis-stated
that UNCA,
Voice
of America,
Tim
Witcher of
Agence
France Presse
and Louis
Charbonneau
of Reuters
pushed
to get Inner
City Press
thrown out of
the UN on
cleanliness
grounds (the
UN Cleanliness
Association?)
This is false:
they hadn't
even been in
the Inner City
Press office,
never
complained
about it.
They
didn't like
the content of
articles and
speech -- like
some UN
officials. So
when the
chance came to
enter Inner
City Press'
office
without
consent,
search papers
and take
photographs
and pass them
out,
anonymously,
to BuzzFeed,
they did.
This
is how the
UN's
Censorship
Alliance
works. Watch
this site.
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