Bolton slams U.N.'s 'adverse press' crackdown

United Nations headquarters in New York

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations' refusal to allow a WorldNetDaily senior staff writer access to the Copenhagen summit on climate change that started this week is but the latest in a series of clashes between the world organization and media.

The standoff between the U.N.'s Department of Public Information and WND publisher Joseph Farah continues, but Farah confirmed a senior U.N. official has offered to meet with him to "discuss" a "future" relationship.

Ahmad Fawzi, director of the news and media division, told WND the accreditation process in Copenhagen was conducted by a separate U.N. group based in Denmark. He said that with the avalanche of press-credential requests – more than 5,000 – some "may have fallen through the cracks," though it was unclear if that included the WND request.

Farah explained:

"I have always been very concerned about the United Nations' commitment to freedom of the press. America's founders recognized it as an inherent, unalienable right. I am afraid others around the world do not see it the same way they did and the way Americans still do," he said.

As WND reported, the media coordinator for the Copenhagen summit refused permission for WND to send two-time New York Times No. 1 best-selling author Jerome Corsi to cover the event.

Axel Wuestenhagen later confirmed verbally to WND that the decision would not be changed.

"Everything we had to say was said in the [e-mail] text," Axel Wuestenhagen, reached on his cell phone as he was preparing for the event, told WND. "I'm not commenting on the text. That was the agreement reached. … I think I'll have to stick to that."

Wuestenhagen initially said the request was delayed because of a flood of applications. He later explained to WND's legal counsel, Gary Kreep, that WND, "as a for-profit subsidiary of the nonprofit Western Journalism Center," did not qualify.

Join in the effort to hold organizations such as the U.N. accountable for their practices regarding coverage, through WND's Legal Defense Fund.

But Farah, the founder of both the Western Journalism Center and WND, responded immediately with the information that, "WorldNetDaily is NOT, as you mistakenly assert, a for-profit subsidiary of the Western Journalism Center. Neither is it an advocacy organization, though, like all news organizations, it does publish a broad spectrum of opinion – we believe, in fact, the broadest ideological spectrum of any news organization in the world."

Even so, Wuestenhagen said his decision would not change.

Since Ban Ki-moon took office in January 2007, the U.N. has been questioning what actually constitutes a "legitimate" news organization, especially in the era of new media.

That gray area has been used several times recently to review the credentials of several news organizations.

It had also drawn the attention of the U.S. mission to the U.N.

Ric Grenell, former director of the mission's office of communications and former press secretary to four U.S. ambassadors, repeatedly has expressed concern that the U.N. has shown "a disposition" to periodically examine the bona fides of news organizations it has taken issue with.

During the Bush administration, concerns over the U.N.'s attitude towards the press drew criticism from several U.S./U.N. ambassadors, including John D. Negroponte, John Bolton and Zalmay Khalilzad.

Bolton told WND: "Over the years, there have been numerous complaints about U.N. efforts to prevent adverse press coverage. Every time it happens, such as denying access or credentials, the U.N. simply increases its credibility problem."

During the Clinton years, the U.N.'s confrontations with the press resulted in written complaints to then-chief Kofi Annan by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and U.S./U.N. Representative Bill Richardson.

So far, the Obama administration has remained silent on the latest U.N. controversy.

A brief review of the history of the U.N.'s relations with the press corps revealed several disturbing events.

In February 2008, Madonna teamed with the fashion house Gucci in an attempt to host a children's aid fundraiser on the U.N.'s North Lawn during the annual New York City "Fashion Week."

Madonna and Gucci enlisted the support of UNICEF chief Ann Veneman and the director of the U.N.'s media-relations department, Ahmad Fawzi, to get the project approved.

Eventually, Veneman and Fawzi gave Madonna the green light.

They not only approved the project but strangely conceded control of the entire event to the group. That meant the dispatching of armed U.N. security officers and control over everyone attending the affair.

Veteran correspondents tell WND they could not remember the U.N. ever surrendering control of a U.N. event to an outside entity.

Many U.N. journalists got bumped by the new Gucci-Madonna PR firm, KCD International, in favor of paparazzi friendly to the controversial pop singer.

The U.N. media accreditation department stood by and did little.

It became such a political hot potato that Secretary-General Ban, who insisted that Veneman and Fawzi acted without his authority, decided to boycott the event.

Later, Ban said he decided to let the event go forward because UNICEF stood to gain "more than $1.7 million" by letting Madonna throw her party.

However, the day after the event, the U.N. found itself saddled with a new problem. That's when New York state attorney general Andrew Cuomo announced an investigation targeting the fashion house Marc Jacobs and its PR firm, KCD International, for allegedly bribing officials to use a local state guard armory in Manhattan to present its clothes during Fashion Week.

Ann Veneman, Fawzi and the U.N.'s undersecretary-general for public information, Kiyo Akasaka, refused comment on the matter.

Since the event, KCD has never returned to U.N. headquarters.

In addition to the Madonna fiasco, the U.N. targeted two members of the new media for special attention in 2008.

In one instance, the U.N. gave the organization an eviction notice; in the other, it attacked the organization through Google.

Icastnews.com, an infant news website that has counted among its many guests Madeleine Albright, Rev. Jesse Jackson and Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, was told that its lease on studio space would be terminated in two weeks.

The U.N.'s Fawzi cited evidence that Icastnews founder S.J. Casella was using his U.N. credentials for personal commercial purposes.

Fawzi gave no prior warning to Casella and accepted the evidence at face value.

Only after an intervention by an attorney representing Casella, pressuring the U.N. to verify the charges of "profiteering," did Fawzi rescind the eviction order, privately admitting the information in his possession was eventually found to be erroneous.

But the conflict continued.

In a later instance, Casella was informed by U.N. security that a small, symbolic red carpet he traditionally placed in front of his studio to welcome visiting guests needed to be removed because it was a "safety" hazard.

Another well-known thorn in the side of U.N. officials is Mathew Lee, an attorney-turned-blogger on the website Innercitypress.com.

Lee, who has become a popular whistleblower, found his credentials challenged by the U.N. but through a back door.

In early 2008, the U.N. hosted an event that drew a visit by a high-ranking official of Google.

The Google official was Michael Jones, chief technology officer.

Several weeks later, Lee received an e-mail from Google informing him that his website no longer met the criteria for a news organization. As such, Innercitypress.com would be removed from its news search engine.

Once Google informed Lee of its decision, the U.N. then began efforts to remove him.

Lee publicized his dilemma with Foxnews.com and several public-advocacy groups on Capitol Hill.

Under growing public pressure, Google re-evaluated Innercitypress.com and eventually returned it to the news search engine after a brief hiatus.

The U.N. then quietly buried the move to oust Lee.

The Mathew Lee incident evoked memories of Google's assistance with Chinese officials when it revealed names of suspected dissidents to the Beijing government. Several arrests subsequently took place.

Google later apologized for that decision when subpoenaed to appear on Capitol Hill.

Grenell, the longest-serving spokesman in the history of the U.S./U.N. mission, told WND that he sees a trend at the U.N.

"First we see Obama attacking Fox News. Now we see the U.N. banning WND from Copenhagen. I, for one, would be very suspicious."

Read about the need for – and get involved in – WND's legal defense fund.

In a column, Farah noted WND's ordeal suggests bigger problems than just a news organization being kept out of one conference.

"If you had any questions about the status of the free press in the future global government, the answer has been delivered. There won't be any," he wrote. "Only government-approved press will have access to the deliberations of the unaccountable big brothers meeting in Copenhagen and future conclaves.

"How can you help?" he continued. "I seek your prayers and your contributions to WND's legal defense fund – now battling on multiple fronts for the First Amendment.

"We are getting a glimpse now of what it is like living in a totalitarian closed society that doesn't respect free-press rights – a society that in fact disdains the notion of a free press," he wrote. "The organizers of the Copenhagen U.N. climate summit tolerate only a faux press that willingly publishes preapproved propaganda disseminated by elitists interested only in solidifying their power."

If you're a member of the press and would like to interview Joseph Farah, e-mail [email protected].