March 20, 2017:  At United Nations headquarters 80 days into 2017 there has been only one sit-down press conference involving the Secretary General. There are few to no read-outs of meetings with Foreign Ministers or even conversations with heads of state. Notice of travel is not given and, as is complained of in Washington, media are handpicked to cover particular legs of trips. The UN still has no Freedom of Information Act, no content neutral standards for media accreditation and no rights read more [...]

UNITED NATIONS, January 7 – The United Nations at the beginning of 2017 still has no Freedom of Information Act, no content neutral standards for media accreditation and no right to due process or appeal for journalists. This is UNacceptable. New UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres should be expected to address these issues, and to hold at least monthly sit-down press conferences. On January 6 hold-over spokesman Stephane Dujarric indicated he would wait for something to announce. But Q&A read more [...]

For this year’s UN General Assembly week, all but the most favored media are to be confined to Conference Room 1 where, the Department of Public Information has said, journalists will not be allowed food or even water. DPI also said that while “Resident Correspondents” – those with no offices or whom Ban and Gallach have not evicted – will have 20 passes to roam the Conference Building, non-residents are BANned, or can only go there with an escort or minder. This is Unacceptable. read more [...]

As Ban Ki-moon’s final six months as UN Secretary General begin, the need for a UN Freedom of Information Act and increased media access become ever more clear. Ban has held fewer and fewer press conferences. Basic information is withheld, or given out only selectively. Journalists at the UN have no due process rights: investigative files and long-time offices can be evicted and accreditation status reduced without a single hearing, and with no transparency or right to appeal. The Free UN Coalition read more [...]

The UN needs a Freedom of Information Act, it needs to require senior officials to respond to questions from the media. But amazingly this year, Ban Ki-moon's UN has shown a willingness not only to throw critical media physically in the street, seizing Periscope phone and laptop, but to follow up by throwing journalistic files out onto First Avenue, with no due process or appeal. This happened on February 19 and then April 16, 2016, at the direction of UN DPI. Video here. Instead of looking read more [...]