Department of Public Information Enters Press Office Without Consent, UNCA Takes Photos: What Are the Rights of Journalists at the UN?

Department of Public Information Enters Press Office Without Consent, UNCA Takes Photos: What Are the Rights of Journalists at the UN?

“A week after Reuters and AFP filed complaints against Inner City Press for having called them lapdogs of UN officials, and a three days after the UN declined to provide a copy of the complaints, UN officials entered Inner City Press’ office at the UN without permission and took photographs.When Inner City Press, notified by another member of the Free UN Coalition for Access, arrived on the scene, the officials were inside its office, going through papers. In the hallway, the president of the UN Correspondents Association, Pamela Falk of CBS, took cell phone photographs.”

Free United Nations Coalition for Access

By Matthew Russell Lee

March 20, 2013

In a new low, the office of Inner City Press was entered by Department of Public Information (DPI) on March 18 without consent or notice, and photographers were taken. In fact, United Nations Coalition for Access (UNCA) President Pamela Falk was on the scene, taking her own photographs.