Credit the UN that despite the many veils of secrecy at Turtle Bay, there is at least a ritual noon press briefing, at which reporters may not always get real answers, but at least they get to ask real questions (where is that Mercedes?).
But this past Monday the briefing turned into a master-class in how to hold a press conference while avoiding almost all questions from the press. The much-anticipated and well-attended event was a guest appearance at the noon briefing by Under-Secretary-General Alicia Barcena — who in early January took charge of the important and scandal-plagued UN Department of Management, which handles billions in UN purchasing and oversees such vital matters as UN administrative reform. Reporters had been asking for weeks for a press conference with Barcena, who among other things is supposed to be implementing the Secretary-General’s promises of greater transparency at the UN.
Here, at last, was the chance … but here’s how it played out.
The noon briefing did not begin at noon, but at about 12:13 PM, when UN Spokeswoman Michele Montas arrived late and began reading a long list of annoucements. She then took a series of questions. That went on for about 22 minutes. Finally, at about 12:35, Barcena took the podium. She spent 11 minutes talking in general terms about UN reform.
By then, the time was roughly 12:46 PM. The room had somehow been scheduled to be turned over at 1:00 PM for a press briefing by Her Excellency Natalya Petkevich, Deputy Head of Administration of the President of the Republic of Belarus. Apparently, while the noon briefing does not have to begin at noon, it was vital that the 1:00 PM Belarus briefing begin on the dot.
That left all of about 13 minutes for Barcena to take about four questions, before explaining she would love to do it all again, and bustling out of the press room.
Here’s the webcast (scroll down to the March 5 briefing). The entire experience took 47 minutes, 22 seconds — in its way, a work of art.
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4 Comments
1. Matthew P.:While I also wish that Ms. Barcena’s presentation had been longer, I find it rather odd that you have chosen to entirely skip over the following points of her presentation:
1) 98% compliance with financial disclosure forms, combined with the declaration that if the remaining 2% do not file they will be fired.
2) Publication in iSeek of the compacts signed by executive staff, together with indiciators of performance. Never before have upper management staff been subjected to this level of transparency and accountability. This is a welcomed and significant step forward.
3) Ms. Barcena’s active push behind the new system of internal justice for staff, which our staff union considers a vital and important part of reform.
4) Substantive discussion of the recent and planned actions of the pension fund.
5) Issues related to the conflict of interest review and publication of financial disclosure forms.
These subjects are materially relevant to added transparency, accountability and administrative reform. Simply to criticize her based on the length of the presentation or the logistical arrangements of the room without specifically discussing what she said is rather misleading.
Matthew P.
Mar 7, 2007 - 5:00 am 2. bourne2y:Staff Council of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
Perhaps it’s just as well. She really has nothing to say, anyway.
Mar 7, 2007 - 8:34 am 3. Alex Reed:She’s really good – definitely Juilliard master class level material. While it’s always interesting to see a thing done really well, by an expert, by the end, this made my head hurt — not a good sign. Kudos for the fortitude of the UN press corps! I’m going after some aspirin…..
Mar 7, 2007 - 11:36 am 4. bourne2y:Matthew P, I don’t agree with your assessment of Ms. Barcena’s performance in the briefing. I think Ms. Barcena made only four significant statements in her remarks, and you seem to have missed them all. Here are your comments, and my take on each
1. “98% compliance with financial disclosure forms” That’s nice. But will anyone other than the S-G ever make their own form public?
2. “Publication in iSeek of the compacts signed by executive staff, together with indiciators of performance”. Well, ISeek is not exactly the London Times. More importantly, Ms. Barcena omitted to say whether RESULTS will be posted on ISeek – only that OBJECTIVES will be posted. Perhaps that was only an oversight – but I wonder.
3. “Ms. Barcena’s active push behind the new system of internal justice” Whatever an “active push” may mean. I thought the most revealing statement Ms. Barcena made on this subject was “we’re having meetings”. Quite so.
4. “Substantive discussion of the recent and planned actions of the pension fund.” The most substantive comment I heard her make is “we need to have an investmant strategy.” I agree that’s a good idea, especially if UNJSPF doesn’t have one now.
5. “Issues related to the conflict of interest review and publication of financial disclosure forms.” Issues, we got issues. Here, Ms Barcena merely repeated that staff members are not required under current rules to release their disclosures – they are “private”.
So I must agree with Ms. Rosett that there was little to report EXCEPT that the briefing was poorly-planned.
Oh, and which of Ms. Barcena’s comments did I as a non-reporter think were significant?
1. There is still no head of the ethics office
2. There is still no head of the Capital Master Plan
3. There is still no chief IT officer
4. As to the pension plan “we need to have an investment strategy>
To me, these remarks speak to an organization that is in management free-fall. But other than that, I guess all the Turtles in the bay are doing swimmingly.
Mar 8, 2007 - 11:39 pm