The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is currently holding a conference that it says “aims to gather leading media representatives, professional and ‘citizen’ journalists and media law experts to exchange views on these issues [the world after WikiLeaks and the News of the World] and to discuss good practices in traditional professional journalism and citizen journalism in the digital era.” But WikiLeaks itself will not be allowed to speak.
WikiLeaks believes that not only is it being excluded, “US organizers have stacked the conference with WikiLeaks opponents.” UNESCO’s reply, according to WikiLeaks, was that the exclusion was an exercise in “freedom of expression... our right to give voice to speakers of our choice.”
Julian Assange, editor in chief and founder of WikiLeaks, has responded: “To use ‘freedom of expression’ to censor WikiLeaks from a conference about WikiLeaks is an Orwellian absurdity beyond words. This is an intolerable abuse of UNESCO’s Constitution.” That constitution states that UNESCO will “Collaborate in the work of advancing the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass communication and to that end recommend such international agreements as may be necessary to promote the free flow of ideas by word and image.”
WikiLeaks believes that this is purely politically driven. The conference is organized by UNESCO and the World Press Freedom Committee. Spokesperson for the latter is Ronald Koven, who agreed with UNESCO’s stance: “I can only share in your attachment to freedom of expression. It must include our right to give voice to speakers of our choice.” But WikiLeaks claims that “In recent years he has been a U.S. Embassy informant and is mentioned in WikiLeaks’ cables.”
UNESCO’s response to WikiLeaks is simple. “May I underline that the conference is about journalism in light of the situations that occurred with Wikileaks and News of the World, and not about the episodes themselves.”
Assange’s response is equally simple. “It’s time,” he warns, “to occupy UNESCO.”