UN Plaza: Man Bites Man at UN! (Mark Goldberg & Matthew Lee)

[Laurent]

I was shocked by Goldberg's reaction to Matthew Lee's comments, including not just original research but actually a pretty significant scoop, about the Ban Ki-moon nepotism story. I am not anti-UN but it's very clear that the place is rife with corruption and nepotism, and part of the reason is because of people like Goldberg saying, well, whatever, this stuff is "beneath you" -- and when he said that to Lee he clearly meant "beneath me but apparently not beneath you." I thought he showed huge disrespect for Lee in general. If I read on a website somewhere that Ban's wife had had a secret meeting with Mattsson's wife just before her (and Ban's) son-in-law got hired by Mattsson to a senior post in UNOPS, I might not take it very seriously. There is a lot of stuff like this on the internet. But when someone I supposedly respect has broken the story with his own eyes and ears and tells me about it on a diavlog, I take it seriously! If I was horrified by Goldberg (whom I will never take seriously again and now consider the Judith Miller of UN coverage) I was a bit disappointed that Lee didn't push back harder. He had every right to get angry about Goldberg's outrageous dismissiveness.