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| Founded | 2011 |
|---|---|
| Type | Non-governmental organization |
| Location |
|
| Fields | UN monitoring, human rights advocacy |
| Website | www |
PassBlue is an independent, US-based digital publication that monitors and reports on activities by theUnited Nations. It was founded in the fall of 2011 as a project of theRalph Bunche Institute for International Studies at theCity University of New York. PassBlue moved to the New School, a private university, and is now under the fiscal sponsorship of theInstitute for Nonprofit News.
The termPassBlue is a play on the diplomatic passport known as laissez-passer ("let pass"), a blue travel document used by UN officials on missions and issued by national governments and world institutions during wartime and other periods to allow officers to travel to specific areas. PassBlue does not have an official association with the UN.[1][2][3][4]
In its 2013 description of PassBlue, the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies said on its website:
"The articles and essays are written by top UN journalists, who includeBarbara Crossette, a former foreign correspondent forThe New York Times and UN correspondent forThe Nation; Irwin Arieff, who covered the UN, the White House and other assignments forReuters; Helmut Volger, the editor ofA Concise Encyclopedia of the United Nations; and Dulcie Leimbach, former editor ofUNA's The InterDependent and "A Global Agenda: Issues Before the UN" and an editor/writer atThe New York Times for more than two decades."[3]
In 2015, PassBlue was financed primarily through theCarnegie Corporation of New York, with other grants from the Samuel Rubin Foundation, theFeminist Majority Foundation, theConrad N. Hilton Foundation as well as individual donors.[5] PassBlue has also received funding from theOpen Society Foundations "To support The New School's project PassBlue expand their operational capacity to serve as a watchdog media site on the UN and related foreign affairs institutions."[6]
PassBlue is also supported by the Wallace Fox Foundation, Pinkerton Foundation and other charitable institutions, as well as by thousands of individual donors.[7]
PassBlue has been led since its founding by Dulcie Leimbach, who serves as editor of its articles, and Barbara Crossette. Its managing editor is John Penney. It has engaged hundreds of writers for its publications since its founding.[8]
PassBlue is frequently cited source in the references of numerousWikipedia pages. As of 13 July 2024, PassBlue is cited in the references for more than 35 articles on Wikipedia.[9][better source needed]
The Arkansas CollegiateModel United Nations cites PassBlue among its curated "resources for competing in Model United Nations conferences and understanding basic issues of global governance."[10]
The Johnson County United Nations Association in Iowa has a web page of curated resources it says provide information on "topics of interest to the UNA-USA" and recommends PassBlue as a resource for independent day-to-day updates on the work of the United Nations.[11]
PassBlue's resources and staff are often cited by other media, such as byThe New York Times in a 2021 story about the resumption of the annual in-person meeting of the UNGeneral Assembly since theCOVID-19pandemic[12] and another in 2018 about the US bans on diplomatic visas for foreign same-sexdomestic partners.[13]
Staff at PassBlue are also contacted for quotes by various media outlets and think tanks, such as in this article by the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs about media coverage of the UN.[14]
In 2020,Hillary Clinton sent a link via what was thenTwitter to a PassBlue article regarding the progress for women's rights since the 1995 Beijing conference forgender equality.[15]
In 2021, Clair MacDougall was honored by theInternational Center for Journalists (ICFJ) for an article in PassBlue about the first death from COVID-19 of aUN PeaceKeeper.[16]
PassBlue frequently posts updates in real time from UN meetings, such as the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly, resulting in comments such as that ofAdil Ahmad Haque, a professor atRutgers Law School and executive editor ofJust Security, during the introduction of draft text of aUN General Assembly Resolution ES-10/23 to upgrade Palestine's rights in the United Nations as an Observer State, who said "I probably won't live tweet the whole meeting, so follow @pass_blue"[17]
PassBlue andFRANCE 24 won the silverElizabeth Neuffer Memorial Prize from theUnited Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) for three investigative stories on the2023–2024 Israel–Hamas war in theGaza Strip they co-published over the course of 2024. FRANCE 24's Jessica Le Masurier and PassBlue's Dulcie Leimbach, Damilola Banjo and Fatma Khaled jointly won the award for their reporting.[18][19]