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28.03.2022. The State of Media in Ukraine during the War – second report (March 20-27) prepared by Andrii Ianitskyi at the request of Press Emblem Campaign

Lviv (Ukraine), 28 March 2022. Short brief. 32 days after the Russian invasion in Ukraine:

Ukrainian authorities have tightened control over the media
Ukrainian journalists work under Russian occupation
7 journalists killed (local and international both), dozens wounded, 1 missing
Media development organizations advise using the correct terms about the war in Ukraine and raises money to support the Ukrainian media
President of Ukraine gave an interview to Russian media
Russian journalists work in Ukraine
The work of Ukrainian media during martial law

On March 20, the National Defense Council of Ukraine subjugated the operator of digital broadcasting for the duration of martial law. In another decision, the Council ordered the operator to “take measures” to pursue a unified information policy under martial law. Thus, the National Defense Council wanted to unite all news and socio-political TV channels into a common telethon “United News”, that is, to create the only source of news for viewers. After this decision, two channels Pryamiy and Channel 5 joined the single television marathon. These channels are owned by the country’s former president, Petro Poroshenko, and have often criticized President Volodymyr Zelensky.

At the same time, the Espreso channel did not join United News, but began rebroadcasting it for several hours a day on its own frequencies. Espreso also began to rebroadcast the programs of the Voice of America, the BBC, Radio Liberty, France 24 and the local Crimean Tatar TV channel ATR. Thus, the TV channel is trying to maintain editorial independence in its author’s programs.

The tightening of control over the media in Ukraine may be associated with truce talks with Russia. Ukrainian authorities may make unpopular compromises, such as abandoning NATO membership attempts, and seek to limit public criticism of their actions in local media.

On March 21, the Armed forces of Ukraine also banned video and photo shooting of public roads, general purpose facilities, infrastructure facilities, checkpoints, fortifications, concentration or movement of military units of the defense forces.

In addition, on March 24, the Ukrainian Parliament toughened the punishment for photographing and video filming the movement of Ukrainian troops during wartime. Earlier, one of the random photos of a local blogger could have provoked a Russian missile attack on a shopping center in Kyiv, in the parking lot of which several Ukrainian military vehicles were based.

Media under Russian occupation

Many Ukrainian journalists ended up in Russian-occupied territories in southern Ukraine. The usual practice in such cases for Russians is a ban on the work of Ukrainian media, replacing them with Russian state broadcasters. The Russians took several Ukrainian journalists in Kherson, Mykolaiv and Energodar (cities in southern Ukraine) and released them after interrogation.

One example is the journalist of the Novy Den newspaper Olekh Baturin, who spent eight days in Russian captivity in the Kherson region. The invaders released him after they subjected him to physical and psychological pressure. The Russians ask the captive journalists for the names of pro-Ukrainian activists who are organizing peaceful protests against the occupation.

Killed and missing journalists

Already 7 journalists were killed (local and international both), 1 was missing since the February 24th of Russian invasion. Several more journalists who went into military service died in the fighting. That is why the Prosecutor General of Ukraine gives a different figure of 12 killed journalists. They include in this sad list those journalists who left their profession for a while and signed up for the army. One journalism teacher also died.

According to the local Institute of Mass Information and open sources:

Killed:

Yevhen Sakun, cameraman of LIVE TV channel (died on March 1 during the Russian rocket attack on the TV tower in Kyiv);
Brent Renaud, a former correspondent for The New York Times (shot dead by Russians on March 13 in Irpen at a checkpoint);
Pierre Zakrzewski, cameraman for Fox News, an Irish citizen (killed on March 14 during an artillery shelling by Russian troops in the village of Gorenka, Kyiv region).
Oleksandra Kuvshynova, Ukrainian producer, journalist (killed on March 14 together with Pierre Zakrzewski during an artillery shelling by Russian troops in the village of Gorenka, Kyiv region).
Oksana Baulina, a journalist for Russia’s The Insider and Oleksiy Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (killed on March 23 during an Russian shelling in Kyiv while performing an editorial assignment).
Dilerbek Shakirov, a civilian journalist of the information weekly “Around You” (was shot dead by Russians at a blockpost in the suburbs of Kherson on February 26)
Viktor Dedov, cameraman of Sigma TV from Mariupol (died on March 11 as a result of shelling of his house)

Missing:

Maks Levin, famous Ukrainian photojournalist, has not been heard from since 13 March, when he was reporting in the Vyshgorod district, north of Kyiv.
Media development organizations advise using the correct terms about the war in Ukraine and raises money to support the Ukrainian media

Ukrainian media organizations encourage journalists to use the correct terms when describing the war in Ukraine (for example, use the word war instead of the word conflict).

Other Ukrainian organizations raise money to support local newsrooms. Publishers and readers from all over the world have already transferred more than $4 million to support the Ukrainian media.

President of Ukraine gave an interview to Russian media

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky gave an interview to independent Russian media via Zoom. Official Russian authorities banned the publication of this interview, but at least the newspaper Meduza, which operates in exile from Latvia, published the text and video of the interview.

Russian journalists work in Ukraine

Journalists from independent Russian media (Novaya Gazeta, Meduza, Insider and others) work freely in Ukraine, although they often face prejudice from Ukrainians for obvious reasons.

Propagandists from state Russian media work only in the occupied territories under the cover of Russian troops and often spread fakes and make staged videos.

Andrii Ianitsky is journalist now based in Lviv and PEC Representative in Ukraine ([email protected])

His first report was published on 19 March 2022 (read below)

25.03.2022. MYANMAR. 3 more Burmese journalists imprisoned in Myanmar, PEC denounces military crackdown

by Nava Thakuria, PEC South Asia Representative

Geneva: Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), the global media safety and rights body, denounces the continued crackdown on the media by the military junta of Myanmar (also known as Burma and Brahmadesh) and demands the unconditional release of all scribes, who were sent to jails after the infamous military coup on 1 February 2021.

Local media outlets in Yangon (Rangoon), the former capital city of Myanmar, reported that three journalists were imprisoned in the third week of March 2022 for covering the anti-junta demonstrations across the south-east Asian nation. The number of arrested (or detained) media workers in Myanmar has lately increased up to 125, while around 50 are still behind the bars.

All the three Burmese journalists namely Than Htike Aung (Mizzima), Han Thar Nyein (Kamayut) and Ye Yint Tun (Myanmar Herald) were imprisoned to two years each for allegedly preparing false news. Aung, who is associated with the Mizzima group, was arrested on 19 March 2021. Similarly,  Nyein, who co-founded  Kamayut news outlet, was arrested on 9 March.  Tun from the Myanmar Herald digital platform was arrested on 28 February last year.

“The military regime in Naypietaw has treated the journalists as its enemy, while the media workers are doing their job only. The Burmese generals must respect the scribes and facilitate them to perform duties without fear and trepidation,” said Blaise Lempen, the president of PEC, adding that the international community should also pay attention to the hardship faced by journalists in Myanmar.

PEC’s south-east Asia representative Nava Thakuria informed that the military junta has already cancelled the permits of Mizzima,
Democratic Voice of Burma, Myitkyina News Journal, Myanmar Now, 7Day News, Khit Thit News, etc. Now they are operating from outside the country to avoid arrests. A large number of journalists are hiding in neighbouring countries like Thailand, Bangladesh and India to continue working as newsmen.

Christian Campiche is currently the honorary president of the PEC after having been a member of its committee for several years representing the Swiss union of journalists, Impressum, whose president he was from 2015 to 2019. Today he is sharing with us his testimony regarding information on the war in Ukraine on the occasion of the publication of his historical novel situated in Hungary under communist control.

Blaise Lempen (PEC). Christian Campiche, you have just written a historical novel that resonates as a warning, Nous ne retournerons plus à Sashalom (We’ll Never Go Back to Sashalom, La Maraude, 221 pages). Through your family’s history, you recount the dark days of Hungary from 1940 and 1956. The country was first occupied by the Nazis then integrated by force into the Soviet camp. In 1956, repression by Soviet tanks caused 3,000 deaths. Has anything changed between 1956 Hungary and 2022 Ukraine, under assault by Russian army?

Christian Campiche. This story revives our worst memories. We thought this period erased from our memory, in particular the people of our generation, who spent the first 40 years of our lives under the regime of the Cold War. Military service, civil protection, trips to the East, economic exchanges – no activity was innocent owing to the permanent threat of an invasion by Warsaw Pact troops, like a sword of Damocles, in the scenarios of the governments’ military staff in any event. The fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 had made us forget completely this climate of great and permanent tension between the two blocs.

PEC. You novel is a true story, for you speak of your family’s departure from Hungry, where you were born in 1948, for Switzerland. Can one draw a parallel between the thousands of Hungarian refugees of 1956 and the three millions Ukrainians who have already fled the war? Is the welcome the same?

C. C. – My parents left Hungary in 1949 at the time of the communist take over. My father was Swiss, but my Hungarian mother was directly concerned by the plight of both the refugees and the family members left in Hungary. She was deeply affected, which is what I recount in the book. Today, the parallel is striking, in any case at the level of the emotion in the host countries. The situation in the field is different. Hungary was an iron curtain country, and the revolution was a totally spontaneous people’s phenomenon. To defend themselves, the Hungarians had only a few rifles and Molotov cocktails. The Ukrainians have sophisticated arms accumulated during their 30 years of independence.

PEC- Your book is called: We will never go back to Sashalom, your mother’s place of origin in Hungary. Can we say today for the
Ukrainians: we will not return to Mariupol, in view of the systematic destruction of the city by the Russian army?

C. C. – The destruction of his home is a terrible trauma. Sashalom suffered from a tank battle between Russians and Germans, which completely
changed the topography, no one in my mother’s family ever wanted to go back there. But at least there was no deliberate and Machiavellian
strategy to drive out a population, which is perhaps not the case in certain localities of Ukraine. The scorched earth policy has been practiced
since the dawn of time by many invaders.

PEC. You are also the author of Info pocorn, an investigation into Swiss media, criticizing the conformism of certain media in our country. The war in Ukraine has been under way for four weeks. What do you think of the way the information on the war is being handled in Switzerland.

C.C. – I am pleasantly disappointed, as people say here. All the more that I find that the media’s coverage of the covid crisis disastrous. Certain newspapers have sent special envoys to Kyiv. They are taking great risks to relay the life of the inhabitants. I find that remarkable. But I worry about what is to come, given the repressive climate that seems to be settling in there.

PEC. Is there brain washing in the West, not only in Russia? What do you think of the repression of the media in Russia?

I have written columns for the online news outlet infomeduse.ch, which I created in 2003: nothing is all black nor all white. By virtue of its provocations, the West bears a great responsibility for this war. Russia being one of the belligerents, its media inevitably practice self-censorship if they don’t want to disappear in a country that has never been a champion of press freedom, far from it: journalists have paid with their lives for their passionate desire to inform. It’s a long time since truly independent Russian journalists have practiced their profession in Russia.

PEC. What can one do to help the Ukrainian media and the independent Russian media?

We can support them by translating and diffusing their material on our online sites, paying both the authors and the translators. This involves an ad hoc sponsoring set-up. It’s not easy – Western journalists themselves are asking for support – but it’s not impossible either.

Thank you Christian.