Calling the war ‘war’: Meduza’s Galina Timchenko bucks Russia’s censorship on Ukraine
The Kremlin was infuriated by editor Galina Timchenko’s coverage of Russia’s incursion into Ukraine. So it pressured her boss to fire her. Timchenko left Moscow with much of the staff from her popular website, moving to Riga, Latvia, where they could work free of Kremlin censorship. That may sound like today’s news, but it actually…
Brent Renaud brought heart and compassion to his filmmaking
Brent Renaud was renowned not just for his war reporting, but for the compassion he brought to his work. From Iraq to Somalia to Mexico, his videography explored human vulnerability and human connection at the worst of times. A U.S. soldier in Fallujah calls his mother on Mother’s Day; a physical therapist coaxes a young…
‘Hard, emotional and painful’: Journalists in Ukraine on covering Russia’s invasion
The shooting death of U.S. reporter Brent Renaud in Irpin, outside Kyiv, on Sunday, March 13, underscored the extraordinary dangers facing journalists covering Russia’s war in Ukraine. Renaud was the second journalist killed since Russia’s February 24 invasion; other reporters have been shot at, shelled, robbed, and detained by Russian forces as they cover the…
CPJ joins letter calling for sanctions on Russia not to restrict internet access
On March 10, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined 40 other civil society groups in a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden, calling for his administration to ensure that sanctions imposed on Russia in retaliation for the country’s invasion of Ukraine do not interfere with Russians’ access to the internet. The letter notes that, as…
Russia-Ukraine watch
How the war is affecting press freedom in the region Updated June 16, 2022 Russia’s February 24 full-scale invasion of Ukraine marked a sharp escalation in threats to press freedom in the region and beyond. Journalists in Ukraine have been killed covering the war, while many of their Russian counterparts have fled or faced persecution….
Russian court sentences Crimean journalist Remzi Bekirov to 19 years in prison
New York, March 11, 2022 – In response to Russia’s recent sentencing of Crimean journalist Remzi Bekirov to 19 years in prison, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement of condemnation: “Russian authorities should immediately release Remzi Bekirov and all other Crimean journalists who became hostages of an occupying force in their homeland,”…
Opinion: How the West can help the media victims of Putin’s war
Russia’s independent journalists are fleeing. That’s not only a tragedy for Russians but also for the rest of us who need to know what the increasingly isolated leader of a nuclear superpower is doing. Since sending tanks into Ukraine on February 24, President Vladimir Putin has threatened to jail anyone who dares question the invasion…
Russian forces in Ukraine detain and harass journalists; authorities clamp down on Russian media
Paris, March 10, 2022 – Russian authorities must halt their campaign to stifle the domestic press, and the country’s armed forces should immediately cease harassing journalists covering the invasion of Ukraine, and ensure that the media can work freely and safely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. This week, Russian forces in Ukraine have…
‘Censor yourself or don’t work at all’: Why squeezed Russian journalists are fleeing in droves
Last week, Taisia Bekbulatova, chief editor of Russian independent news site Holod, began frantically looking for plane tickets. Bekbulatova, who is based in Georgia, wanted to evacuate her Russia-based staff after the country passed legislation threatening up to 15 years in prison for the publication of “fake” information about the invasion of Ukraine. “It was apparent that the law was…
CPJ urges countries to give refuge to Russian journalists after Georgia refuses entry to Dozhd TV’s Mikhail Fishman
Washington, D.C., March 7, 2022 – Governments around the world should allow independent Russian journalists fleeing prosecution to enter their countries and find safe haven, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On Saturday, March 5, authorities at Georgia’s Tbilisi International airport denied entry to Mikhail Fishman, a journalist for the now-shuttered independent Russian outlet…