Ukraine / Europe & Central Asia

  
Newspapers are sold in Sevastopol in March 2014. Independent journalism has struggled after Crimea was illegally annexed. (AFP/Viktor Drachev)

How patriotism with a Cold War tinge is damaging Crimea’s press

“You should move to Kiev,” I was trying to persuade a friend of mine to leave Crimea. I first met him at the time when cassettes were used in voice recorders, there were no e-mail addresses on business cards, and people preferred to make acquaintances in bars, not online. He asked me not to make…

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Russian journalist detained, beaten in eastern Ukraine

New York, June 17, 2015–A correspondent for the independent Moscow-based Novaya Gazeta was obstructed and briefly detained by the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, according to news reports. Pavel Kanygin, a special correspondent for the newspaper, said he was beaten and interrogated in custody and then forced to leave the…

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Journalist injured covering fighting in eastern Ukraine

A freelance reporter was injured on June 14, 2015, while he was covering fighting in eastern Ukraine, near the city of Donetsk, which is a stronghold of pro-Russia separatists, according to news reports.

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CPJ calls on Ukraine to not revoke Inter broadcasting license

New York, May 29, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ukrainian authorities to allow national television channel Inter to continue broadcasting freely and to investigate why its signal has been jammed. Parliamentary criticism of the station has led the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine to conduct a review of Inter’s license,…

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In Crimea, press freedom deteriorates at a rapid pace

Dear President Vladimir Putin: The Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide, is writing to express its concern about the deteriorating climate for press freedom in Crimea.

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A masked pro-Russian protester poses for a photo inside a regional government building overtaken by his group in Donetsk, Ukraine, on April 25, 2014. (Reuters/Marko Djurica)

Media wars create information vacuum in Ukraine

More than a year after the December 2013 mass attack against journalists at Kiev’s Maidan Square, which coincided with the Ukrainian police’s violent dispersal of protesters rallying against the policies of then-President Viktor Yanukovych, the press in the beleaguered nation continue the battle for survival. The biggest problem remains impunity in attacks against journalists.

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TV journalist wounded in eastern Ukraine

On April 14, 2015, in Shyrokyne, a village in eastern Ukraine, local journalist Andrei Lunyov was wounded after accidentally triggering a trip wire that led to an explosion, regional and international press reported.

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Pro-Russia journalist shot dead in Ukraine

New York, April 16, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ukrainian authorities to identify the motive in the murder of Oles Buzina, former editor of the independent news website Segodnya, in Kiev early today. Buzina was gunned down outside of his home by two masked men who fled the scene, according to news reports.…

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Authorities in Crimea should allow Ukrainian outlets to broadcast freely

New York, March 24, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in Crimea to allow television and radio outlets based in Ukraine to broadcast in the region, following a statement made by Sergey Aksyonov, the Russia-appointed prime minister in Crimea, indicating that Ukrainian broadcasters that have been taken off the air will not be…

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Russian media regulator denies registration to Crimean news outlets

New York, March 19, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the deteriorating media climate in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that was annexed by Russia last year. On April 1, a news agency and a media company face being shut down after being denied registration by the Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor, according to news…

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