Opinion: Putin tolerated some critical voices in his 22-year assault on Russian media. His war in Ukraine ends even that.
On the morning after Boris Yeltsin stunned the world by resigning and turning over the Russian presidency to Vladimir Putin, The New York Times published a “man in the news” column that struggled to define the new leader. Putin was a man who “would never deceive you,” promised his political mentor and former St. Petersburg…
Republic of Congo newspaper Sel-Piment suspended for 6 months, director detained for 7 days
Dakar, March 21, 2022 — Authorities in the Republic of Congo should lift Sel-Piment’s suspension immediately and refrain from detaining journalists for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On December 30, 2021, police arrested Augias Ray Malonga, acting director of the privately owned newspaper Sel-Piment, at his home in Brazzaville, the capital,…
‘A rush of relief’: Tanzanian investigative newspaper allowed to publish after 5-year ban
In 2017, Simon Mkina was the publisher and chief editor of the muckraking Tanzanian newspaper Mawio when authorities announced that they were suspending the publication for “jeopardizing national security” by reporting on two former presidents’ alleged links to mining misconduct. Mkina was forced to lay himself off, along with 57 other employees, and he became…
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…
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….
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…
CPJ: ‘Putin has plunged Russia into an information dark age’
New York, March 5, 2022– In response to the news of Russia’s recent “false information” legislation, internet blocks of social media websites, the shuttering of major independent media outlets, and the exodus of prominent global media outlets, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement on Saturday: “President Vladimir Putin has plunged Russia into…
‘There will be more repression’: Exiled Russian journalist Irina Borogan on Moscow’s censorship of Ukraine invasion
As the Russian military continues its invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin is also fighting a different kind of battle at home in its attempts to quash independent news coverage and dissenting narratives about the attack it launched on February 24. Across Russia, journalists have been detained and their outlets investigated, blocked, and restricted from using social media. On…
Russia further blocks media outlets, social media
New York, March 4, 2022 – Russian authorities should allow all local and international media outlets and social media platforms to operate freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. Russian state media regulator Roskomnadzor on Friday, March 4, blocked access to several news websites, including those of BBC Russian, German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle,…
Russia’s silencing of Ekho Moskvy forces a sad end on a brave broadcaster
Russia’s silencing of Ekho Moskvy over its Ukraine war coverage marks an end to an iconic radio station with a brave history dating back to the late Soviet era. Even in the heady final years of glasnost (“openness”), hiding truth from the Soviet public was pretty easy for the country’s Communist leaders. When hardline Communists…