13 May 2016 | Digital Freedom, Mapping Media Freedom, mobile, News, Ukraine
Ukraine is again at the center of an international scandal. On 10 May Ukrainian website Myrotvorets, which publishes personal data of alleged separatists, made public information about the journalists who have been accredited in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) — the part of Donbas area beyond Ukraine’s government control.
The website, which announced on Friday 13 May that it was shutting down, leaked personal data of more than 4,000 journalists, including those working for BBC, Reuters, AFP, The Independent, Ceska televize, CNN, Bloomberg, Aljazeera, AP, Liberation, ITAR-TASS and other media.
The site published the names of the journalists, the media outlets they work for, country of origin, cell phones, email and dates of stay in the DPR.
Myrotvorets, or Peacemaker, received the data from Ukrainian hackers who had attacked DPR sites. After the data was illegally disclosed, the hackers declared a boycott and suspended their activities.
The website also accuses the journalists of co-operating with “militants of the terrorist organisation” and claims that “journalists with Russian names work for many non-Russian media (CNN? BBC? AFP?).”
Myrotvorets has long been raising concerns and criticism of Ukrainian human rights activists. Launched in the spring of 2014, it publishes the personal data of people its writers see as supporting separatism in Ukraine.
In particular, it had published the personal data of former Ukrainian lawmaker Oleh Kalashnikov and journalist Oles Buzyna. Both were murdered near their apartments shortly after the release of their information.
Breaking legislation on personal data protection and the presumption of innocence, the site has been operating for two years without any prosecution for its activities.
In April 2015, the Ukrainian parliament’s Commissioner for Human Rights Valeria Lutkovska demanded that the security service and the interior ministry block the website and prosecute those behind it. Instead, she received only threats in response.
As a result, Anton Herashchenko, the MP from the People’s Front faction and the advisor to the Ukrainian Interior Minister, who previously announced his involvement in the creation of Myrotvorets, threatened Lutkovska with dismissal. He said that operation of the website was “extremely important for the national security of Ukraine and the one, who does not understand this or attempts to hinder its operation, is either a puppet in the wrong hands or works against the national security” and the information is collected “exclusively from such open sources as social networks, blogs, online directories, news feeds”.
Lutkovska’s office of ombudsman told Mapping Media Freedom that the police launched a criminal case last year, but there are no tangible results yet and the website continues its work. The sites servers are located outside Ukraine.
In the wake of the publication of journalists’ information, Lutkovska again appealed to the interior ministry and security service aksing for the site to be blocked.
Journalists, whose personal data was published, have already received threats. Ukrainian freelance journalist Roman Stepanovych has published a threat he received via e-mail.
Stepanovych, who currently works mainly for Vice News, told Mapping Media Freedom: “I filmed in Donbas like a stringer for different news agencies like NBC, DW, Reuters and sometimes worked as a fixer for Die Ziet, CCTV, Aftenposten and many more. I am a native of Donetsk, but have always worked for the western media.“
Stepanovych, who is working outside Ukraine, said that he was considering asking police to investigate the threats when he returns to the country.
On May 11, journalists working for Ukrainian and foreign media issued a joint statement with Ukrainian and international media organisations demanding that Myrotvorets immediately take down the personal data of journalists, who had been accredited in the DPR:
“The Ukrainian and foreign journalists, who risked their lives to cover the events impartially and told what was happening in the occupied territories in Ukrainian and international media, were exposed to attack. In particular, it is thanks to their work we found out about the Vostok battalion, crimes of militant known as Motorola and other militants, supply of Russian weapons and many other important facts. These journalists gave information for a qualitative investigation into downing of MH17 flight in the summer of 2014, and their materials about senior officials of the occupied territories formed the basis of many investigative and analytical articles. We especially emphasise that accreditation does not mean and has never meant cooperation of journalists with any party to the conflict. Accreditation is a form of protection and safety of journalists.”
According to the Ukrainian and international media organisations, nearly 80 journalists were taken captive in 2014, many of whom suffered torture. Accreditation is the only, although minor, mechanism for protection of journalists from torture or captivity.
Lutkovska and the journalists also appealed to Ukrainian authorities asking for a launch of criminal proceedings. On the same day, the address of the European Union’s ambassador to the Ukraine, Jan Tombinski, was released. Tombinski said that publication of the journalists’ leaked personal data violated the best international practices and Ukrainian legislation. He urged Ukrainian authorities “to help ensure that this content is no longer published“.
In response, Anton Herashchenko posted on his Facebook page: “Currently, Ukraine has no lawful methods to block harmful content and has no principles of defining which content is illegal and harmful and which is not. Ukraine has also no technical possibility to block any content on the internet.”
On May 11, the Kyiv prosecutor’s office opened criminal proceeding under Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Preclusion of legal professional activities of journalists).
19 Jan 2016 | Europe and Central Asia, Mapping Media Freedom, mobile, News, Ukraine
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. Credit: Drop of Light / Shutterstock.com
Since October 2015, Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom project has recorded a total of 40 verified violations against press freedom in Ukraine, six of which took place in Crimea. Of these reports, 17 included a physical assault or an attack to property, showing just how unsafe the country is for many media workers. To break this number down further, seven violations were physical attacks on journalists only, six were solely damage to journalists’ property and four included a mix of both.
“State and non-state actors alike are undermining the freedom of the press in Ukraine, including Crimea,” Hannah Machlin, Index’s Mapping Media Freedom project officer, said. “Clashes in the eastern region of the country, along with blocked access to local government meetings, frequently incite threats against media workers, including arrest, harassment, violence and even death, all of which set a disturbing precedent for the country as a whole.”
The media in Ukraine may be protected in theory by laws that allow access to information and the increased independence of the broadcasting regulator, but as Mapping Media Freedom shows, this isn’t so much the case in practice.
Below, Index on Censorship details just 10 of the verified incidents since October 2015, highlighting the problem of violence — from the police and politicians to far-right extremists and unidentified assailants — and damage to property against media workers in Ukraine.
Source: Mapping Media Freedom, Index on Censorship’s joint project with European Federation of Journalists and Reporters Without Borders to monitor censorship and violence against journalists in Europe.
17 Sep 2015 | Campaigns, Mapping Media Freedom, mobile, News
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree on Wednesday 16 September banning at least 38 international journalists and bloggers from Ukraine for one year. The decree, published on the presidential website, says those listed are banned for being “actual or potential threat to national interests, national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
Poroshenko said the people targeted were involved in Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and the current aggression in eastern Ukraine.
“This ban is a serious blow to media freedom,” Index senior advocacy officer Melody Patry said. “There is no explanation whatsoever on what press coverage constitutes an actual or potential threat to national security. We appreciate that the situation in eastern Ukraine is sensitive but preventing journalists from reporting from within the country is not the solution and it’s undermining freedom of information.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that the 34 journalists and seven bloggers named in the ban come from Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
The original list included three BBC media staff members – Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg, producer Emma Wells and cameraman Anton Chicherov – who were later removed from the ban list, media reported.
“We cannot accept that kind of censorship”, said Mogens Blicher Bjerregård, president of the European Federation of Journalists. Censorship is never the right answer, even to counter propaganda or to sanction journalists who allegedly crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border illegally. The ban is simply inappropriate. Peace and Development of our democracies need press freedom not banning journalists. We and the international society must firmly urge the Ukraine government to lift immediately the ban on named journalists.”
Over 380 people in total have been banned, including activists and Russian officials.
This measure was added to the Mapping Media Freedom platform, which monitors and map threats and violations to media freedom in Europe, including Ukraine and Russia.
The environment for media freedom in Ukraine has been deteriorating against the backdrop of the conflict in the eastern part of the country, making it one the the deadliest countries for journalists, with at least eight media workers killed since the beginning of 2014.
This statement was updated to reflect the later removal of three BBC journalists from the ban list.
Mapping Media Freedom
Click on the bubbles to view reports or double-click to zoom in on specific regions. The full site can be accessed at https://mappingmediafreedom.org/
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11 Sep 2015 | Mapping Media Freedom, Press Releases
Index on Censorship, die Europäische journalisten föderation und Reporter ohne grenzen freuen sich, die Ausweitung und Neugestaltung von Mapping Media Freedom bekannt zu geben. Das Projekt, das Bedrohungen gegenüber Journalisten innerhalb Europas registriert, schließt nun auch Russland, die Ukraine, sowie Weißrussland mit ein.
Die Karte, die im Mai 2014 erst aufgelegt wurde, dokumentiert Verstöße gegen die Medienfreiheit innerhalb der Europäischen Union und ihren Nachbarländern, einschließlich der Balkanstaaten und der Türkei. Sie erfasst Gewalttaten und Drohungen gegen Reporter, sowie juristische Auseinandersetzungen und Inhaftierungen.
Mehr als 700 Verstöße wurden im ersten Jahr auf der Karte registriert. Somit wurden alltägliche Gefährdungen der Medienfreiheiten aufgedeckt, die zuvor größtenteils unvermerkt und undokumentiert geblieben waren.
“Mapping Media Freedom hat die Art der Gefährdungen klar gekennzeichnet, denen sich Medienorganisationen und deren Mitarbeiter in ganz Europa tagtäglich gegenüber stehen – von geringfügigeren Einschüchterungsversuchen, Gewaltandrohungen, Inhaftierung, bis hin zu Mord. Die Existenz einer detaillierten Datenbank dieser Vorkommnisse – wovon die meisten zuvor unprotokolliert geblieben waren – hilft uns und anderen, Maßnahmen gegen die Täter zu ergreifen”, kommentiert Jodie Ginsberg, Vorsitzende des Index on Censorship.
Die neu aufgelegte Onlineplattform macht es politischen Entscheidungsträgern und Aktivisten leichter, Entwicklungen im Bereich Medienfreiheit zu erkennen und auf diese prompt zu reagieren, mit sofortiger Unterstützung oder einer konkreten Themenkampagne. Darüber hinaus bietet die Plattform gefährdeten Journalisten unterstützende Maßnahmen wie Rechtsberatung oder Schulungen im Bereich digitale Sicherheit. Jeder kann eigene Berichte auf der Seite einreichen, die anschliessend von der Projektleitung verifiziert werden.
“Zu einer Zeit, in der sich die Informationsfreiheit Gefährdungen gegenübersteht, die es seit den Zeiten der Sowjetunion nicht mehr gegeben hatte, ist es essentiell geworden, Journalisten und Blogger zu unterstützten. Während ein Teil des Kontinents in Autoritarismus abdriftet, ist Onlineüberwachung zu einer gemeinsamen Herausforderung geworden”, kommentiert Lucie Morillon, Programmdirektor der ROG.
Infolge von erneuter Finanzierung durch die Europäische Kommission enthält die Karte nun neue Funktionen, einschliesslich der Filterfunktion für einzelne Länder, sowie eine verbesserte Suchanfrage. Das Projekt hat darüber hinaus zum Ziel, neue Bündnisse zwischen Journalisten im ganzen Kontinent zu fördern, im besonderen zwischen jungen Medienarbeitern, die Hilfsquellen und eingehende Berichterstattung auf der Seite “Free Our Media!” nutzen können.
Als Antwort auf neue, drakonische Maßnahmen und Gewalt in der Region deckt sich die Neuauflage mit einer Ausdehnung nach Russland, die Ukraine und Weissrussland. Alle neuen Berichte aus den Gebieten werden auf englischer, sowie der Regionalsprache verfügbar sein.
“Die Ausweitung unserer Dokumentationssarbeit auf die Ukraine, Russland und Weißrussland bedeutet gute Neuigkeiten für Journalisten und Mitarbeiter von Medienorganisationen in der Region. Journalisten stehen üblicherweise im Mittelpunkt von Demonstrationen, bei denen es zu Ausschreitungen kommt, sowie von Zusammenstößen, bewaffneten Konflikten, wo die Gefahr besteht angeschossen, angegriffen, entführt, inhaftiert misshandelt oder sogar getötet zu werden. Berufsbedingte Schwierigkeiten für Journalisten bedeuten, dass sie zum leicht Ziel von Propagaaktivitäten werden können. Dank der Partnerorganisationen wird der EFJ weiterhin alle Verstöße gegen Medien dokumentieren und ein Bewusstsein dafür fördern, Starflosigkeit bei diesen Verstößen zu beenden” kommentierte Mogens Blicher Bjerregård, Vorsitzender des EFJ.
Länderkorrespondenten und Projektpartner – einschliesslich des Human Rights House Ukraine,der Media Legal Defence Initiative und der European Youth Press – werden zusammenarbeiten, um sicher zu stellen, dass Gefährdungen der Medienfreiheit in der Region klar gekennzeichnet und konfrontiert werden.
Der Ansprechpartner für weitere Informationen ist Hannah Machlin, Projektleitung [email protected], +44 (0)207 260 2671
Mapping Media Freedom
Click on the bubbles to view reports or double-click to zoom in on specific regions. The full site can be accessed at https://mappingmediafreedom.org/
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