Separatists try stamping out ‘bad news’ about Donbas

Several
reporters whose work has been deemed “unfavorable” by the occupation
authorities have already been denied accreditation, which is effectively a ban
on reporting, while a Russian journalist was recently detained, beaten and
deported after he covered an anti-war rally in Donetsk.

Foreign
journalists who are still allowed to work in the occupied territories report of
other restrictions, with “babysitters” watching their every move, or escorting
them to certain areas.

A
Spanish journalist, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was still
working in Donetsk, said he had not encountered any major problems, but that
there were always some “media controllers” monitoring his work.

“Last
time, they asked for a copy of the report I was going to send. With army
members, I am more careful because I know the rules,” he said.

But Olga,
a press secretary for the self-proclaimed Ministry of Information who refused
to give her full name, didn’t see what the fuss was all about when recently
asked about what many see as a crackdown on journalists’ freedom to report as
they see fit.

“We just
want to know who is working here,” she told the Kyiv Post.“That’s our rule.
Remember that journalists are guests here and we make the rules. If you don’t
like that, then just don’t come here.”

Russian
journalist Pavel Kanygin learned this particular rule the hard way last month
when his reporting for Novaya Gazeta of an anti-war rally in Donetsk was seen
as “unfavorable.” Kanygin was promptly summoned by the pseudo-authorities,
detained, beaten and then tossed into a field on the border with Russia as part
of his “deportation.”

In a
series of interviews after the incident, Kanygin said he’d been tricked into
believing he had been summoned to collect his media accreditation, and that he
thought the whole thing had been a set-up to punish him for having reported on the
rally the day before.

The
occupation authorities later issued a statement claiming Kanygin had staged the
protests and that he’d made up the story of his beating and deportation as a
publicity stunt, even though a photo of the journalist with a cut and bruised
eye had already been widely shared on the Internet.

Hitting back, Kanygin released an audio
recording in which representatives of the occupation authorities’ Information
Ministry explained that “unfavorable articles” would get journalists – and
entire publications – banned.

“Why did they refuse me accreditation? On
the basis that the ‘DNR’ doesn’t like my articles? Isn’t that censorship?” Kanygin
asked a ministry official.

“With us, it’s called monitoring of
journalistic activity,” the ministry official told him, Kanygin said.

“Why do you write ‘the DNR administration
building’ in quotes? And why in lower-cased letters?” the so-called official
asked the Russian reporter.

“Because the ‘DNR’ is not recognized by
anyone. Not by Russia, not by Ukraine, not by the UN,” he responded

“You are denied [accreditation],” the official
told Kanygin.

“By whom? Can I have some official document
– by whom? Why?” he asked.

“No. Your newspaper publishes unfavorable
articles,” the official said.

The explanation provided to Kanygin is
identical to one given over a month earlier to a Kyiv Post reporter who was
told simply: “The leadership does not like your articles.”

When asked to specify which articles, the press
secretary simply repeated to the Post reporter “You are denied,” before hanging
up the phone.

In a later encounter, the same press
secretary told another reporter for the Kyiv Post that no one has ever been
denied accreditation.

All
journalists who want to work in the occupied territory are now required to get
accreditation first, which means they have to fill out a form listing their
personal information, the publication that they work for, and even what sort of
stories they want to write.

Olga,
the so-called Information Ministry official, declined to elaborate for what the
personal information is used, but said addresses are required in case there is
an emergency.

“Our
concern is also to provide assistance to journalists visiting here,” Olga said.

“If
there is shelling and journalists get wounded at their hotel, we want to know
about that,” she said, adding that it was “nonsense” to claim the pseudo-authorities
might misuse reporters’ personal information to spy on them – a concern of many
working in the territory.

In fact,
the occupation authorities have made no secret of the fact that they enforce
censorship – they just call it by another name.

Even on
the back of the media accreditation card issued to each journalist allowed to
work in parts of separatist-held Ukraine there is a rule stating that reporters
must be “politically correct” in their work.

The
Ministry of Information’s press service stressed that this was to counter the
“biased reporting of Western media,” seemingly without acknowledging that
blocking critical reporting – even if only the government considers it biased –
is effectively censorship.

Although
Russia has always denied having control over the pseudo-authorities in Donetsk,
the crackdown on journalists in Donetsk closely mirrors the media atmosphere in
Russia, where foreign reporters covering the Ukraine conflict have run into
trouble with accreditation.

Simon
Ostrovsky, an American journalist who covers the war for Vice News, was refused
accreditation in early June, just days after Vice published his report exposing
Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

After Russia’s
Foreign Ministry refused to renew his visa in early June, Ostrovsky called for
reciprocal measures to be taken in the West, where Kremlin mouthpiece RT is
allowed to operate freely despite controversy over its biased coverage.

“The Russians have banned me from operating
here, so in my case and the case of many other journalists who haven’t had
their press credentials renewed, Russia has essentially banned the freedom to
report,” Ostrovsky said in a June 24 interview.

“Journalists who have had trouble getting Russian
press accreditation too, should speak out. The government exploits our silence
on the issue,” Ostrovsky wrote on Twitter on June 22.

But speaking
out already seems to be a rare exception for journalists working in occupied Donetsk.
Most foreign journalists interviewed for this story were reluctant to comment
on their experiences – for fear of getting banned themselves.

Stefan Huijboom can be reached at [email protected]

Staff writer Allison Quinn can be reached at [email protected]