You May Have A Storm, A Twister, And Even A 9-Richter-Scale Earthquake; Still, We Have To Write That All Skies Are Clear Over Sochi
REUTERS/Alexei Nikolsky/RIA Novosti/Kremlin
In one striking anecdote, CPJ tells what happened when a Sochi correspondent for a major Russian news agency filed three big stories.
The first dealt with the arrest of Sochi journalist Nikolai Yarst, in which it appears law enforcement may have planted drugs on him to secure an arrest. The second was about the malfunction of waterworks at a hastily built residential complex, where Sochi's evicted residents were being housed. The third was about the possibility of a major storm in Sochi. The journalist's Moscow editor nixed all three stories.
Here's what the editor allegedly told the correspondent:
You may have a storm, a twister, and even a 9-Richter-scale earthquake; still, we have to write that all skies are clear over Sochi.
That isn't even the most egregious example of press censorship in Russia right now. Anna Gritsevich, a former correspondent for the Sochi branch of All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, told CPJ that her work amounted to advertisement passed for as news.
Once I was assigned to report on the building of a parking lot next to a kindergarten. Parents were indignant and against the parking lot. However, I was forced to interview only specially prepared people, who all said it was 'so great that there will be a parking lot here.'
The government isn't limiting its censorship to Russian journalists either. According to the report, Norway's TV2 sent a two-person crew to report on the Olympics' impact on local residents at the end of October. In three days of reporting, they were stopped by officers six times and detained three times. Officers repeatedly questioned the team about their work and personal lives and refused to allow them to contact their embassy. The police tried to coerce the team into taking a drug test and threatened to jail them.
The Norwegian journalists say they believe the detentions were a pretext to extract information on their sources from their personal devices. One of the reporters, Øystein Bogen, said he was positive that the SIM card for his iPhone had been copied, compromising his sources.
"Some of my contacts have reported that they have been interrogated and have had their houses searched after we left," Øystein Bogen told CPJ.
- Global stocks rally even as Sensex, Nifty fall sharply on Friday
- In second consecutive week of decline, forex kitty drops $2.28 bn to $640.33 bn
- SBI Life Q4 profit rises 4% to ₹811 crore
- IMD predicts severe heatwave conditions over East, South Peninsular India for next five days
- COVID lockdown-related school disruptions will continue to worsen students’ exam results into the 2030s: study
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market