Ukraine


Honours for journalists for their coverage of the war in Ukraine


RTS/RICHARD KENDAL


TWO ASSOCIATED PRESS journalists who reported from Mariupol on Russia’s siege of the city and were said to have helped save thousands of lives were honoured at the Royal Television Society’s annual awards. Vasilisa Stepanenko, a producer, was named Young Talent of


the Year and Mstyslav Chernov, a video journalist who had won best young talent in 2015, was awarded Camera Operator of the Year. They were the only journalists from an international news


group to remain in Mariupol after the war began. Along with Evgeniy Maloletka, a photographer, they spent 20 days documenting the Russian bombing before they were able to escape. Chernov was not present at the awards because he was filming near Bakhmut. Derl McCrudden, AP’s vice-president for global news production, accepted the award on his behalf and described an ‘extraordinary’ message AP received from a special adviser to the now-exiled mayor of Mariupol in January this year. “He thanked us for their work, and he told us that AP’s


coverage of Mariupol became a central point in the negotiations with Russia over the opening of humanitarian gate corridors for the civilian evacuation of the city. He said, without exaggeration, you saved several tens of thousands of civilians and it’s difficult to overestimate your personal contribution here. It’s a rare moment where journalism has a real and substantive impact,” McCrudden said. In his speech, sent to McCrudden to read out, Chernov said he ‘felt terrible’ leaving Ukraine to receive his previous award


2023 SHUTTERSTOCK. “


eight years ago because he felt he should have been filming the Russian bombing in Ukraine at the time. He said: “Nine years of fighting and seemingly nothing has changed. But, thanks to the work of international and Ukrainian journalists, the world is finally seeing the truth – the true face and scale of this invasion.” Stepanenko received a standing ovation. She told the audience that at the start of the siege of Mariupol, people approached journalists for information because they were wearing press flak jackets. She said: “[Then] we had no information. At that moment,


I understood that information is even as important as food.” The awards recognised others for their work in Ukraine including CNN, the BBC, Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay and BBC News presenter Clive Myrie.


Support fundneeds more help


THE INTERNATIONAL Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has stepped up its campaign to raise more funds to support Ukrainian journalists. As a response to the


invasion of Ukraine last year,


the IFJ and European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) launched a Safety Fund in March 2022 to provide vital support to their two affiliates in Ukraine, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) and the


Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine (IMTUU). The IFJ said: “Thanks to our partnership with UNESCO, we have established six journalists’ solidarity centres across Ukraine, managed by


NUJU, which serve as temporary workspaces for journalists, provide them with access to psychological and legal support, and protective and medical equipment, as well as hosting training sessions on safety and first aid, among other services.


“However the IFJ added:


The war drags on and money is running low. Ukrainian journalists need our support more than ever.” Please donate to the IFJ/EFJ Safety Fund for Journalists in Ukraine at https://tinyurl. com/2p967wv9


Russia jails reporter over ‘fake news’


THE NUJ and the IFJ have called for the immediate release of Maria Ponomarenko, who has been jailed for spreading ‘fake news’ in a post about a Russian attack on a theatre in Ukraine.


The journalist at the RusNews channel on


YouTube has been found guilty of spreading alleged ‘fake news’ about the Russian army. Ponomarenko has also been informed by


the Leninsky District Court in Siberia that she has “no right to engage in activities related to


08 | theJournalist


the administration of websites, public channels of electronic and information and telecommunication networks, including the internet, for a period of five years”. The Telegram post to an anonymous channel in March 2022 related to an attack described by Amnesty International as a war crime conducted by Russian forces. More than a thousand civilians inside the theatre were seeking shelter fromthe air raids at the time of bombing.


Thanks to the work of international and Ukrainian journalists, the world is finally seeing the truth – the true face and scale of this invasion


Mstyslav Chernov


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