Jamie Detmer is Opinion Editor at POLITICO Europe.
“A rude little Irishman, [who] Sings a nice song, drinks somebody’s brandy and water, and smokes as many cigars as a jolly good fellow. He is the type of man to seek information, especially from the youth.
These were the words once used by a British soldier for the famous 19th century journalist William Russell. Famous for covering the Crimean War, Russell is often referred to as the first real “war correspondent” – a description he himself hated.
In fact, Russell was not the first – others had come before – but his coverage had a wide public impact, as he exposed tactical defeats and logistical inefficiencies, the appalling conditions endured by British and Allied troops, as well as the inadequacy of treatment Injured.
Her dramatic reporting convinced Florence Nightingale to go to Constantinople to train nurses and care for the wounded. This prompted Mary Seacole – the daughter of a Scottish army officer and a free black businesswoman from Kingston, Jamaica – to offer her services. British Army, And although rejected, she went to war, serving as a freelance frontline nurse, her service only being appreciated too late.
Russell’s reporting also prompted a public backlash against the conduct of the war, angering the government, Queen Victoria and his wife, Prince Albert, who remarked “how the pen and ink of a pitiful scribbler are ruining the country. ” Lord Raglan, the commander of British forces in Crimea, accused Russell of disclosing potentially damaging information to Britain and banned senior officers from speaking with him.
As Russell learned, the press has a difficult relationship with the government and military in war—and it is especially difficult and painful when that government and military are their own and locked in an existential struggle.
Last week, my Politico colleague Veronika Melkozerova wrote enthusiastically About the dilemma Ukrainian journalists face when covering the war launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin against their country. “We face a constant tension between holding the government accountable and not letting the enemy take advantage of bad news to undermine us,” he said.
Melkozerova was focused on major corruption The scandal that is erupting in Ukraine, which has so far led to the sacking of the country’s deputy defense minister over a military catering contract, has caused a stir in the government. Other tests have followed. “The first thought that came to my mind was: ‘Should I write about it for foreigners? Will it make them stop supporting us?'” he wrote.
Ukrainian journalist Yuri Nikolov, who broke the story, opened your scoop With the words: “I apologize in advance for the pain caused to readers.” He has said that he considered hoaxing the publication and that he went to the authorities informing about the corruption, in the hope that they would deal with the matter and pass him the poisoned cup.
Nikolov did not meet the criteria of being a professional journalist.
Journalists, if true to their vocation, have no choice but to publish and be damned. The essential role of the media is to report without fear or favour, and if it does not, it risks credibility, undermines public trust and raises doubts about what else is being stopped.
This applies to the international media as well as the Ukrainian press.
And when this war is over, and journalism schools and media scholars go to work weighing the coverage, what will they find? Will they offer a passing grade, or will they highlight instances when Western media have sometimes allowed their sympathy with the Ukrainian cause – a sympathy I fully share – to ignore matters that matter? Which shouldn’t it be and under-reporting some things while over-reporting others?
Take this week, for example. Ukraine is a signatory to the 1997 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention – a treaty that prohibits any use of antipersonnel mines – but on Tuesday, researchers at Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report accusing the country’s military of firing thousands of banned antipersonnel mines into territory held by Russia in last year’s savage battle for Izyum, a town on the Donets River near Kharkiv.
“Ukrainian forces have widely scattered landmines around the Izium area, causing civilian casualties and continuing to pose a threat,” said Steve Goose, director of HRW’s arms division.
Goose went out of his way to emphasize that the Russian military has used banned mines throughout Ukraine since it invaded as well. In fact, in the past year alone, HRW has documented the use of anti-Russian landmines in three reports – although, of course, Moscow did not and never has signed the treaty, which in itself is telling
“Russian forces have repeatedly used antipersonnel mines and committed atrocities across the country, but this does not justify Ukrainian use of these banned weapons,” Goose said.
The HRW report alleges that Ukraine’s use of these mines received little international media coverage – it certainly did not receive front-page treatment and was only highlighted by Western public broadcasters such as the BBC, Voice of America and NPR Was.
And there are other instances in which Western media have under-reported events or actions that reflect poorly on the Ukrainian authorities, and which require more attention.
In the first few months after Russia’s invasion, the Ukrainian authorities arguably shied away from their obligations under Article 13 of the Geneva Conventions – requiring jailers to forbid the exposure of prisoners and to protect them from “humiliation and public curiosity”, Specifically in the context of the use and distribution of images of Russian prisoners of war brought to press conferences to discuss the military invasion, and videos of captured soldiers contacting relatives back in Russia, were posted on social media sites. Were.
Of course, Russia’s abuse of Article 13 has been even more egregious – Ukrainian POWs and captured foreign volunteers appeared in appalling conditions and displayed signs of physical abuse.
Amnesty International publicly reprimanded Kyiv for this violation – and behind the scenes, so did the International Committee of the Red Cross. (Both have also complained about Article 13 violations by Russia.) But Ukrainian officials have pushed back, arguing that the POWs spoke freely and were not coerced. And several Western media outlets also ignored the prohibitions, using material from the press conference for their reporting as well, in violation of the Convention.
Academic examiners of Western coverage may also criticize the fact that while we routinely emphasize the extremely high estimated number of Russian casualties, little is done in trying to establish the potentially higher number of Ukrainian casualties. Published reporting has been done. Like the Kremlin, Ukraine’s government is wary of disclosing such information, as it is naturally wary about giving away anything that might undermine national morale or be useful to Russia.
And where’s the follow-up on the very disturbing video — certified by New York Times – Apparently showing the hanging of 11 Russian soldiers who surrendered in the village of Makeyevka in Luhansk? The Ukrainian government has promised to investigate the incident, but so far the promised investigation has yielded no results.
There has also been little coverage of the Ukrainian authorities slide back over the amnesty promised by Kyiv for Ukrainians from the Russian-occupied zone in Donetsk and Luhansk who were forcibly recruited to fight for Russia. The Kyiv-based rights organization ZMINA reported that Ukrainian authorities, by default, treated conscripts as if they had volunteered, and some were prosecuted and sentenced.
Ukrainian officials are incensed by the critical reporting and have taken the opportunity to reprimand journalists for falling into the Moscow propaganda trap. Naturally, they fear that anything offensive will be used against them to undermine Western support, and will be exploited by Russian propagandists.
They make sense again, on anything that smacks of equality. Russia’s widespread and systemic war crimes, explicitly supported by the Russian leadership – from the brutal (and documented) executions of Ukrainian non-combatants to the rape and sexual abuse of Ukrainian women and even pre-pubescent girls, The brutal missile attacks intended to freeze the entire Ukrainian population—and the abuse of prisoners of war—are grave. And the long and terrifying list could go on.
But no matter how inconvenient – and even if it is used for propaganda purposes or vandalized by a ruthless attacker implementing tactics last seen in Europe during the Balkan Wars or echoing the brutality of the Nazis Ho – the press is still obliged to report.