With Journalists Under Attack, Crimea Faces ‘Information Crisis’ Ahead Of National Referendum

[ProSense]

With Journalists Under Attack, Crimea Faces ‘Information Crisis’ Ahead Of National Referendum

By Igor Volsky

Multiple reporters have been harassed and beaten while trying to cover efforts by pro-Russian militants to seize areas of Crimea, raising serious concerns about the safety of journalists and their ability to report accurate information just days before Crimeans vote on their political future.

Ukraine’s Channel 5 television journalists and journalists from the Inter and STB channels were allegedly assaulted and had their equipment seized, AFP reports. According to accounts from the Associated Press, a group of reporters were setting up their cameras when “they were approached by unarmed men who took photos of their equipment and ‘accused the crew of being spies.’” An AFP corespondent “later saw five male journalists in hospital who had been severely beaten, their faces covered with blood, and who were being treated for head wounds.”

Security video footage from Crimea’s main port also shows a photographer being robbed of his camera at gunpoint for taking photographs of other journalists facing intimidation and harassment...International monitors describer the crackdown as an “information crisis,” one that could significantly undermine the dissemination of information ahead of the March 16th referendum to decide if Crimea will receive autonomy from Ukraine or join Russia.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) media freedom representative warned that “extreme censorship, shutting down media outlets and press hubs and attacks and intimidation of journalists must stop immediately.” However, the team says it has been barred from entering Ukraine by pro-Russian forces...six Ukrainian channels were shutdown in Crimea and replaced with Russian broadcasts and a group of 30 masked gunmen broke into the Crimean Center for Investigative Journalism last weekend. On Thursday, a Russian lawmaker introduced legislation making media executives criminally liable for “the publication of false, anti-Russian information that provides information in support of extremist and separatist, anti-Russian forces, including portrayals of events beyond Russian borders.”

- more -

http://thinkprogress.org/world/2014/03/08/3380781/crimea-faces-information-crisis-ahead-of-national-referendum/

[ProSense]

1. Kick! n/t

[Igel]

4. It's a worthy cause. Kicking this.

Russia really wants to win. For example, there's a promise that if Crimea joins Russia, then Russia will guarantee that the city council's budget will double.

What's a possible reason not to join? Avoid repression, make Russians dominant, have more money for government jobs and public works, have ultra-cheap energy, etc., etc.

The nationalists need no reason. But under occupation, if you vote against it the situation gets very sticky, while if you vote for it you get stuff. Stick *and* carrot.

Which is an odd sort of thing to bother with, if you really believe that the population is really all-in for joining up with Russia. Something they voted against last time they were asked.

[Cha]

2. Kick!

[jakeXT]

3. The US has always more style, the Russians have a lot to learn

U.S. Military Covertly Pays to Run Stories in Iraqi Press

WASHINGTON — As part of an information offensive in Iraq, the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq.

The articles, written by U.S. military "information operations" troops, are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers with the help of a defense contractor, according to U.S. military officials and documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/nov/30/world/fg-infowar30

[ProSense]

5. Well,

The US has always more style, the Russians have a lot to learn

U.S. Military Covertly Pays to Run Stories in Iraqi Press

WASHINGTON — As part of an information offensive in Iraq, the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq.

The articles, written by U.S. military "information operations" troops, are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers with the help of a defense contractor, according to U.S. military officials and documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/nov/30/world/fg-infowar30

...I wouldn't say the Bush administration had "more style," nor would I use Bush to try to justify Putin.

Invading a country and taking over its media at gunpoint is not the same a paying it to run propaganda. Neither tactic is good, but they're not equivalent.

Ketchum Placed Controversial Putin Op-Ed
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023653222

Ukraine: Human rights monitors urgently needed as journalists and activists face wave of attacks in Crimea

With journalists, activists and peaceful protestors facing increasing harassment and intimidation in Crimea, there is an urgent need for a strong international monitoring mission in Ukraine, said Amnesty International...calling for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to urgently establish a strong international monitoring mission in the country.

“Attempting to monitor the human rights situation in Crimea has become a near impossible task. Self-styled Crimean self-defence groups are harassing pro-Ukrainian protesters, journalists and human rights monitors with complete impunity,” said John Dalhuisen, Europe and Central Asia Director at Amnesty International.

<...>

“The OSCE must quickly establish a strong monitoring mission and enjoy unimpeded access to all parts of Ukraine – including Crimea, which remains on a knife edge and where tensions are still high. Russia should welcome, not block this initiative,” said John Dalhuisen.

Peaceful protesters who attempt to express their support for the unity of Ukraine and opposition to Russian military presence in the Crimean peninsula face intimidation from pro-Russian activists.

- more -

http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/news-item/ukraine-human-rights-monitors-urgently-needed-as-journalists-and-activists-face-wave-of-attacks-in-c

[jakeXT]

7. But first you need the expertise and the institutions for propaganda, it goes way back.

And certainly the military has the funds for it.

CNN AND PSYOPS

Military personnel from the Fourth Psychological Operations Group based at Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, have until recently been working in CNN’s hq in Atlanta.

CNN is up in arms about our report in the last issue of CounterPunch concerning the findings of the Dutch journalist, Abe de Vries about the presence of US Army personnel at CNN, owned by Time-Warner. We cited an article by de Vries which appeared on February 21 in the reputable Dutch daily newspaper Trouw, originally translated into English and placed on the web by Emperor’s Clothes. De Vries reported that a handful of military personnel from the Third Psychological Operations Battalion, part of the airmobile Fourth Psychological Operations Group based at Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, had worked in CNN’s hq in Atlanta.

De Vries quoted Major Thomas Collins of the US Army Information Service as having confirmed the presence of these Army psy-ops experts at CNN, saying, “Psy-ops personnel, soldiers and officers, have been working in CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta through our program, ‘Training with Industry’. They worked as regular employees of CNN. Conceivably, they would have worked on stories during the Kosovo war. They helped in the production of news.”

http://www.counterpunch.org/2000/03/26/cnn-and-psyops/

[ProSense]

8. Still not the same thing, and this isn't about what Bush did.

I mean, Bush was paying people in this country to push propaganda on air.

[jakeXT]

9. I thought Clinton was POTUS during the Kosovo war, it was in the excerpt and could have been read

They worked as regular employees of CNN. Conceivably, they would have worked on stories during the Kosovo war. They helped in the production of news.”

[ProSense]

10. OK, it's still not the same thing.

As I said, invading a country and taking over its media at gunpoint is not the same a paying it to run propaganda. Neither tactic is good, but they're not equivalent.

Ketchum Placed Controversial Putin Op-Ed
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023653222

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024630765#post5

[kelly1mm]

6. I see that it is the title of the article linked to but how can a region (Crimea) have a 'national

referendum'. The area is (at least for now) a region of Ukraine. Shouldn't the title say 'regional' or 'provincial' referendum?

[ProSense]

12. You're right. It's not "national"

Bad headline. The lede does indicate that only Crimeans are voting.

[ProSense]

11. Kick! n/t

[sheshe2]

13. Kick!