Murdered Journalists, Cyber Crimes, and Closed Media Outlets. A Year of Media War in RSF Statistics
12 000 Ukrainian and foreign journalists were accredited to cover the war in Ukraine over the previous year, according to the report by the international organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) compiled with the support of the Institute of Mass Information in Kyiv. “Exposed to frequent bombardment and often deliberately targeted by Russian forces, they risk their lives every day to report what is happening. While the situation is particularly alarming for journalists in the occupied areas, all of the Ukrainian media have been hit hard by the war and its repercussions,” the authors affirm and provide several statistics illustrating the conclusions.
- 8 journalists killed
Most of the eight journalists killed during the first six months of the war were killed outright or fatally wounded by gunfire or artillery fire. They include Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, a French journalist who was in a truck that was targeted by the Russian armed forces. Some, like the Ukrainian photojournalist and fixer Maks Levin, were executed in cold blood. In other cases, such as that of Mantas Kvedaravicius, a Lithuanian documentary filmmaker who was found dead in Mariupol, the circumstances of his death are still unknown.
- 26 journalists knowingly targeted
Of the 50 cases registered by RSF of journalists who came under rifle fire or artillery fire, at least 26 of them were deliberately targeted as the representatives of the press.
- 19 journalists injured
Of the 19 Ukrainian and foreign journalists who were injured, at least four had serious injuries. Most were the victims of Russian artillery bombardment or missile strikes but some sustained gunshot injuries. They include the Danish journalists Stefan Weichert and Emil Filtenborg Mikkelsen, who were shot at by an automatic rifle in the northeast of Ukraine.
- 16 TV towers targeted by air strikes
Almost half of the attacks on television towers, which have taken place throughout the country, were registered in the first days of the war, in early March 2022. In all, the Russian armed forces have targeted Ukrainian TV towers 16 times in the past year.
- 7 war crimes complaints
RSF has filed seven war crimes complaints with the International Criminal Court and Ukraine’s prosecutor-general for a total of 44 acts of violence and abuses involving more than 100 journalists and 11 radio and TV towers in Ukraine. „These crimes confirm that the Russian armed forces have been waging an all-out war on news and information,” the media NGO affirms.
- 42 cyber-crimes against media
The information war has been waged online as well, using cyber-attacks, hacks, social media threats, and attacks against media pages on social media. At least 42 cyber-crimes have been registered in the past year. The latest cyber-attack, targeting the website of the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform, was attributed to hackers linked to the GRU, the Russian military intelligence agency.
- 217 media closed
The reasons for closing media outlets include supply problems, loss of subscribers and advertisers, lack of staff because employees have fled the country or have been mobilized, and financial losses resulting from destruction. According to a survey by IMI, RSF’s local partner, 15% of media workers have been suspended from work without salary.
