CPJ Disturbed By Russian Attack on Ukrainian TV Infrastructure

CPJ
(Image credit: CPJ)

The Committee to Protect Journalists said that two Danish journalists have been wounded in Eastern Ukraine and that it is "deeply disturbed" by Russia's apparent targeting of television infrastructure in a missile attack that killed at least five people and "knocked some television broadcasts off the air."

The Russian state news agency TASS had reported that the missile strike was to "thwart informational attacks against Russia."

CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program coordinator Gulnoza Said, said that the Russian military was trying to "deprive Ukrainians of information at a time when it is desperately needed" while putting journalist and civilian lives at risk.

CPJ is working to document journalist detentions and and other violations of press freedoms. It is also collecting observations of Ukrainian journalists.

For example, Olga Rudenko, editor of Kyiv Independent, an English-language Ukrainian news site, wrote: “The mood here is rather grim. Even when you make eye contact with strangers in the street, you have this feeling of anxiety and grimness because the general feeling is nobody knows where is safe to be right now.” ■

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio WorldTV TechTV FaxThis Week in Consumer ElectronicsVariety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.