Russia signs harsh anti-press restrictions!
Several western media organizations suspended their journalistic operations in Russia
in the wake of a harsh crackdown on news and free speech by President Vladimir V. Putin’s government!
Bloomberg and the BBC said their correspondents in Russia could no longer freely report because of the new censorship law signed by Putin, criminalizing independent journalism on the invasion of Ukraine.
Under the legislation, which could take effect as early as today, journalists who simply describe the war as a “war” could be sentenced to prison
*Nexta tweet on Kremlin’s press censorship
Media workers are leaving #Russia en masse for security reasons. pic.twitter.com/ff5xlOe4qj
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 7, 2022
The change to the criminal code, which seems designed to turn any independent reporter into a criminal purely by association,
makes it impossible to continue any reporting of normal journalism inside the country,” Bloomberg’s editor in chief, John Micklethwait, wrote in a note to staff.
- CNN, and ABC News said that it would not broadcast from the country.
“We will continue to assess the situation and determine what this means for the safety of our teams on the ground,” ABC News,said in a statement.
citing ‘we cannot use their reporting for the time being but they remain valued members of our teams and we hope to get them back on our output as soon as possible.”
The censorship law builds on the Kremlin’s insistence that characterizations of its attacks on Ukraine as a “war” or “invasion” rather than a “special military operation” that alone amounts to disinformation
