Transcript
The Inside Story: A Free Press Matters: Countering Censorship
Episode 137 - March 18, 2024
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Unidentified Narrator:
This week on The Inside Story…
American journalists jailed in Russia with no end in sight.
The hope for a free media in Venezuela and what's holding it back from becoming reality.
Front line journalists reporting on the third year of Russia's invasion of Ukraine
and see the creative ways reporters from Ghana and Nigeria expand their viewership.
Now... on The Inside Story, A Free Press Matters, Countering Censorship.
The Inside Story: A Free Press Matters:
JESSICA JERREAT, VOA Press Freedom Editor:
Hi, I’m Jessica Jerreat, VOA’s Press Freedom Editor. Welcome to the Inside Story: A Free Press Matters.
In an election year for dozens of countries, the media play an essential role in safeguarding democracy.
But data shows civil and political liberties are declining.
The media can serve as public watchdogs, pushing for transparency and investigating wrongdoing to hold officials accountable.
We take a look at the innovative ways journalists are holding power to account.
But first to Russia where an attack on a concert venue in Moscow left more than 100 dead. Even as the militant group Islamic State claims responsibility, President Vladimir Putin has implied—without evidence—that Ukraine was involved. A charge Kyiv –and Western intelligence--rejects.
The case underscores how a lack of independent media inside Russia is leaving audiences with unchecked, unverified information.
All this as Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich marks one year in a Russian prison. Evan is one of two American journalists detained in Russia. Analysts say their jailings send a warning from Moscow for Western media to stay out. Here’s Cristina Caicedo Smit.
CRISTINA CAICEDO SMIT, VOA Correspondent:
A Moscow courtroom appearance for Evan Gershkovich — and a chance for family and friends in the U.S. to get a glimpse of the American reporter.
Ever since his arrest on assignment in a city about 1,600 km (994 mi) east of Moscow on March 29, last year …
His family and colleagues have been pushing for The Wall Street Journal reporter’s release.
The past year has been a constant stream of interviews, news briefings, and private meetings, including with President Joe Biden.
Holding back tears, Danielle Gershkovich describes the toll on the family. And the letters that she writes to keep her brother company.
Danielle Gershkovich, Sister of Detained Journalist:
I think we mainly want to support one another and make each other laugh and I’m just in awe of him.
CRISTINA CAICEDO SMIT:
Russia accuses Gershkovich of espionage — charges that he and his paper deny. Moscow courts repeatedly deny him bail. Even as the U.S. declares him wrongfully detained.
The General Counsel for his media outlet says the legal process is opaque. They must wait for Russia to say when the case can move forward.
Jason Conti, General Counsel:
And at some point, they will pivot to say, ‘OK, the investigation is done, and we can do a trial.’ We just don't know when that will be.
CRISTINA CAICEDO SMIT:
For the family, the waiting is hard.
Danielle Gershkovich, Sister of Detained Journalist:
We follow the news every day, but it can be just up and down, up and down emotionally. So, it's just best to just continue to stay focused on this eventual goal and just take it day by day.
CRISTINA CAICEDO SMIT:
If convicted, Gershkovich could face up to 20 years in prison. But he is not the only American journalist detained in Russia.
Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor for VOA’s sister network RFE/RL, has spent more than five months in prison.
The American-Russian journalist faces multiple charges, including failing to register as a foreign agent. If convicted, she could face up to 15 years in prison.
In Gershkovich’s case, his media company says lawyers inside Russia keep them updated as much as possible.
Jason Conti, General Counsel:
And they're great brave lawyers. There's a limit on what they can say because of the nature of the charges. They're just not allowed to talk about it. Given the nature of alleged espionage, which we think, again, is bogus. But those are the nature of the charges.
CRISTINA CAICEDO SMIT:
When American TV personality Tucker Carlson interviewed President Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader implied that Moscow would be willing to free Gershkovich in exchange for a convicted killer held in Germany.
Since then, there have been no public updates on the diplomatic negotiations.
Meanwhile, Evan Gershkovich’s family, friends and colleagues keep hoping for his prompt release, amplifying his case to the world, highlighting that when authorities in Russia — or any country — detain a journalist, it has a chilling effect. Foreign media may leave, local reporters may self-censor, and audiences are left in the dark.
Cristina Caicedo Smit, VOA News.
JESSICA JERREAT:
When authoritarian counties imprison or restrict media, audiences are left in the dark. So, when a group of journalists found media curtailed and internet blocked across large parts of Venezuela, they came up with a roadmap to dodging censorship. Here’s Veronica Villafane.
VERONICA VILLAFANE, VOA Correspondent:
Navigating the mountain roads on the outskirts of Venezuela's capital, Caracas, ARI Móvil delivers news to places where regular media no longer travel.
Yaya Andueza, ARI Móvil:
The main idea of ARI Móvil is to cover parts of the news deserts that exist in our capital city and in our country.
VERONICA VILLAFANE:
Around a fifth of Venezuelans have limited access to information. And media is restricted, says media watchdog the Press and Society Institute of Venezuela. Some areas have little or no internet access. Elsewhere, radio stations have closed or are censored.
Yaya Andueza, ARI Móvil:
In Venezuela there are more than 50 laws that restrict, criminalize and block free and independent journalism in the country. The ARI Móvil is an alternative, to go to where the people are, to keep them informed, which is our job.
VERONICA VILLAFANE:
Their customers appear eager for the deliveries. A carnival-like atmosphere sweeps Turgua, a rural community about an hour outside Caracas.
As the ARI Móvil team set up, children and adults gather, music plays and the reporters get to work.
In small towns like this, residents say keeping informed is a struggle.
Claudia Pacheco, Turgua Resident:
Normally in rural areas it’s very difficult because sometimes the internet is very slow, or sometimes in many places there is no internet. And normally you can see a television station but not everything is there.
VERONICA VILLAFANE:
That’s where ARI Móvil comes in. The mobile news group is focused on helping people like Pacheco and her cousin, Kelyncer Pacheco, stay informed. They also teach people how to detect sources of mis- or disinformation.
Kelyncer Pacheco, Resident:
There are some news programs that tell lies. They do not convey the truth.
VERONICA VILLAFANE:
The idea for ARI Móvil came from an alliance of three news websites that Venezuela’s media regulator, Conatel, frequently blocked.
Media watchdogs say Venezuela has a history of blocking access to independent news. And that the country’s journalists work amid restrictions and threats of legal or physical attack.
Yaya Andueza, ARI Móvil:
Our target is the citizen. We decided not to stay put and stay censored, but to go look for the citizen, bringing our information to the neighborhoods.
VERONICA VILLAFANE:
By also reporting on problems in the neighborhoods they visit, the team helps form a bond with the community.
Yaya Andueza, ARI Móvil:
There is no place where residents can report problems in their communities. The ARI Móvil will allow or already allows the possibility for residents to come forward to make their complaints, to talk about their needs.
VERONICA VILLAFANE:
As night draws in, people gather in the street to watch videos on issues affecting their country, including disinformation.
ARI Móvil has been broadcasting to towns like this for six months now, a bright light in a dark period for media.
For Adriana Nuñez Rabascall in Caracas, Venezeula, Veronica Villafane, VOA News.
JESSICA JERREAT:
Global freedoms may be declining but journalists are committed to defending the right to a free press. In Nigeria, student journalists are leading efforts to hold public officials accountable. A media nonprofit is training them to investigate -- and report -- to the community. Timothy Obiezu has more:
TIMOTHY OBIEZU, Reporting for VOA:
James Aparshe arrives for a checkup at a community medical center in Daddere. But it’s not for his health. The student journalist is there to see how well the government-run center in Nigeria’s central Nasarawa state is working.
It’s part of an initiative called UDEME– an Ibibio word for “my share.” It sends student journalists, known as U-Monitors, to investigate public projects and hold authorities accountable.
James Aparshe, U-Monitor:
Sometimes you travel to those communities where those projects have been awarded and you discover that the residents don't want to talk to you because they have no idea of those projects. You face challenges, sometimes threats to your life when a lawmaker or individual finds out that you're doing a story that will implicate him.
TIMOTHY OBIEZU:
The media nonprofit Center for Journalism Innovation and Development, or CJID, launched UDEME in 2018.
It recruits about 100 students like Aparshe each year. They track public infrastructure projects like the construction of schools and hospitals.
And they talk to residents about what they find.
Ijeoma Okereke Adagba, UDEME Project Manager:
Our U-monitors are fluent in local dialects in those places, so when they go on radio shows they speak in those local dialects so that people can understand the relevance of the topic that we're talking about, and we see them calling in after the program.
TIMOTHY OBIEZU:
Nigeria ranks 145th out of 180 countries on the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index.
The CJID says ignorance is often why public officials are not held accountable.
At a visit to Nigeria's Independent Corrupt Practices Commission in February, authorities pledged their support.
Clifford Oparaodu, Commission Secretary:
The issue of corruption and corrupt practices is a problem we'll always continue to work with you.
TIMOTHY OBIEZU:
CJID says its approach brings change and could be model other media should follow.
The initiative brings results. When Aparshe first visited this health center, it was not operational. A few months after he reported on it, the government opened the hospital to the community.
A small step to holding public officials accountable.
Timothy Obiezu, VOA News, Abuja Nigeria.
JESSICA JERREAT:
In countries where media are restricted or repressed, many are forced to flee. Ksenia Turkova spoke with Mikhail Rubin, an award-winning Russian journalist, about life—and work—in exile.
KSENIA TURKOVA, VOA Correspondent:
Is it possible to be a real journalist in Russia right now?
Mikhail Rubin, Journalist in Exile:
Of course not inside Russia. You cannot be a journalist, by the way, not only political journalist or investigative journalist, but any kind of journalist. That's the problem is, and that's the worst news.
What I mean, for a long time, for the last year, somebody conceded that maybe, of course, you should be a little bit, well, not polite to authority. But you shouldn't cross some lines, you shouldn't speak of some prohibited topics like Putin lovers, I don't know, riches like, you know the rules, if you know some rules, you can still be in the country. The bad news is that no, not anymore.
For example, if you read Russian newspapers today or yesterday, after the election campaign, you will see that all the newspapers have to be proud of Vladimir Putin, have to see that that was a great success, it was a great election campaign, and before that, our viewers should understand that before that, of course, television was something of a propaganda, but newspapers could be, they had lines, but they were not the total propaganda. There were a few business newspapers who could be, not, that, bad. They could allow themselves not being propaganda. Unfortunately, if you really want to be a journalist these days, you have to leave the country.
KSENIA TURKOVA:
What's next, what does it mean for the journalism in Russia and for the journalists in Russia?
Mikhail Rubin, Journalist in Exile:
So what does it mean, for, journalists, very obvious, It means that we can anticipate everything, we can anticipate any kind of repressions, we can anticipate that journalism will be that, well it is already banned. But it is a sign. Just as Putin’s resolve during the election campaign, I perceive it like, ‘hi journalists, you're not welcome in Russia anymore. You we you even shouldn't think of returning back to your home country,’ And, well most of independent journalists are in exile these days and we are not welcome. You cannot work at all.
The good news is that, still, we are able to survive, and not as a people, but as a media. I was really it's a shocking for me I would never think that I would be able to work from abroad um. I would think that I-I thought before when i had to leave Russia that maybe need to change. what am I doing. I'm thinking, need to, well, I don't, I-I well i want to BE a Russian journalist but i thought that it wouldn't be possible, but it is possible still.And it is possible, it's a miracle, that a lot of journalists went through, went through this, and they are conducting great investigation revealing the truth about Putin and that's a great news.
KSENIA TURKOVA:
Thank you so much, Mikhail, for your insights. It was a pleasure, it's been a pleasure talking to you.
Mikhail Rubin, Journalist in Exile:
Thank you very much for having me.
JESSICA JERREAT:
In Afghanistan, young journalists, especially women, are up against many challenges. Barred from higher education, and with limited opportunities to work, many have to leave their homes—and dreams of a bright career- behind. Here’s Shaista Sadat Lami.
SHAISTA SADAT LAMI, VOA Correspondent:
Nadia Momand had it all: a job presenting news at local broadcaster Enikass TV, and her law studies at Nangarhar University in Jalalabad.
Now, she has neither.
When the Taliban took power, they barred women from studies beyond primary school.
Nadia Momand, Former Journalist:
When the Taliban came, I could not continue my education. As well as being a journalist, I wanted to become an attorney. But with the Taliban’s return, I could not finish my studies.
SHAISTA SADAT LAMI:
Worse, as a journalist and a woman, she feared for her safety.
Nadia Momand, Former Journalist:
There were problems from the very beginning. I was targeted two times. They tried to kill me but they failed to kill me. My colleagues were killed.
SHAISTA SADAT LAMI:
Leaving behind her home — and dreams of a media and legal career — the 20-year-old is now in Peshawar, Pakistan.
Momand’s story is not unique. Since the Taliban’s return, thousands of journalists have lost their jobs. More than 80% of female journalists have left the profession, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Elisa Lees Munoz, Media Expert:
In countries like Iran, Afghanistan and other communities where women are targeted for being in public spaces, where their rights are particularly threatened, we see the basic inability to be part of the news industry. Therefore, we are missing that voice.
SHAISTA SADAT LAMI:
At Enikass TV, Momand reported on current affairs and entertainment. She enjoyed working on shows focused on women’s issues.
But, she says, that reporting is no longer possible.
Nadia Momand, Former Journalist:
Those journalists who still live there are facing many problems. Every day, every week and every month, a new restriction is imposed on them. They will be forced to flee their country to breathe in peace.
SHAISTA SADAT LAMI:
Momand and one of her brothers left Afghanistan to find security. But Pakistan has started forcibly deporting Afghans who lack documents or overstay visas. Momand has a visa, but says life feels uncertain.
Nadia Momand, Former Journalist:
I came to Pakistan to have peace of mind. At least to be away from what troubled and threatened me every day. But I don’t have peace of mind here, either.
SHAISTA SADAT LAMI:
Momand says she wants to find a new refuge. Somewhere she can live in peace, finish her studies, and raise the voices of Afghan women.
For Muska Safi in Peshawar, Pakistan, Bezhan Hamdard VOA News.
JESSICA JERREAT:
As Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its third year, our Celia Mendoza shares her experience of reporting from the ground.
CELIA MENDOZA, VOA Correspondent:
As dawn breaks in Kharkiv in February, it can be easy to forget how close Russia’s war is to this vibrant Ukrainian city.
In just a few seconds, everything can change...
You can hear, we’ve an air alert that’s, it’s going on right now, as we’re doing an interview, and this is the reality that all the people that are here [are] facing.
With the Russian threat constant, I came prepared when I traveled to Ukraine in February. Packing safety gear, including a heavy bulletproof vest and a helmet.
But what I couldn’t prepare for is the emotion of walking the streets of Izium — a city the Russians occupied for 160 days at the start of the 2022 invasion.
The mayor, Valerii Marchenko, tells me that after the Russians left, Ukrainian citizens found a mass grave. In it, more than 470 bodies. People killed by bombings, shelling, even torture.
The city’s residents endured a lot. Like 103-year-old Olga Khmarna. From her humble house, Olga recalls an explosion that rocked her home, leaving her temporarily deaf and with blurry vision.
She remains positive, and smiling, despite fears that the Russians could return.
Of all the interviews in my years as a journalist, Olga’s stands out. At night, I think of her often, and of her resiliency.
Traveling on to Bucha, the road is littered with scenes of war.
In the city, Father Andriy Halavin reads the names of those killed. Over 500 names, memorialized at the site where they discovered dozens of bodies in two long trenches.
The memories of these cities will forever be carried in my memory.
As I walk in Irpin’s cemetery, everything comes together. Every photograph of a fallen soldier has a story. After covering the full-scale invasion from day one, the United Nations, to the Polish border as Ukrainians escaped, to a year later, President Biden’s speech in Warsaw, I felt the weight of the war on each burial site. The reality of this conflict where the future is not guaranteed.
But still... life goes on. Our field producer Nikol Goldman knows where there is destruction and also hope, like this cafe in Irpin.
The city is coming back to life, says Goldman, but the memory of what happened casts a shadow.
Nikol Goldman, Ukrainian Field Producer:
You understand that this place had massacres, you understand that this place had so many human tragedies that you feel a bit guilty to have fun here, to drink coffee, to just walk around.
CELIA MENDOZA:
And as the war grinds into its third year, Ukrainians are watching every development closely, while ensuring they will never forget the sacrifices that got them this far.
Celia Mendoza, VOA NEWS, Kyiv, Ukraine.
JESSICA JERREAT:
Journalism not only informs, it also helps give a platform to marginalized or minority groups. In Ghana, an award winning journalist is teaching students at a deaf school about photography, so they can be their own storytellers. Here’s Sena Tord:
SENANU TORD, Reporting for VOA:
At 17 years old, Job Nimbie has never spoken a word. Born with speech and hearing disabilities, Nimbie and others at this Ghana school instead found their voices through photography.
Nimbie says he is happy to share his life journey with the world through photos. And he wants to inspire others who live with disabilities.
Job Nimbie, Student:
I want to become a medical doctor and serve my nation. I even want to become the president of Ghana in the future. I want to serve my people.
SENANU TORD:
But Nimbie and his peers face significant challenges, including discrimination.
Other hurdles are limited training and resources. Ghana’s statistical service estimates only a fraction of the children with a hearing disability are able to pursue a higher education.
Yet Nimbie remains resolute.
Job Nimbie, Student:
If I fail at becoming a medical doctor, I will become a photographer and I will be able to take a lot of pictures that will communicate with the rest of the world. I will share our stories with the world, raise awareness and I will also earn a living from it.
SENANU TORD:
Photography was introduced to the Savelugu School for the Deaf by Geoffrey Buta. The award-winning photojournalist is on a campaign to amplify marginalized voices through visual storytelling.
His project, “Photo For Change,” has one focus:
Geoffrey Buta, Photojournalist:
Train people or assist people to tell their own stories in the communities they find themselves in, as well as using photography or visuals to address societal issues.
SENANU TORD:
Buta’s photo club offers classes on photojournalism. In less than a year, students can take professional-quality pictures by themselves and write captions.
Geoffrey Buta, Photojournalist:
So with the power of photography, they can tell stories around them. They can become visual journalists in the future. They can become broadcasters.
SENANU TORD:
The teachers also benefit, with the club providing easy access to visual learning materials.
Nora Naaso, Head Teacher:
You have seen a picture somewhere that has a connection with what you are going to deliver, the lesson you are going to deliver. So, you use the camera to take that photo, bring it to the class, show it to the children, and then you can develop your lesson from there.
SENANU TORD
Buta plans to expand his project to 10 more schools in Ghana and create exhibitions to showcase students’ work. Other plans include setting up internships with media outlets.
And, in the long term, he wants to inspire a generation of students with disabilities to become award-winning photojournalists.
Senanu Tord, VOA News, Savelugu, Ghana.
JESSICA JERREAT:
That’s all for now. Thanks for watching.
For the latest news you can log on to VOA news dot com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at VOA News.
To get all the Press Freedom related content, follow me on X at @jessicajerreat. Catch up on past episodes at our free streaming service, VOA Plus.
I’m Jessica Jerreat. We will see you next week, for The Inside Story.
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