Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been the source of casualties among Ukrainian journalists, and some of them are revealed with a considerable time lag.

After Russian troops withdrew from Ukraine’s north, two local journalists were found killed – Zoreslav Zamoysky in Bucha (Kyiv region) and Roman Nezhyborets in the village of Yahidne (Chernihiv region).

Both journalists lived in the territories occupied by Russian troops in early March; Zamoysky and Nezhyborets appear to have been killed by Russians, though it’s not yet clear whether they were targeted for their journalistic work specifically. 

Overall, according to the estimates by the Institute of Mass Information (IMI), a Ukrainian analytical center, Russia committed 155 crimes against journalists and the media in Ukraine in March. The list includes killings and injuries, kidnappings, strikes against TV towers, and violent seizures of media offices.

The IMI also recorded 11 more counts of press freedom violation in Ukraine conducted by the Ukrainian side, mostly interference with journalists’ work by locals and/or local authorities.

Russia continues its crackdown on the media, including arrests of independent journalists and activists.

Journalist and political activist, The Washington Post contributor Vladimir Kara-Murza was arrested for 15 days this week, hours after criticizing Vladimir Putin’s regime in an interview for CNN. The formal reason for the arrest is “disobedience to police”. Kara-Murza survived two poisoning attempts over the years, which are believed to be connected to his work.

Also, the authorities detained Siberian journalist Mikhail Afanasyev and opened a criminal case against him. Under a recent war censorship law, Afanasyev, who is the chief editor of local outlet Novy Fokus, is accused of spreading “fake” news about the military. The “crime” seems to be reporting about riot police who refused deployment to Ukraine.

In the wake of the crackdown, independent reporting on Russia takes place from exile. Reporters who worked at Novaya Gazeta (the last major independent newspaper, which recently suspended operations) and recently left Russia are launching “Novaya Gazeta. Europe”.

A new outlet not formally affiliated with Novaya Gazeta, its goal is to “cover world and Russian news for people who know the Russian language and share European values.” It will report in several languages. Its chief editor is Kirill Martynov, formerly the politics editor at Novaya Gazeta.

The website will be launched next week, but the outlet already operates on social media (with close to 100,000 subscribers on Telegram) and as a Substack newsletter.

The Guardian is testing a paywall on its news app, while keeping its coverage on the website free to access.

Financial Times calls The Guardian experimenting with an app paywall “the latest move to re-engineer the liberal publisher’s business around reader payments while attempting to remain committed to free-access journalism.”
Unlike many other major English-language news publications, The Guardian remains free to use but relies on reader revenue. Late last year, it hit 1 million digital subscriptions, with subscribers being asked to support independent journalism and receiving access to additional features.

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