Welcome to The Fix’s weekly news digest! Every week, we bring you important news stories from the world of media – and try to put them in a wider context.

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As fighting continues in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, so do the crimes against journalists.

According to the estimates by the Institute of Mass Information, a Ukrainian analytical center, Russia committed 148 crimes against journalists and the media in Ukraine in the first month of the invasion.

The list includes five journalists killed, six journalists kidnapped (some were subsequently released), and seven journalists wounded. 70 media outlets stopped operation because of the invasion.

Some of the notable cases that occurred in the past week include:

Ukrainian photographer Maks Levin is missing near the frontline outside Kyiv and feared to have been abducted;
Russian journalist Oksana Baulina was killed as a result of Russia’s shelling in Kyiv while covering the war;
Russia has been targeting local journalists in the newly occupied regions in Southern Ukraine, including kidnapping four journalists in Melitopol.

More from The Fix: Russian forces target journalists, civilians

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Since the Russian invasion started, major Ukrainian TV channels combined forces to produce one joint around-the-clock TV marathon. Last Sunday, Ukrainian authorities decreed to enshrine this practice in law.

President Zelensky signed a decree that combines nationwide TV channels into one platform, citing the importance of “a unified information policy” under martial law. The move was criticized by Mykola Kniazhytskyi, head of the Espreso TV and ally of opposition leader Petro Poroshenko.

As Ukrayinska Pravda reports, Zelensky’s administration claims the decree doesn’t involve closing TV channels or fully curtailing their creative freedom, but it does prescribe nationwide TV channels to fully or partially broadcast the joint nationwide TV marathon.

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As the war in Ukraine continues to dominate the news agenda, and Europe welcomes more refugees from Ukraine, European broadcasters are increasing investments in this area.

Recently, German broadcaster RTL hired a Ukrainian presenter for other people who have fled Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s invasion. “The commercial broadcaster said Karolina Ashion will present a 10-minute Ukrainian-language news program Mondays to Fridays addressed to the almost 200,000 people who have already arrived in Germany from Ukraine,” ABC News reports.

In the meanwhile, the BBC World Service will receive additional funding from the UK government to cover the unexpected costs that have arisen due to the invasion. £4.1 million (€4.91 million) will help fight Russian disinformation and bring the BBC’s news to the audiences in Russia and Ukraine.

More from The Fix: Ukrainian refugees in Europe need local news in their language

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Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, is finally getting a new chairman. After a two-years-long recruitment process, the government announced its preferred candidate for the role is Michael Grade, a broadcasting executive with six decades of experience in the media.

Grade has been a Conservative Party life peer in the House of Lords for past decades. As BBC’s media editor Amol Rajan notes, Grade is “one of the most experienced figures in British broadcasting,” and “will be energetic, with a zeal for reform,” though it’s not clear yet how much change he will be able to implement. Grade has been a critic of the BBC’s licence fee, and he has supported privatisation of Channel 4.

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