ARREST OF THE WALL STREET JOURNAL JOURNALIST EVEN GERSHKOVICH
The Justice for Journalists Foundation condemns yet another blatant attack by the Russian state on the free media. On March, 30 the Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich was arrested in Yekaterinburg by the Federal Security Service on the trumped-up espionage charges. Gershkovich is the first foreign journalist arrested in Russia since 1986.
ATTACKS ON MEDIA WORKERS IN UKRAINE
In March, the Justice for Journalists Foundation and National Union of Journalists in Ukraine released its report Attacks on Media Workers in Ukraine in 2021-2022.
Between February 24 through the end of 2022, 101 cases of attacks against journalists or 44% of all incidents were committed in Ukraine by the Russian military. The analysed data excludes earlier occupied parts of Ukraine: Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
INVESTIGATIVE GRANT PROGRAMME
The Justice for Journalists Foundation is delighted to announce that Ricardo Gutiérrez, General Secretary of the European Federation of Journalists, and Sarah Giaziri, co-founder of Media for Peace in Libya, have joined the Foundation’s Board of Experts who are evaluating the investigative grant proposals received this year.
In March, the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development, with the help of JFJ’s Investigative Grant Programme, published four investigations about pressure on media workers and whistleblowers in Nigeria:
- The Safety of Journalists and the Impact on their families;
- How Digital Surveillance Threatens Press Freedom in West Africa;
- Persecution of Whistleblowers in Nigeria;
- Heightened surveillance by security operatives puts Nigerian journalists under climate of fear.
STATEMENTS
- One year ago, as Russian forces retreated from the outskirts of Kyiv in the first days of April, the world was shocked by the emerging images and testimonies of the atrocities suffered by the local civilian population during the month-long occupation of the region. Justice for Journalists Foundation joined international media and human rights organisations in the joint statement to mark one year after the Bucha massacre.
- John Murray Press has pre-empted the memoir Please Live! by Lana Estemirova, host of the JFJ’s Trouble with the Truth podcast, who was 15 when her mother – human rights activist and writer Natalia Estemirova – was abducted from outside their apartment building in Grozny, Chechnya. Please Live! is Lana Estemirova’s account of growing up as the only child of a single, extraordinarily brave and politically committed mother, in a time of conflict.
EVENTS AND ADVOCACY
- On March, 7, JFJ’s Director Maria Ordzhonikidze participated in the launch of the annual CoE Safety of Journalists Platform report: War in Europe and the Fight for the Right to Report. The recording of the press conference is available here.
- On March 23, Index on Censorship, with the support of the Justice for Journalists Foundation and Trinity College hosted Dublin Anti-SLAPP Conference. The keynote speakers were UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders Mary Lawlor and human rights campaigner Bill Browder.
ORKHAN DZHEMAL MEDIA SAFETY ACADEMY
In March, Media Safety Academy conducted a holistic four-day-long media safety and security training for 18 media media managers and journalists from Kyrgyzstan. The group acquired skills in media risk assessment, physical safety, self defence and first aid training.
In the middle of the month, we launched a two-month long Media Safety online course for future and current media workers. The course consists of five educational blocks (media risk assessment, physical and digital security, self defence and psychological safety), and is currently taught to over 60 students from seven countries.
If you are a media worker and require safety training, please do not hesitate to contact us at academy@jfj.fund.