Several foreign and local journalists, including staff with CNN and Sky News, have been stripped of their accreditation by the Ukrainian military for reporting without permission from the city of Kherson, from where Russia withdraw its forces last week, a local NGO told the Ukrainska Pravda news website.
Ukraine’s General Staff said in a Facebook post on Sunday that some media representatives have recently – even before the completion of stabilization measures – carried out professional activities in the city of Kherson ignoring existing prohibitions and warnings and without authorization from Ukrainian commanders and the Ukraine military’s PR services.
Without naming the media workers or organizations which lost their credentials, the General Staff said that they have canceled the work permits of the journalists accused of violating the rules of work in the combat areas and that their press cards are not recognized as valid anymore.
The NGO Detector Media, however, told Ukrainska Pravda that the measures have affected at least six journalists from Britain’s Sky News and US broadcaster CNN, which has recently accidentally filmed and broadcasted fascist salute during a rally with far-right chants in liberated Kherson.
As some experts speculate, that might be the actual reason for their news crew accreditation being canceled in Ukraine.
Detector Media also cited military spokeswoman Natalia Gumeniuk as noting that an Italian media outlet was also sanctioned for not respecting the officially announced ban on working in Kherson due to the danger, adding that the ban exists for everyone.
Citing an unnamed media worker who claimed that Kyiv authorities see foreign journalists as influence relays rather than information vehicles, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) criticized Ukraine in July over abuses against foreign and local journalists, denying them access to certain places, to filming or taking photos, and even detaining them occasionally.
RSF insisted that Kyiv had been applying the restrictions disproportionately though acknowledging they were legitimate and linked to national security.