Statement by Agnieszka Romaszewska-Guzy
The Polish Journalists Association recently received two documents from Brussels: (1) a communique by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) about a meeting in Brussels of representatives of EFJ-affiliated journalists unions from Ukraine and Russia and (2) a related letter from European members of the Executive Committee of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) to EFJ Steering Committee. I would like to make the following statement in response to these two documents and in relation to the current plans to hold the EFJ’s annual meeting in Moscow.
* * *
The Polish Journalists Association strongly disagrees with how recent events in Ukraine and Russia were interpreted in the communique and the letter mentioned above. These statements grossly misrepresent the situation in which Russian and Ukrainian journalists unions have found themselves and the broader context of a rather difficult reality in which they operate. Both statements are limited to characterizing the relations between Russia and Ukraine as complex, without making any references to actual conditions on the ground in which journalists in both countries must work. But, as every journalist knows, omitting relevant facts results in a false picture of reality. Here are some facts which, in the opinion of the Polish Journalists Association, should form the basis upon which our two Federations make decisions and act:
Russia’s current treatment of Ukraine is a case of blatant unprovoked military aggression of one country upon another. Russia is violating the most basic principles of international law. If a journalist fails to point out Russia’s aggression upon Ukraine while reporting on differences of opinion between the two countries, that is a grave omission.
There is no parity between the situations of journalists and media organizations in Ukraine and Russia. In Ukraine, despite repressions, beatings and even murders which occurred under the Yanukovych administration, independent journalists find themselves in a relatively better situation than in Russia. Since the corrupt former regime in Kyiv has fallen, which has led to the lifting of various constraints that existed earlier, the Ukrainian journalists have found new ways to practice their profession, even in state-run media, despite all obstacles and pressures. On the other hand, the situation is quite opposite in Russia, where an authoritarian regime continues to grow in strength and the last remaining independent media are being marginalized -- for example, the Dozhd television channel. If the journalists’ organizations turn a blind eye to significant differences between the journalists’ working environments in Russia and Ukraine, then our organizations will not be able to properly react to problems experienced by journalists in the two countries, nor will our organizations be able to provide assistance that would be adequate to the journalists’ needs.
The letter from IFJ is completely silent about the fact that many Russian media outlets have started to serve knowingly as a propaganda machine of the Putin regime. This situation is truly extraordinary. What is worse, once the Kremlin started its open military aggression against Ukraine, those pliant Russian media outlets have become, simply speaking, part of government war effort. Currently, those Russian media outlets operate in ways that are analogous to Russian nationalist paramilitary groups that are being mobilized in Ukraine. The level of lies and attacks which can be observed today in Russian media, particularly in the majority of television stations, is comparable only to the era of totalitarian regimes. This phenomenon extends well beyond politically motivated bias, which the IFJ letter warned about. We believe that a journalists’ organization that is truly committed to the ideals of free speech and human rights cannot remain silent on this issue.
The communique about the Russian-Ukrainian round table and the letter from the IFJ paint a picture which wrongly suggests the existence of a symmetry in Russian-Ukrainian media relations. In reality, Russia’s anti-Ukrainian imperialist propaganda is not met with an analogous response from the Ukrainian side. The Euromaidan protest, which lasted several months, and other mass protests in Ukraine have never become anti-Russian in character, neither has the tone of the Ukrainian media. Despite the fact that the protests in Ukraine took on a massive scale and were infused with patriotic emotions, one could not point out even a single serious anti-Russian incident -- not in Kyiv, not on the Crimean Peninsula, not in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, nor anywhere in western Ukraine.
If we allow ourselves to omit all these facts and circumstances -- in the name of maintaining an appearance of a calm, impartial and objective attitude -- then our speech will not be truthful and, consequently, the credibility of the international community of journalists will be compromised. Falsehoods cannot form the foundation of international relations and solidarity between journalists’ organizations, including those between organizations from Ukraine and Russia, which deserve equal support from us.
Keeping this in mind, we demand that the Federation -- in addition to encouraging all journalists to cooperate in solidarity within our two Federations and adhere to professional standards -- issue an unequivocal statement of position on the events in Russia and Ukraine and the relations between these two countries. An absence of such statement would betray the Federation’s tolerance for aggressive and destabilizing actions by the Russian Federations -- actions that we have not witnessed for decades, which pose a real threat to peace in Europe and which are particularly damaging to civil society and freedom of speech in Russia itself. An absense of such statement would also undermine the credibility of our organizations.
In our opinion, the facts that were presented here should lead us to the following practical conclusion: namely, the next EFJ congress should be moved from Moscow to a different city in a neutral country. Regardless of our assessment of the Russian Union of Journalists’ efforts to defend independent journalism and our need to support such efforts, we believe that it would be improper for an organization such as ours -- an organization whose ethos is based on the ideals of freedom of speech, the truth and high standards of journalism -- to convene in the capital of the country which at the same time is violating all norms adopted by the international community. In addition to recognizing the unfortunate moral and symbolic impact of holding our meeting in Moscow, we should bear in mind that our event could be exploited by the Russian government for war propaganda purposes. Furthermore, I would like to declare up front, on behalf of the Polish Journalists Association, that we will not send a delegation to Moscow should the EFJ Steering Committee disagree with the conclusion we just stated. This position does not in any way mean that we hold a negative position toward our Russian colleagues, the hosts of the Annual Meeting. We simply believe that our members would not agree to sending a delegation to Russia at this point. We are hoping that our colleagues from Russia will understand our reasons for this decision.
Agnieszka Romaszewska-Guzy of the Polish Journalists Association is a member of the European Federation of Journalists Steering Committee.
