Channel 5 journalist faces cyber bullying after asking Zelensky a question
Channel 5 journalist Hanna Rybalka faced cyberbullying after asking the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a question at his February 24 press conference. She informed IMI of this.
According to her, the insults started arriving to her private messages en masse on the morning of February 25.
"On Saturday morning, a massive wave of hate flooded my private messages and went on until the evening. These were some messages from people I didn't know. […] I blocked those accounts. Because they were calling me through Facebook at night," Hanna said, adding that now the bullying has subsided and many people were texting her words of support.
The journalist provided IMI with screenshots of the hatemail she received. She was accused of "provoking the President for Channel 5's chocholate money," of "having earned a fortune and promoted herself," called a "journalist for sale."
Hanna said that she had not contacted the police regarding the cyberbullying, as she "considers it to be a manifestation of hate and nothing more."
It will be recalled that at the press conference, Hanna Rybalka noted that since April, Channel 5, Pryamyi and Espreso have been excluded from digital broadcasting. She also asked whether the President regretted the address where he assured Ukrainians that there would be no attack, and whether he saw himself as personally responsible for the citizens being insufficiently informed about real threats. Furthermore, Rybalka brought up the responsibility of the then head of the SBU, Ivan Bakanov, for the alleged underestimation of the probability of a Russian invasion. The President's press secretar, Serhiy Nikiforov, interrupted the journalist, asking her to finish the question, after which the microphone was taken away from her.
Screenshots by Hanna Rybalka
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