In Crimea, journalists are denied accreditation because of photo of Maidan in social media – human rights activists

Human rights activists report limited access to accreditation among the issues the journalists are facing now in Crimea. In particular, this problem was addressed in the April report of Crimean Human Rights Field Mission, reports Krym.Realii.

«For example, on April 27, the head of the Russian government Dmytro Medvedev came to Simferopol with an official visit. To cover this event, an accreditation application was to be submitted a week in advance. Some of the Crimean journalists failed to obtain accreditation, obviously, for being politically unreliable. One journalist had a photo of Maidan made during her work trip to Kyiv published on her social media page, and because of that photo she was denied accreditation.  

Also the mission activists reported, with reference to the local journalists, that the administration of the press center of the International Information Agency «Russia Today», which was opened in Simferopol, declared that it reserved the right to deny accreditation without explanation. This measure is believed to ‘filter out’ media outlets and to limit freedom of press. 

The occupation authorities gave no comments to these facts.

For the context, since Crimea was annexed by Russia in March of 2014, local media outlets are being closed down and some journalists have been persecuted.