In the East, terrorists keep abducting journalists, in Crimea pressure is rising, – IMI monitoring

In Crimea, the occupational authorities keep mounting pressure on freedom of press and journalists (9 cases in September), and journalists that work in the ATO zone keep being captured and abducted by terrorists from the so-called «DPR» and «LPR» (5 cases).

This data was predented in the Institute of Mass Information’s monthly monitoring of violations of journalists’s rights «Freedom of press barometer».

In September, the number of intimidations of journalists increased  — 9 such cases have been registered. It was for the first time that the journalists of the TV project «Nashi Hroshi» have received threats.

«For the second month in a row, editorial offices of media outlets keep receiving false alarms about explosives. For instance, in September Channel 5 received such alarms five times, and the national informational agency Ukrinform also received such alarm», — said IMI expert Kateryna Diachuk.

At the same time, in general the number of violations of freedom of press in Ukraine, compared to previous months, has dicreased. This month, the records showed 5 attacks on journalists, which is the lowest number this year (in August and July — 8 attacks each, in June – 13, in May – 18, in April – 22, in March – 44, in February – 70, in January – 82), as well as 2 cases of censorship. Also, in September IMI has not registered any cases of attacks on offices of media outlets or ciber crimes.

So, since the beginning of the year, IMI registered 7 cases of killing of journalists, 270 cases of beatins and attacks on journalists, 120 cases of obstruction to lawful professional activities of journalists and 122 cases of censorship.