On October 12-13, 2022, a photo exhibition #OntheFrontlineOfTruth "The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine: the work of journalists" was held as part of the regional conference "Media in times of war" in Tbilisi (Georgia), organised by the Council of Europe projects in Georgia, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Ukraine.
The aim of this exhibition is to draw attention to the crimes committed by the Russian Federation against media and journalists in Ukraine, and to highlight the extremely dangerous conditions of their work.
The photo exhibition was solemnly opened by Patrick Penninckx, Head of the Information Society Department, Council of Europe, Andrii Kasianov, Chargé d’affaires of Ukraine in (Georgia), Natalia Vyhovska, Head of Regional Network of the Institute of Mass Information (Ukraine).
"We are starting our conference with the opening of this photo exhibition. We wanted to bring this photo exhibition here because these pictures say more than a thousand words. The work of journalists in frontlines is extremely important today, because they give us the images of reality we face," said Mr Patrick Penninckx in his opening speech.
Russian troops have committed 454 crimes against journalists and media in Ukraine during the first seven months of the large-scale Russian invasion, according to data from the Institute of Mass Information (IMI). Eight journalists were killed during their work. More than fourteen journalists were injured, and tens got under shelling. IMI is aware of at least eighteen cases of Ukrainian journalists being taken hostage and ill-treated by Russian forces. The occupiers fired into 13 TV towers, which are civilian targets, causing the complete or temporary disappearance of television and radio broadcasting in eight regions of Ukraine. In addition, 215 regional media outlets were forced to shut down due to threats from the Russian occupiers, seizure of newsrooms, inability to work under temporary occupation, as well as due to the financial crisis caused by the war. Hundreds of very important media in regions have faced serious financial problems and lost ability to operate.
The photo and video materials have been provided to IMI by journalists Oleksandr Medvediev, Viacheslav Rayinskyi, Stas Kozliuk, Slava Mavrychev, Maria Malevska, Stas Yurchenko, Bohdan Kutiepov, Oleksandr Khomenko, Serhii Nuzhnenko, Alina Klymenko, Nikoletta Stoianova, Andrii Kramchenkov, Mstyslav Chernov, Yevgeniy Maloletka, Vlad Musiienko, Nathan Vander Klipp.
These photos show how vitally important it is to support the work of journalists who risk their lives on the frontlines now.
The exhibition is organised by CSO “Institute of Mass Information”, Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers and Council of Europe Project “Support to Safety of Journalists, Media, and of Access to Information”, including communication strategy for Prosecutor General’s Office in Ukraine.
The #OntheFrontlineOfTruth photo exhibition "The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine: the work of journalists" was also held in July in Strasbourg during the PACE summer session.
As a reminder, on October 12-13 a separate panel session "Media in Ukraine before and after February 24, 2022" took place within the regional conference "Media in times of war", where representatives of the Ukrainian media community shared their experience on how the media landscape in the country has changed over the last months and discussed the current challenges.
The Project “Support to Safety of Journalists, Media, and of Access to Information”, including communication strategy for the Prosecutor General’s Office in Ukraine aims to support the Ukrainian media community in addressing current needs and consequences of the Russian aggression and war in Ukraine.
Follow the news of the Project on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CoEUPSIS/.
