Refugees at the Polish-Ukrainian border

Special Issue

April 2022

ALI ARKADY PHOTOGRAPHS REFUGEES AT THE POLISH-UKRAINIAN BORDER

In early March, GRC Journalist in residence Ali Arkady travelled to the Polish/Ukrainian border to photograph Ukrainian refugees entering Poland.

In his thoughtful piece, On The Border Between Poland and Ukraine, Ali reflects on what it means to be haunted by war after living through thirty years of conflict in his homeland, Iraq, and chronicling war throughout his photojournalism career. He also considers how his personal experience as a refugee allowed him to connect with Ukrainian refugees despite the language barrier.

“I talk to people to get to know them. I say that I am with you. I was a refugee like you, so do not be sad. Your sadness is my sadness, and your war is my war.”

Read Ali’s introspective piece and see the photo series here.

"Vladimir Putin - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Davos 2009" by World Economic Forum is marked with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse

GRC FOUNDER PENS OP-ED FOR THE GLOBE AND MAIL

Our executive director and founder, Peter Klein, co-wrote an op-ed for The Globe and Mail about how sanctions against Russia may impact Putin more than military opposition. The article, Money – not missiles – will lead to Putin’s undoing, examines the corruption that has enabled Russia’s kleptocratic ruling class to amass wealth and Putin’s reliance on them to maintain his grip on power.

Russian oligarchs’ cash can be seen in investments in cities like London, Paris and New York, hidden in secret bank accounts or offshore shell accounts, and flaunted in flashy assets like megayachts or mansions. With the invasion of Ukraine, rich countries have come together to coordinate unprecedented sanctions, block Russian banks from the SWIFT international network, and curtail international travel. At this rate, the authors argue, it is only so long until the financially besieged oligarchs hold an internal revolt.

Read the op-ed here.

THE HISTORY OF THE MOLOTOV COCKTAIL

A simple recipe has resurfaced time and time again throughout modern warfare — the Molotov cocktail. But where did this crude bomb — now associated with protesters and rioters — come from?

After the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense tweeted, “Make Molotov cocktails, neutralize the occupier!” and Ukraine’s National Guard shared instructions on social media for making them, Retro Report intern Irem Ozturan penned an article tracing the history of this weapon in partnership with the GRC.

Ozturan takes us back to the late 1930s when Finnish forces improvised homemade bombs to destroy Soviet tanks during the Winter War. When Soviet troops bombed Helsinki in 1939, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov claimed the bombs were meant to be humanitarian aid to feed the starving Finns. The Finns acrimoniously named their homemade devices ‘Molotov cocktails’ in return.

Read more about the weapon’s history here.

"Journalists rely on fixers to recognize danger before it happens and to serve as navigators and interpreters if one does find themselves in a precarious situation. Rather than journalists putting fixers in danger, it is fixers who keep journalists OUT of danger or, if they are in danger, then to mitigate the gravity of the situation." – “Fixing” the Journalist-Fixer Relationship, P. 13

KUVSHYNOVA DEATH SPOTLIGHTS PRECARITY OF FIXERS

Last week, Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra Kuvshinova, 24, was killed alongside cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski while working for Fox News in Ukraine. When the news broke, Fox News called Kuvshinova a “consultant.” The industry term for local journalists who lend their expertise to foreign news crews is “fixer.”

The tragic death of Kuvshinova highlights a dark aspect of the foreign correspondent-fixer arrangement — a stark power imbalance (and inherent inequity) within the working relationship.

The GRC has done a lot of work on this topic, including an extensive study with 450 respondents working in global journalism called “Fixing” the Journalist-Fixer Relationship: A Critical Look Towards Developing Best Practices In Global Reporting. That survey gave rise to a research paper published by Taylor & Francis Group in Journalism Studies and a Nieman Reports article.

Read more here.

DONATE TO THE GRC TODAY

The Global Reporting Centre is currently conducting research and a worldwide survey on the prevalence and forms of online credibility attacks on journalists, such as Russia’s ongoing disinformation campaign against Ukraine. Together with our partner organizations, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and PEN Canada, we will share our findings with both journalists and policymakers.

This effort takes resources. Please consider making a tax-free donation today.

DONATE NOW

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