NYTimes and BBC miss the mark on Ukraine reporting

NYTimes and BBC miss the mark on Ukraine reporting

Two recent articles about Ukraine got under my skin. They both seemed to miss the mark on Ukraine by under-selling Russian war crimes and pushing a sloppy narrative about Ukraine.

NY Times: Ukrainians Mourn the Loss of a Young Journalist and Her Stories

I was drawn into this story about Viktoria Roshchyna, a brave Ukrainian journalist, and Ukrainian society mourning her death and honoring its fallen heroes.

Ms Roshchyna was a true hero. She continued to travel and remain in the occupied territories, despite the inherent risk for journalists (and all Ukrainians, irrespective of profession). Her articles were valued in Ukraine as a peek into life under the Russian occupation.

The sub-head to the article reverts to the passive voice, simply stating that “Viktoria Roshchyna died in September in Russian custody.”

If you read down to the 25th paragraph, the writer finally tells what happened to the brave journalist in Russian controlled territory:

“She wasn’t heard from for eight months, and then there was news that she had been arrested in Russia. On Sept. 19, she was scheduled to be transferred to a Moscow prison from a pretrial detention center in Taganrog, in southern Russia, a jail human rights activists describe as one of the country’s harshest.

Ms. Roshchyna died before she arrived at the prison and her family was only informed about her death by Russian authorities three weeks later, Ms. Kotsira, the editor, said. Three months after her death, she added, Russia has yet to return her body to the family.”

She didn’t just die.

She was kidnapped, tortured and then she was murdered.

By the Russians.

The BBC had a different article on Ukraine this week: Five killed in strike on Russia's Kursk after deadly missile attack on Kyiv

The headline writer decided to strike a balance between the strike on Russia and the missile attack on Kyiv. The writer highlighted the 5 Russian casualities. The article continued with 8 out of the first 9 paragraphs detailing the attack on Russian territory.

Oddly, no context is given as to why Ukraine decided to strike Russia.

Additionally, the article failed to mention Russian policy of purposely striking civilian infrastructure while Ukraine aims for military targets.

Both attacks happened on the same day, but are not equal.