Journalists impeded, not muzzled, by Russian reporting rules

Student news site DOXA journalists Armen Aramyan, Natalia Tyshkevich, Alla Gutnikova and Vladimir Metelkin, charged with inciting minors to protest, attend a court hearing in Moscow on Thursday. (AFP)
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Updated 02 April 2022
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Journalists impeded, not muzzled, by Russian reporting rules

  • The new law, abruptly put in place March 4, placed restrictions on use of the word “war”
  • Some news organizations have pulled journalists out of the country, others have stripped bylines from stories

NEW YORK: In a recent dispatch from Moscow, BBC correspondent Steve Rosenberg noted that a new Russian law required him to refer to the invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation.”
Then he quoted a Russian human rights lawyer who liberally used what is now a forbidden word: “war.”
The restrictions on how news organizations can report in Russia, which carry punishment of up to 15 years in prison, have impeded journalists, but not muzzled them. Many continue to report aggressively, even from outside the country, by making use of modern tools unavailable a generation ago: the Internet, encrypted communications, mobile-phone cameras in the hands of millions — and simple bravery.
“I don’t think there’s any kind of lack of information about what is happening in Russia,” said Vasily Gatov, a Boston-based Russian media researcher whose mother still lives in Moscow.
The new law, abruptly put in place March 4, placed restrictions on use of the word “war” and threatens punishment for any stories that go against the Russian government’s version of events — what it refers to as “false information.” It immediately had a chilling effect for journalists serving audiences primarily in Russia, and it also forced those reporting to the outside world to reevaluate operations.
The BBC suspended its reporting from Russia for several days, but restored it on March 8. Some news organizations have pulled journalists out of the country, others have stripped bylines from stories. Concerned about safety, several news organizations have said little or nothing publicly about how their journalists are deployed.
Reporters who displeased authorities in the old Soviet Union could be expelled from the country. But a law that says they can be put in jail for 15 years is a different risk entirely, said Ann Cooper, who was an NPR bureau chief in Moscow and former executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
“The change to the criminal code, which seems designed to turn any independent reporter into a criminal purely by association, makes it impossible to continue any semblance of normal journalism inside the country,” John Micklethwait, Bloomberg editor in chief, said in telling his staff that its reporters would be pulled from Russia.
Despite the exit, Bloomberg was credited with breaking significant news by reporting March 23 that Russian climate envoy Anatoly Chubais had stepped down and left the country. The story carried no dateline or byline, except a tag noting Simon Kennedy’s “assistance.”
The sentencing of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny to a longer stint in prison on March 22 tested how journalists could operate in a stricter environment.
Even though the decision was handed down at a penal colony 70 miles from from Moscow. The New York Times and The Washington Post both did thorough stories using a variety of sources: other news agencies, Twitter and Instagram posts, video of the hearing shown on YouTube, interviews with Navalny aides.
The Times had moved its staff out of Russia for safety reasons. The Moscow bureau chief, Anton Troianovski, is reporting from Istanbul, Turkey, and other journalists are scattered throughout Europe, said Jim Yardley, the Times’s Europe editor.
“We continue to cover Russia closely — monitoring Russian television, government briefings and social media, while staying in touch with and interviewing sources, experts, and Russians who are still inside the country,” Yardley said. “We hope that we can safely return to Moscow soon, but for now, we are working hard to cover the country from the outside.”
That’s where many of the new tools for keeping journalists informed come into play; Telegram is being used frequently for encrypted conversations, said Jeff Trimble, a lecturer at Ohio State University and a former Moscow reporter for US News & World Report. Plenty of video is available, but must be checked carefully for accuracy, he said.
The Associated Press wrote a story following Navalny’s sentencing about small signs of defiance emerging in Russia. It had a New York dateline and no byline, but no shortage of detail, including police in the city of Nizhny Novgorod detaining a silent demonstrator who displayed a blank sign.
The AP has written some unbylined stories with Moscow datelines and also broken news from outside sources, including a March 30 story about US intelligence sources saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been misled by his military aides about the war because of their fear of delivering bad news from the battlefield.
Julie Pace, the AP’s executive editor, said it’s vital to continue to report from countries around the world where press freedoms have been curtailed. Executives at competing news organizations are now engaging with each other about safety and security issues in Russia, she said.
Without the physical presence of reporters, it’s more difficult to keep track of how the war and economic sanctions are affecting day-to-day life in Russia. That makes Rosenberg’s BBC reports stand out: he visited a grocery store to see how purchase limits are in place to prevent hoarding, and interviewed an 88-year-old woman who was selling possessions to buy food and medicine.
“It’s always important for journalists to have their feet on the ground,” Cooper said.
Television journalists are affected more severely by the response to restrictions. Live shots from Moscow’s Red Square have disappeared. The NBC “Nightly News” brief report on Navalny’s sentence came from Richard Engel in Ukraine. CBS News has run BBC reports. CNN used old-fashioned “Kremlinology” techniques of examining pictures to speculate on whether Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu has fallen out of favor.
The BBC said it restored its reporting from Russia after considering the new law’s implications “alongside the urgent need to report from inside Russia.” However, the company’s Russian-language service is no longer reporting from inside the country.
That’s left Rosenberg to wander the streets. In one report, he interviewed a parliament member who insisted there were no political prisoners in all of Russia.
“That is precisely the picture the Kremlin paints for the Russian people, hoping that they’ll believe that there’s no repression here, no war, no problem,” Rosenberg said.
The BBC declined a request to talk about whether there’s been Russian government pushback against his work.
After the new law was announced, ABC News’ James Longman reported from Moscow about the early impact of the West’s economic sanctions and Putin’s “assault on free speech.”
“There is a creeping realization that 30 years of progress is about to end,” Longman said.
In the weeks since, there have been no reports from inside Russia by ABC News correspondents.


Saudi’s Manga Productions, Japan’s KOEI TECMO announce new gaming partnership

Updated 17 June 2025
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Saudi’s Manga Productions, Japan’s KOEI TECMO announce new gaming partnership

  • Manga Productions licensed for Nioh 3 in Mideast, North Africa
  • Full Arabic support for region’s gamers, says CEO Essam Bukhary

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Manga Productions has announced a partnership with Japan’s KOEI TECMO as the publisher of the highly anticipated action game Nioh 3 in the Middle East and North Africa region.

According to a recent Saudi Press Agency report, the game is scheduled for release in early 2026 on PlayStation 5 and Steam.

Nioh 3 is the latest installment in the popular RPG series known for its mysterious samurai setting, earning widespread acclaim for its unique blend of Japanese mythology and intense combat.

The series has achieved global success, selling over 8 million copies worldwide. This new installment features an open-world environment and innovative combat system that allows players to switch between “samurai” and “ninja” fighting styles during battles.

As a part of this collaboration, Manga Productions will handle its Arabic translation, marketing and publishing for the Middle East and North Africa region.

Manga Productions, which is a subsidiary of the Mohammed bin Salman Foundation, will engage Saudi creators in the localization process to ensure a culturally relevant experience for Arabic-speaking gamers.

Dr. Essam Bukhary, CEO of Manga Productions, stated: “The launch of Nioh 3 with full Arabic support for gamers in the region is an additional step towards delivering world-class experiences while empowering Saudi talent at every stage of development.”

He added: “The trust we have earned from our global partners reflects Manga Productions’ capabilities in publishing, distribution, and marketing, as well as our continued success in professionally delivering high-quality content to audiences in the region while respecting local culture.”

Hisashi Koinuma, president and chief operating officer of KOEI TECMO, said the success of DYNASTY WARRIORS: ORIGINS has further strengthened the partnership with Manga Productions to bring Nioh 3 to Arabic-speaking gamers.

Abdulaziz Al-Naghmoush, head of business development and content licensing at Manga Productions, welcomed the pact.

“Following our collaboration on DYNASTY WARRIORS: ORIGINS, which was well-received for delivering a uniquely localized Arabic experience, we are now taking a new step with Nioh 3.”

He said the offering would be a “seamless, localized experience that makes players feel as if it was made especially for them from day one.”


WhatsApp to start showing ads to users in parts of the messaging app

A WhatsApp icon is displayed on an iPhone, Nov. 15, 2018, in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. (AP)
Updated 17 June 2025
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WhatsApp to start showing ads to users in parts of the messaging app

  • WhatsApp said ads will be targeted to users based on information like their age, the country or city where they’re located, the language they’re using, the channels they’re following in the app, and how they’re interacting with the ads they see

WhatsApp said Monday that users will start seeing ads in parts of the app, as owner Meta Platforms moves to cultivate a new revenue stream by tapping the billions of people that use the messaging service.
Advertisements will be shown only in the app’s Updates tab, which is used by as many as 1.5 billion people each day. However, they won’t appear where personal chats are located, developers said.
“The personal messaging experience on WhatsApp isn’t changing, and personal messages, calls and statuses are end-to-end encrypted and cannot be used to show ads,” WhatsApp said in a blog post.
It’s a big change for the company, whose founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton vowed to keep the platform free of ads when they created it in 2009.
Facebook purchased WhatsApp in 2014 and the pair left a few years later. Parent company Meta Platforms Inc. has long been trying to generate revenue from WhatsApp.
WhatsApp said ads will be targeted to users based on information like their age, the country or city where they’re located, the language they’re using, the channels they’re following in the app, and how they’re interacting with the ads they see.
WhatsApp said it won’t use personal messages, calls and groups that a user is a member of to target ads to the user.
It’s one of three advertising features that WhatsApp unveiled on Monday as it tries to monetize the app’s user base. Channels will also be able to charge users a monthly fee for subscriptions so they can get exclusive updates. And business owners will be able to pay to promote their channel’s visibility to new users.
Most of Meta’s revenue comes from ads. In 2025, the Menlo Park, California-based company’s revenue totaled $164.5 billion and $160.6 billion of it came from advertising.

 


Israel strikes Iran’s state broadcaster building

Updated 16 June 2025
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Israel strikes Iran’s state broadcaster building

  • Online footage online shows IRIB’s Glass Building engulfed in flames after the attack

LONDON: Israel has launched an airstrike on the headquarters of Iran’s state broadcaster, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, in central Tehran, according to numerous videos circulating on social media on Monday.

Footage shared online appeared to show the Glass Building of the IRIB engulfed in flames after the strike.

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One widely circulated clip shows the moment a missile hit the facility during a live broadcast — the presenter, Sahar Emami, is seen on-air before a loud explosion interrupts the feed.

Smoke and debris fill the room as the presenter takes cover and a man is heard shouting. Iran’s state-run media confirmed the attack, directly attributing it to Israel.

According to the first reports, there were several casualties although the exact number has not officially been released.

Videos posted online show significant damage to the building, which appeared to be on fire.

London-based news channel Iran International, reported that IRIB resumed broadcasting from another studio after the attack, with Emami joining the Khabar Network’s live broadcast.

The strike came shortly after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned on Monday that Iran’s state media outlets would soon be targeted.

“The Iranian propaganda and incitement megaphone is about to disappear,” he said in a statement earlier on Monday, adding that nearby residents had been urged to evacuate.

“In the coming hours, the (Israeli military) will operate in the area, as it has in recent days throughout Tehran, to strike military infrastructure of the Iranian regime,” the military said in a post in Persian on X.

The strike hit an upmarket district of Tehran, home to several diplomatic and international offices, including the embassies of Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait, as well as UN buildings and the Agence France-Presse bureau.

The area also contains major medical facilities and a large police headquarters, raising concerns over the broader impact of the strike.


Ex-Syrian commander claims Assad ordered execution of missing US journalist Tice: BBC

Updated 16 June 2025
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Ex-Syrian commander claims Assad ordered execution of missing US journalist Tice: BBC

  • Maj. Gen. Bassam al-Hassan said to have tried to dissuade former Syrian president but ultimately relayed order
  • BBC claims US officials met Hassan in Beirut at least three times, are investigating the uncorroborated account

LONDON: A former Syrian commander who allegedly oversaw the detention of missing American journalist Austin Tice claims that ex-President Bashar Assad personally ordered Tice’s execution, according to a BBC investigation released over the weekend.

The report centers on Maj. Gen. Bassam al-Hassan, a former commander in the elite Republican Guard and one of Assad’s most trusted advisers. According to the BBC, Hassan spoke to FBI and CIA officials about Tice’s fate during at least three meetings in Lebanon, one of which reportedly took place inside the US embassy compound.

Hassan, who also served as chief of staff of the National Defense Forces — a pro-regime paramilitary group previously linked by the BBC to Tice’s abduction — allegedly oversaw the facility where the journalist was held. Sources close to Hassan said that in 2013, following Tice’s brief escape attempt, he was instructed to execute him.

According to the sources, Hassan initially sought to dissuade Assad but ultimately relayed the order, which was then carried out. The detail of Tice’s escape attempt aligns with prior reports, including a Reuters investigation citing witnesses who recalled seeing “an American man, dressed in ragged clothing” attempting to escape through the streets of Damascus’ upscale Mazzeh neighborhood — believed to be Tice’s final sighting.

Tice disappeared in August 2012 while reporting on Syria’s civil war in the Damascus suburbs, just days after his 31st birthday. A former US Marine captain who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan, Tice was working as a freelance journalist while studying for a law degree at Georgetown University. He was abducted while preparing to leave the country to go to Lebanon.

For years, the Assad regime has denied any knowledge of Tice’s whereabouts or involvement in his disappearance. However, the BBC previously reported that classified documents obtained during its investigation supported long-standing suspicions by US authorities that Damascus was directly involved. The latest investigation suggests that Tice was held in the notorious Tahouneh prison, a regime-controlled facility in Damascus. Hassan is also said to have provided the US officials with possible locations for Tice’s remains, though efforts to verify his claims are ongoing.

“There is not anything, at least at this time, to corroborate what (Hassan) is saying,” a source familiar with the investigation told The Washington Post. “The flip side of it is, with his role in the regime, it’s hard to understand why he would want to lie about something like that.”

Despite the recent developments, skepticism persists. Western intelligence officials expressed doubt that Assad would have issued a direct kill order, noting that the Syrian president typically relies on intermediaries to insulate himself from such decisions.

Speaking to the BBC during a recent trip to Lebanon, Tice’s mother, Debra Tice, said she believed Hassan may have told US officials “a story they wanted to hear” to help close the case.

“I am his mother. I still believe that my son is alive and that he will walk free,” she said.

A former NDF member also told the BBC that Tice was viewed as a valuable bargaining chip for possible negotiations with Washington.

According to the report, Hassan fled to Iran following the collapse of the Syrian regime in December. He was later contacted by phone and invited to Lebanon to meet US officials, who assured him he would not be detained.

The BBC revelations come on the heels of an interview published by The Economist with Safwan Bahloul, a three-star general who previously served in Syria’s external intelligence agency and was tasked with interrogating Tice.

Bahloul, who speaks fluent English and has lived in Britain, said Hassan assigned him to question Tice and handed him the American’s iPhone. His mission was to determine whether Tice was “merely a journalist” or “an American spy.”

Bahloul also said Hassan orchestrated the recording of a video, released on YouTube in September 2012, that showed Tice blindfolded and surrounded by armed men. US intelligence later concluded that the video had been staged by the regime to suggest that Tice was being held by Islamic militants.


TikTok rolls out AI-powered tools to turn text into video ads

Updated 16 June 2025
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TikTok rolls out AI-powered tools to turn text into video ads

  • Advertisers will be able to upload an image or write a text prompt to generate five-second video clips
  • New features announced on Monday at the Cannes Lions advertising festival

LONDON: TikTok is rolling out new advertising tools powered by artificial intelligence that give marketers the ability to turn text or still images into AI-generated video ads.

The ByteDance-owned platform announced the new features on Monday during the Cannes Lions advertising festival in France.

The features, part of TikTok’s Symphony product suite, allow advertisers to upload an image or write a text prompt describing their desired ad. TikTok’s AI then generates five-second video clips that can be used as advertisements.

The text and image-to-video features build on similar AI-powered services introduced by TikTok in 2024, which allow marketers to use AI-generated avatars ­— AI-enhanced digital spokespeople — to promote and sell products on the platform.

AI-generated ads are the latest frontier for social media platforms, which have been investing heavily in AI to automate processes such as content moderation, misinformation detection, and content creation for advertisers and creators seeking more cost-effective ways to produce material for social media.

With such tools, platforms hope to attract marketers to expand their advertising budgets.

Recently, Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta announced it was testing new tools that allow advertisers to create marketing content, including images and messaging, using generative AI prompts.