Ukraine’s secret service staged reports of the murder of Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko to foil an assassination plot. The staging raised many questions about its necessity and circumstances. The CPJ said it was relieved that Babchenko was alive and perhaps saved by the staging but was alarmed by the possible undermining of public trust in journalists. (Committee to Protect Journalists, May 30, 2018, by Nina Ognianova)
Sophie Pinkham, The Guardian, May 31, 2018, was less reserved in assessing the incident. “In its endless one-upmanship against Russia,” writes Pinkham, “Ukraine has once again cut off its nose to spite its face, severely undermining its own credibility and that of journalists. This stunt also seems a gratuitous blow to what is left of public sincerity, compassion, and trust. Next time a journalist is killed in Ukraine (and, unfortunately, it seems certain that there will be a next time), even the least cynical observers, the kinds of people who wept all night over Babchenko’s supposed death, will likely wonder whether they should believe in a tragic death until they’ve inspected the corpse themselves.”
The event erodes Ukraine’s credibility in its struggle with Russian who has used propaganda and lies in its claim that Ukraine is the aggressor in the war over eastern Ukraine, and journalists and others are critical of the Ukrainian government’s disdain for the truth in a time of public mistrust in the news media. (The Atlantic, May 30, 2018, by Natasha Bertrand)