Telegraph journalist David Knowles was just 32 when he died suddenly whilst on holiday in Gibraltar on 8 September. But his death has prompted an outpouring of tributes from hundreds of listeners worldwide to his daily Ukraine war podcast. Family and friends have remembered him as a “kind” and “cheerful” man with a “ceaseless curiosity”.

Knowles joined the Telegraph’s social media team in 2020, but made a name for himself with podcast Ukraine: The Latest, which he launched on Twitter Spaces after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Created, produced and hosted by Knowles, it has become the Telegraph’s most popular podcast and is the UK’s only remaining daily audio offering on the conflict, broadcasting nearly 700 episodes so far to a global audience, including on Youtube.

In a brief but emotional broadcast on 9 September, Knowles’ podcast co-hosts shared the news of his sudden and unexpected death with listeners. In response, more than 1,800 messages have been posted below a Telegraph report on his death, which serves as a digital book of condolences, and yet more have appeared on social media and podcast apps.

Podcast inspired listeners to help Ukraine

Listeners, from as far afield as Australia, Canada and Japan, have paid tribute to Knowles. Among them were those who shared how the podcast had inspired them to act in support of Ukraine and its people in their struggle against the Russian invasion.

“Your podcast encouraged me to become political and outspoken on the war on Ukraine,” said listener Peter Behrends from Germany. “Last week friends of my son asked me to accompany them driving… to [Lviv] to give to medics (as I have a background in mechanics). Would I have done that without your podcast? I doubt it. Thank you for inspiring me, David. Thank you for giving me a sense of what is right and of what is wrong.”

UK listener Alison Carragher said Knowles was “an inspiration to us all”, adding: “I sponsored, through the Homes for Ukraine scheme, a lovely young couple – the husband was Ukrainian and his wife was Russian. This was a direct result of listening to the podcast and wanting to do my bit.”

Many of those posting messages of condolence mentioned Knowles’s voice – well-spoken with a tone of authority – which was often the first thing they heard as he delivered his “solemn introduction to the podcast”, as one listener put it.

“For more than two years my mornings in Melbourne, Australia, started with ‘I’m David Knowles and this is Ukraine, the latest’,” said listener Christiane Stehmann. “It seems impossible to believe I will never hear David’s voice again,” said listener Jane Edwards. “I have heard it almost every day for over two years. It feels like I have lost a friend.”

For others, the podcast offered more than just a way to catch up with the latest news on the conflict in Europe, but membership of a community. “At the centre of that community there was always David Knowles,” said listener Andrew Potter from Canada.

Family ‘astounded’ by outpouring of messages from around the world

Knowles’ mother, Kaye, told Press Gazette the family had been “astounded at the outpouring of messages” and were unaware “he had touched so many people around the world”. She said her son had a “calm, measured timbre when speaking which was simply pleasant to listen to” and an “intuitive ability to know the ‘right’ questions to ask”.

“So often, as I listened (while making the evening meal), he would make enquiries about people’s lives in a gentle, humane, way and they were often what I wanted to know. This was clearly recognised by those who listened to the pod on a daily basis,” she added.

Knowles comes from a long line of journalists. His father, Peter Knowles, was controller of BBC Parliament and is now Westminster correspondent for US TV network C-SPAN. Knowles’ grandfather was a journalist with BBC Manchester and his great-grandfather was a print setter on the Bolton Evening News.

Although he studied theology at Durham University, Knowles went on to complete a masters in Interactive Journalism at City University in 2015/16 and later regularly returned to speak to students. “His last visit, to talk to our MA Podcasting students, was as witty, insightful and erudite as ever,” said journalist and lecturer Adam Tinworth, who taught Knowles.

Knowles had a “ceaseless curiosity” and an “infectious enthusiasm” that could sometimes be “overwhelming for those on the receiving end of it”, his mother said. An avid reader, he would eagerly share what he had learned with friends and family, be it about the Aztecs or Napoleon, or his love of military history and the Master and Commander books.

His interests were many and varied, ranging from classical music (playing a number of musical instruments and singing in Geneva’s Holy Trinity Choir) and the performance arts (taking part in the Durham Revue and the National Youth Theatre) to learning languages (Czech and Hebrew among them) and playing cricket.

‘The happiest and most curious person I’ve ever met’

Journalist Marie Le Conte, Knowles’ friend and ex-girlfriend, said: “David may genuinely have been the happiest and most curious person I’ve ever met.

“He loved football and cricket; playing the viola and the mandolin; books about military history and books about everything else. He spoke a dizzying array of languages, some extinct and others rare, and couldn’t really explain why he’d learnt them. He was endlessly fascinated by life and all it could offer.”

She added: “Journalists are a famously cutting bunch, but I don’t think I ever heard anyone say anything even vaguely negative about him.”

Friend and former Telegraph colleague Ben Gartside, now senior reporter at The i newspaper, described Knowles as a “wonderfully talented renaissance man” and a “natural broadcaster”, having appeared as a guest on the Ukraine: The Latest podcast.

It was with Gartside that he set up the Larkhall Wanderers cricket team, bringing together some 50 players “none of [whom] would have been friends if it wasn’t for him,” said Gartside, who added that while Knowles’ enthusiasm was greater than his skill on the pitch “he became one of our most important and best players”.

Knowles was also keen on football, and, despite his “plummy west London voice”, supported Bolton Wanderers. “I remember going up to him at work and he had a Bolton Wanderers mug at his desk,” said Gartside. “I said: ‘Why have you pulled that out of the work cupboard?’ He said: ‘I really like Bolton,’ and was regaling me with stories of their players from 15 to 20 years ago, and I was like: ‘Okay, you really know your stuff!”

His fascination with lower-league football also took him on his holiday to Gibraltar, where he went with a friend to watch the tiny territory take on Lichtenstein in the UEFA Nations League, although he never made it to the match.

Family believe ‘foul play’ will be ruled out

While counter-terrorism police are investigating Knowles’ death, the family believe foul play is likely to be ruled out. Knowles was banned from entering Russia due to his reporting of the conflict in Ukraine. While police are investigating his death they have said they have no specific concerns as yet.

Gartside said Knowles was “humble” about the success of his podcast, adding: “David was doing it because it was something that was important to do, and any ego or any personal acclaim that he could claim from that he shrugged off.”

Ukraine: The Latest has had nearly 100 million listens overall since it began in 2022, with a large segment of its audience based in the US. It averages around four million plays per month.

Colleague and podcast contributor Colin Freeman said: “Many current affairs podcasts fizzle out after a few weeks or months – Ukraine: The Latest went from strength to strength.

“These days I bump into people all over the world who tell me they listen to it, including many in Ukraine itself. Sometimes it has even opened doors for interviews that might not otherwise have happened.”

Podcast gave ‘hope and strength’ to Ukrainian listeners

Knowles made a number of trips to Ukraine himself for the podcast, including a visit this summer when he travelled to Bucha and reported on how people there were rebuilding their community after the illegal Russian occupation left the town in ruins.

Knowles’ work won him plaudits from Ukraine itself. On hearing of his death, the Ukrainian Embassy in London tweeted: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic passing of the Telegraph journalist of ‘Ukraine: The Latest’ podcast @djknowles22. His dedication to reporting the truth about the war in Ukraine and his commitment to telling the stories of those affected by it will never be forgotten.”

Ukrainian listeners also shared messages of condolence online. “I live in Ukraine and I have been listening… for 1.5 years,” said Serhii Fartushnyi. “David’s voice has been a constant companion for me through these difficult times.

“For the past 1.5 years, his dedication to bringing the truth about Ukraine to the world gave me hope and strength when it was hard to find any. His empathy, intelligence, and unwavering commitment to telling our story made Ukrainians feel less alone in the world.”

Listener Ben Skolozdra added: “David’s legacy will be that of an English language voice for a free, independent, and democratic Ukraine. The Ukrainian diaspora across the world is mourning as one at this tremendous loss.”

In Ottawa, Canada, anti-war protestors put up pictures of Knowles on what’s called the Freedom Pole, which sits outside the Russian embassy, with the message “eternal memory”. “You taught us so much and gave inspiration to carry on our daily protests,” tweeted one protestor in tribute to Knowles and the Ukraine: The Latest podcast.

A pleasure to work with because he had no ego

It was through the podcast that Knowles met girlfriend Adélie Pojzman-Pontay, who produced reportage episodes in her role as narrative podcast producer at the Telegraph, accompanying him on a trip to Ukraine in February.

“David had no ego, so it was a pleasure to work with him,” said Pojzman-Pontay. “I’m not an expert on Ukraine… when we travelled to Ukraine it was the first time I would be going out there [but] he never made me feel that any of my questions were stupid, he was just so happy to share absolutely everything he knew and explain everything to me.”

She said she was struck by how many people Knowles knew in Ukraine. “Most of his sources were his friends,” she said. “Whenever we met someone, he was just so caring in the way he approached people, and so patient as well. He really had a sense of how to engage with people and I think that’s just because he’s incredibly honest in himself all the time. I’ve never seen someone who’s so true – he’s always 100% himself.”

She revealed Knowles had decided to learn Ukrainian after becoming a full-time audio journalist and presenter at the Telegraph this summer – “the first time in two years that his job title matched what he spent the majority of his days doing”.

She said the podcast came about “very organically” because “David absolutely loved history – his flat is covered in history books everywhere and most of these books are about war. Colleagues and I would sometimes tease him that he had the hobbies of a 55-year-old dad, you know, reading and war and naval battles and talking about Master and Commander and Hornblower all the time. And so that’s definitely a subject he was really interested in.”

Remembering Knowles, Pojzman-Pontay said he was “incredibly warm and happy” and “was never in a bad mood”. “He was incredibly cheerful and always making a joke, and if you weren’t in a good mood, he was always trying to cheer you up by being silly or extremely caring. So he would often, for example, leave chocolate bars on people’s desks,” she said.

“He was always joking and being silly or he would come and tell you about some nerdy obsession of his… He really loved Napoleon. I’m from France and I honestly have never heard as much about Napoleon since I started being friends with David.”

Although short, Pojzman-Pontay said their relationship had been “incredibly serious” and “within a few weeks we were talking about marriage and children”. She added: “I’m just really sad we only had six months together, when we were meant to have 60 years.”

A funeral will take place at St Bride’s Church, where a candle has been lit for Knowles, on a date yet to be determined. Knowles will be buried on the island of Islay in Scotland.

The post David Knowles: Telegraph journalist who made huge impact in a short life appeared first on Press Gazette.

The Telegraph has announced the death of David Knowles, who led its long-running Ukraine: The Latest podcast.

The newsbrand said on Monday lunchtime: “It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of our colleague, David Knowles.

“David was a talented journalist and a much-loved friend and a colleague. He will be greatly missed.”

Update: Police probe sudden death of Telegraph’s David Knowles

The Telegraph later reported that Knowles is believed to have suffered a cardiac arrest while in Gibraltar on Sunday.

Knowles has worked at The Telegraph since 2020, first as deputy head of social media and then head of social media until June 2023 when he became head of audio development.

However the 32-year-old was best-known for launching and presenting Ukraine: The Latest, which began life on Twitter Spaces when Russia launched its ground invasion in February 2022 before the team quickly pivoted to a daily podcast which is now approaching 100 million total downloads.

Regular contributor Dominic Nicholls later told Press Gazette the pair had created a “safe space to just spread good journalism” from the Telegraph newsroom. But he also said the team were not trying to “showcase” themselves but wanted to spotlight important stories from the war.

In a brief broadcast of Ukraine: The Latest on Monday lunchtime to announce the news, Nicholls said: “Our beautiful, beautiful friend David Knowles died suddenly at the weekend after a health emergency.

“In due course there will be some form of book of condolences but for now we’re just feeling our way through the day… our thoughts are with David’s family and friends and you, the fantastic listeners to this podcast, whose engagement and humanity amid such darkness brought him so much joy.”

In August last year Knowles, along with fellow Telegraph journalists Colin Freeman and Francis Dearnley, were added to Russia’s list of people banned from entering the country because of their work on the podcast.

Ukraine: The Latest was shortlisted for the Innovation of the Year award at the British Journalism Awards 2022. In June this year it was named the Best News Podcast at the Publisher Podcast Awards.

Before joining The Telegraph Knowles worked at the World Economic Forum leading social media content production and at Mail Online as a social video journalist.

Telegraph editor Chris Evans told staff on Monday: “I am very sorry to inform you that our colleague David Knowles died suddenly this weekend. He was 32.

“David was a talented and popular journalist who was perhaps best known for helping to make our Ukraine podcast such a success. Before that, he was an impressive leader of our social media team. We would like to offer our sympathy to his family and friends.”

Knowles’s father, Peter, told The Telegraph: “David’s commitment to journalism was intense. He was never more proud than when he finally shrugged off a management job title and regained a title with the word ‘journalist’ in it and he was utterly engaged with the story of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the impact on its people, making four trips to the country and always planning the next.”

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of our colleague, David Knowles.

David was a talented journalist and a much-loved friend and a colleague. He will be greatly missed. pic.twitter.com/vLigw63DHK

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) September 9, 2024

Tributes to David Knowles

Tributes to Knowles began being shared by colleagues, friends and listeners soon after The Telegraph’s announcement. Here is just a small sample:

Telegraph Berlin correspondent James Rothwell said: “Where to even begin. He was such a talented colleague. Superb reporting from Ukraine and a podcast master. Boundless enthusiasm. Tolkien fan. And a good friend. He loved his work and everyone – everyone – who crossed his path loved working with him too. Rest in peace my dude.”

Telegraph audio journalist Georgia Coan said: “Absolutely devastated that we have lost our wonderful audio colleague @djknowles22 so suddenly. He was so kind, intelligent and talented. David had such a great sense of humour and it seems to surreal to think we joked together on Friday and now he is gone. He will be so missed.”

Christopher Miller, an FT journalist based in Kyiv, said: “Very sad news. David was a kind, bright young journalist whose work and Ukraine podcast, especially, were admired by so many. It’s hard to think his friends and devoted listeners will no longer hear his voice in their earphones. Rest easy, David.”

Telegraph senior technology reporter Matt Field said: “Beyond tragic news this morning at The Telegraph. I first met David during our City MA and his boundless enthusiasm, infectious humour and generous spirit were self-evident. He was highly respected as a journalist and a great friend to many. He will be desperately missed here.”

Telegraph director of audio Kamal Ahmed said: “David Knowles was the most talented of journalists. A skilled editor, brave reporter and superb story teller, the Ukraine the Latest podcast is his gift to us all. All our thoughts are with his family, loved ones and friends.”

Rachel Johnson said: “This is devastating news- like so many on here I listen every day to David Knowles and the incomparable team on Ukraine The Latest, the authoritative Telegraph daily podcast on Putin’s war. Heartfelt condolences.”

The post Telegraph Ukraine podcast presenter David Knowles dies aged 32 appeared first on Press Gazette.

A British security adviser for Reuters has been killed in an airstrike in Ukraine on Saturday 24 August 2024.

Two journalists for Reuters were also injured, one seriously, in the strike.

A missile struck the Hotel Sapphire where a six-person Reuters team was staying in the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine, the news agency said. The area is in Ukrainian control but near the frontline of fighting with Russia.

Ryan Evans, a 38-year-old Army veteran from Wrexham in Wales, had four children, the youngest of which was 18 months old. His wife described him as a “gentle giant”.

Evans had been working for Reuters since 2022 including on other Ukraine reporting trips, in Israel close to the border with Gaza, and during the Paris Olympics.

Reuters said in a statement it was “devastated” by the loss.

“We are urgently seeking more information about the attack, including by working with the authorities in Kramatorsk, and we are supporting our colleagues and their families. We send our deepest condolences and thoughts to Ryan’s family and loved ones.

“Ryan has helped keep so many of our journalists safe as they covered events around the world. He was a dear colleague and friend, and we will miss him terribly.”

Reuters said on Monday that its Ukrainian video journalist Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey, 40, remained in a critical condition after the attack.

Ukraine correspondent Daniel Peleschuk, an American journalist for Reuters who was also injured, has been discharged from hospital.

The three other Reuters members of staff present at the hotel for the attack are safe and accounted for.

In a conference call with reporters a Kremlin spokesperson did not address whether the hotel was targeted but said Moscow only struck military infrastructure or places “related to military infrastructure in one way or another”, Reuters reported.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he was “deeply saddened” by the death of Evans while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky  said of the attack: “A regular city hotel was destroyed by a Russian Iskander missile. Absolutely purposefully, in a thought-out way.”

Jeanne Cavelier, head of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk at Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontieres), said: “RSF condemns the death of Reuters security advisor Ryan Evans and is concerned about the health of his two journalist colleagues – one of whom is in a serious condition – who were injured by the same Russian missile strike. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families.

“At this stage, we do not know whether the hotel was targeted because of the presence of the media. One thing is certain: since the beginning of the war, the Russian army has been deliberately attacking journalists and their crews to prevent them from reporting, in violation of international law. RSF is calling for a thorough investigation to identify and prosecute those responsible.”

Scroll down or click here for coverage of other journalists killed or injured in Ukraine since 24 February 2022:

• AFP journalist Arman Soldin killed
• La Repubblica fixer Bohdan Bitik
• Reuters journalists injured and driver killed
• Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff
• Vira Hyrych
• Mantas Kvedaravicius
• Ukrainian photojournalist Maks Levin
• Oksana Baulina
• Fox News cameraman killed and presenter seriously injured
• Brent Renaud
• Oleg Baturin kidnapped
• Guillaume Briquet was wounded and hospitalised
• Alaraby TV journalists under fire
• Ukrainian news cameraman Yevhenii Sakun
• Sky’s Stuart Ramsay wounded in ambush
• Danish journalists shot

Journalists attacked in Ukraine:

10/5/23: AFP journalist Arman Soldin has been killed by a rocket strike in eastern Ukraine, the news agency announced on Tuesday night (9 May 2023).

Soldin was reporting with four AFP colleagues from the town of Chasiv Yar, close to Bakhmut – the epicentre of fighting in eastern Ukraine for several months. The rest of the team were unhurt.

The 32-year-old was part of the first AFP team to be posted in Ukraine when the war began, and he was later appointed Ukraine video coordinator based in Kyiv in September, a role that included leading coverage and travelling to frontlines himself.

AFP chairman Fabrice Fries said: “The whole agency is devastated by the loss of Arman. His death is a terrible reminder of the risks and dangers faced by journalists every day covering the conflict in Ukraine.”

AFP’s Europe director Christine Buhagiar described him as ‘‘enthusiastic, energetic and brave’’, adding: ‘‘He was a real on-the-ground reporter, always ready to work even in the most difficult places. He was totally devoted to his craft.’’

Soldin is believed to be at least the tenth journalist killed reporting on the war in Ukraine, one of more than 12,000 accredited journalists who have covered the conflict.

26/4/23: Two journalists working for the Italian newspaper La Repubblica came under fire on 26 while reporting near the Antonivskiy Bridge on the outskirts of Kherson, in southern Ukraine – the IFJ reports. A Ukrainian journalist working as a fixer, Bohdan Bitik, was shot dead and his Italian colleague, Corrado Zunino, was wounded in the shoulder.

22/6/22: Reporters Without Borders has concluded that photojournalist Maks Levin was likely executed by Russian troops.

The press freedom group reports that Levin entered a Russian-occupied forest near Kyiv to retrieve his drone when he was killed on 13 March.

It found the place where he died and reports: “Levin’s charred Ford Maverick was still there. RSF found several bullets at the scene, along with the identity papers of Chernyshov, the soldier who was with Levin, and identified 14 bullet impacts in his car. Several items with possible DNA traces attesting to the presence of Russian soldiers very close to the spot where Levin and Chernyshov were killed were also identified by RSF and some of them were taken. In a final search phase initiated by RSF, metal detectors located a bullet that had probably struck Levin.”

6/6/2022:

Two Reuters journalists have been injured, and their driver killed, as their vehicle came under fire from Russian forces as they travelled towards the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk.

The news agency reported that its photographer Alexander Ermochenko and cameraman Pavel Klimov respectively sustained a small shrapnel wound and an arm fracture and were treated in hospital.

Reuters said it did not immediately know the identity of the driver as he and the car they were in had been provided by Russian-backed separatists for the journalists’ reporting trip. The incident took place on a Russian-held part of the road.

31/5/22:

French journalist Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff has been killed in eastern Ukraine while covering the civilian evacuation.

Leclerc-Imhoff, 32, was killed by shell shrapnel which pierced the armoured vehicle he was travelling in, according to the BBC. Earlier reports, prompted by a tweet by French president Emmanuel Macron and which were carried by Press Gazette, had said Leclerc-Imhoff had been shot on board a humanitarian bus.

Leclerc-Imhoff reported for French news channel BFMTV. According to Sky the regional governor of Luhansk wrote on Telegram that Leclerc-Imhoff suffered a “fatal wound to the neck” while “making material about the evacuation”.

The BBC reports Leclerc-Imhoff’s colleague Maxime Brandstaetter was also injured, but a Ukrainian journalist travelling with the pair was unharmed.

29/4/22:

Vira Hyrych, a Ukrainian journalist for international news service Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was killed in a Russian missile attack on Kyiv on Thursday 28 April.

The Institute of Mass Information said a rocket had hit her apartment. Her death brings the journalist death toll to at least eight since the invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February.

Hyrych joined Radio Svoboda (Liberty) in February 2018 after working for Ukrainian TV channels. The outlet said: “The editorial staff of Radio Svoboda expresses its condolences to the family of Vira Girich and will remember her as a bright and kind person, a true professional.”

One of Hyrych’s colleagues, Mike Eckel, described her as “one of the nicest people in our bureau; patient, diligent, kind, and dedicated”.

7/4/22: Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall has revealed the extent of his injuries for the first time, three weeks after an attack that killed two of his colleagues.

The British journalist, 39, said he felt “damn lucky” to have survived the shelling attack by Russian forces that killed cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and producer Oleksandra Kuvshynova.

Hall wrote on Twitter: “It’s been over three weeks since the attack in Ukraine and I wanted to start sharing it all. But first I need to pay tribute to my colleagues Pierre and Sasha who didn’t make it that day.

“Pierre and I travelled the world together, working was his joy and his joy was infectious. RIP.”

Sharing a picture of himself bandaged and wearing an eye patch he added: “To sum it up, I’ve lost half a leg on one side and a foot on the other.

“One hand is being put together, one eye is no longer working, and my hearing is pretty blown… but all in all I feel pretty damn lucky to be here – and it is the people who got me here who are amazing.”

4/4/22: Lithuanian documentary filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravicius was killed by Russian forces while trying to leave Mariupol, according to Reuters in a report citing the Ukrainian Defence Ministry.

His death means seven journalists have been killed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Kvedaravicius was shot “with a camera in his hands” according to a colleague in the besieged port city that has become one of the most violent centres of fighting in Ukraine.

Kvedaravicius was known for creating the 2016 conflict-zone documentary “Mariupolis”, which premiered at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival and covered life in the city, as well as the 2011 film Barzakh.

The latter covered life in Chechnya, a region where the Russian military fought two brutal wars quashing rebellions during the 1990s and 2000s, and was awarded a prize at the Berlin International Film Festival by Amnesty International.

“We lost a creator well-known in Lithuania and in the whole world who, until the very last moment, in spite of the danger, worked in Russia-occupied Ukraine,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said.

“Mantas Kvedaravicius was murdered today [3 April] in Mariupol, with a camera in his hands, in this shitty war of evil, against the whole world,” added Russian film director Vitaly Mansky, founder of the Artdocfest festival which Kvedaravicius had participated in.

4/4/22: Maks Levin, a well-known Ukrainian photojournalist, has become the sixth journalist to be killed in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.

Levin, who had worked with outlets including Reuters, the BBC and AP, had been missing since mid-March but his body was found in a village to the north of Kyiv on Friday (1 April).

The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office said in a statement that preliminary information indicated he had been killed “in two small arms fires” by Russian armed forces.

Levin, who was married with four young sons, was reportedly travelling with a serviceman and ex-photographer whose condition is still unknown.

Levin worked with the Ukrainian news site LB.ua (Left Bank) for more than a decade. Its editor-in-chief wrote that two days before the war began, he told her: “The war is about to begin. I have to be at the very epicentre. The Russians will certainly go to chaos, there will be war crimes, we must document all this, fix it.”

Economist correspondent Oliver Carroll shared one of Levin’s final photos on Twitter:

Russian investigative reporter killed in Kyiv

24/3/22: Russian journalist Oksana Baulina was killed by shelling on Wednesday (23 March) while filming from a Kyiv shopping centre. She is the fifth journalist to have died during the invasion of Ukraine.

Baulina was reporting for The Insider, an independent Russian news outlet. Her last report can be read here.

Prior to The Insider, Baulina had worked for opposition leader Alexander Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation. She left Russia in 2021, according to The Guardian.

Earlier, on Monday 21 March, kidnapped Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna was released by Russian forces. A video of Roshchyna saying that the Russian military “saved her life” was real, said her employer Hromadske, but filmed as a condition of her release.

AP journalist on filing from Mariupol

21/3/22: Two AP journalists were put on a Russian “hit list” for their reporting as the last international journalists in the besieged eastern Ukraine city of Mariupol.

Video journalist Mstyslav Chernov and photographer Evgeniy Maloletka reported from the city for more than two weeks before Ukrainian soldiers arrived to get them out.

Chernov has explained why those who had been pleading with them to stay and tell the world about what was happening began to urge them to leave. They were told by a policeman: “If they catch you, they will get you on camera and they will make you say that everything you filmed is a lie. All your efforts and everything you have done in Mariupol will be in vain.”

The journalists also later found out about a “growing Russian disinformation campaign to discredit our work”.

In addition, Victoria Roshchyna, a journalist for Ukrainian digital TV station Hromadske who had been reporting from Eastern and Southern Ukraine, has been missing for more than a week and it is feared she may be being held hostage by Russian forces.

Another Ukrainian journalist who was kidnapped, Oleg Baturin, was reportedly “beaten, threatened with death, without water and food” for eight days but was released on Sunday 20 March. He had been reporting for the Novy Den newspaper.

Fox News journalists killed and injured

16/3/22: Two journalists working for Fox News have been killed and a correspondent injured and hospitalised while working just outside Kyiv in the latest of a series of incidents where journalists have been attacked in Ukraine.

Veteran Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski, 55, died after his vehicle came under fire in Horenka.

Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra Kuvshynova, known as Sasha, was killed in the same incident. Fox News said the 24-year-old was “serving as a consultant, helping crews navigate Kyiv and the surrounding area while gathering information and speaking to sources”.

Fox News State Department correspondent Benjamin Hall, who was in the same vehicle, was seriously injured and hospitalised. Fox News said on Wednesday he had been able to travel out of Ukraine, was “alert and in good spirits” and “being treated with the best possible care in the world”.

Fox News Media chief executive Suzanne Scott said on Tuesday: “It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we share the news this morning regarding our beloved cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski.

“Pierre was a war zone photographer who covered nearly every international story for Fox News from Iraq to Afghanistan to Syria during his long tenure with us. His passion and talent as a journalist were unmatched.”

Of Kuvshynova, Scott later said: “She was incredibly talented and spent weeks working directly with our entire team there, operating around the clock to make sure the world knew what was happening in her country.”

Fox News president and executive editor Jay Wallace added that Zakrzewski was a “constant in all of our international coverage” and had a “positive spirit, boundless energy and eye for the story”.

Hall is originally from the UK, has three young daughters, and has worked for Fox since 2015.

Of Hall, Scott said on Monday: “Earlier today, our correspondent Benjamin Hall was injured while newsgathering outside of Kyiv in Ukraine. We have a minimal level of details right now, but Ben is hospitalised and our teams on the ground are working to gather additional information as the situation quickly unfolds.”

Other Fox journalists remain in Ukraine. Scott said: “The safety of our entire team of journalists in Ukraine and the surrounding regions is our top priority and of the utmost importance. This is a stark reminder for all journalists who are putting their lives on the line every day to deliver the news from a war zone.”

US journalist Brent Renaud killed

News of Hall’s injury came a day after another US journalist, Brent Renaud, was shot and killed in the outskirts of Kyiv.

Brent Renaud, who had been reporting for Time and who previously worked for The New York Times, was shot dead on Sunday in the town of Irpin, on the north-western outskirts of the Ukrainian capital.

The BBC reported that two other journalists were injured in the incident, which was attributed to Russian forces by Kyiv police chief Andriy Nebytov. Renaud’s death is the first recorded killing of a foreign journalist during the war.

One of the journalists injured alongside Renaud, photographer Juan Arredondo, reported that they had been spending the day filming refugees fleeing the town that has become a frontline in the Russian assault on Kyiv.

After driving through a checkpoint, Arredondo said guards started shooting at the car the journalists were travelling in, injuring him and killing Renaud.

Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal and president Ian Orefice said: “We are devastated by the loss of Brent Renaud. As an award-winning filmmaker and journalist, Brent tackled the toughest stories around the world often alongside his brother Craig Renaud.

“In recent weeks, Brent was in the region working on a Time Studios project focused on the global refugee crisis. Our hearts are with all of Brent’s loved ones. It is essential that journalists are able to safely cover this ongoing invasion and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.”

Ukrainian journalist missing

Ukrainian journalist Oleg Baturin has disappeared in Kakhovka, a city in Kherson region of Ukraine, according to the European Federation of Journalists.

Baturin, a journalist for the Novy Den newspaper, reportedly left his home at 4pm on 12 March planning to meet a friend at a nearby bus station. He promised to return in 20 minutes, but has not been seen since.

It is suspected that Baturin may have been the victim of an alleged kidnapping by Russian forces in the region, according to reports by The Ukrainian Independent Information Agency.

Swiss journalist wounded

Swiss journalist Guillaume Briquet was wounded and hospitalised on Sunday 6 March after Russian soldiers fired on his car marked PRESS. They reportedly confiscated his passport, 3,000 Euros in cash and his laptop, according to Ukraine-based news outlet Hromadske.

Briquet later told Reporters Without Borders: “They were less than 50 metres away. They clearly shot to kill. If I hadn’t ducked, I would have been hit. I’ve been fired on before in other war zones, but I’ve never seen this. Journalists traveling around the country with no war experience are in mortal danger.”

According to RSF, he was injured in the face and arm by glass splinters from his windshield, and bullets came within centimetres of his head.

Jeanne Cavelier, the head of RSF’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk, said: “As this incident clearly illustrates, reporters in the field are targets for belligerents despite all the rules protecting journalists. They are civilians, who are keeping the world informed about the progress of the fighting. They must be able to work safely.

“We therefore call on all parties to the conflict to immediately commit to protecting journalists in the field in accordance with international law. We also recommend that journalists exercise the utmost caution in the light of the many attacks by Russian commandos sent ahead as scouts.”

Alaraby TV journalists under fire

A crew for London-based Arab TV channel Alaraby TV came under fire on Sunday 6 March.

Reporter Adnan Can and cameraman Habib Demirci were shot at in their car in a Kyiv suburb despite the vehicle having a white flag and “press” signs attached to it. The pair then hid with residents while fighting was taking place according to The New Arab, which is part of the same media network.

Cameraman killed in attack on Ukraine TV transmitter

On Tuesday, 1 March, Ukrainian news cameraman Yevhenii Sakun was killed when Russian forces shelled a television tower in Kyiv.

Sakun, 49, had been covering the Russian invasion for the Ukrainian TV station LIVE. Four others are believed to have died in that attack.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, TV broadcast towers have been shelled in other Ukrainian cities.

Sky’s Stuart Ramsay wounded in ambush

Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay has revealed how he was badly wounded in an ambush outside Kyiv – one of a number of journalists attacked in Ukraine.

The incident occurred on Monday, 28 February, but only came to light several days later following the escape of his Sky team from the country. He was replaced in Kyiv by Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford.

Writing in the Daily Mail Ramsay explained how the Sky team’s rental Hyundai saloon was hit with up to 1,000 bullets in a targeted attack that continued despite their shouts of “journalist”.

Producer Dominique van Heerden was also in the car as well as cameraman Richie Mockler (who continued filming throughout the attack), producer Martin Vowles and translator Andrii Lytvynenko.

The five managed to scramble away from the car and down a nearby embankment from where they walked to an industrial building.

Ramsay was shot in the upper leg with the bullet wound exiting through his lower back but missing his vital organs.

He said the car was “absolutely shredded” by bullets.

That night the Sky team was rescued by local police, with the local police chief hosting them in his own home

Ramsay believes he was ambushed by a Russian reconnaissance unit.

He said: “The Russians whom we never saw were not fighting a war against uniformed foes in armoured vehicles — but attempting to kill unarmed journalists operating in a standard saloon car in cold blood.”

Ramsay said he plans to return to Kyiv when he has recovered to “bear witness to what I fear is an unspeakable looming catastrophe for the brave people of Ukraine”.

Danish journalists shot

On 26 February, two journalists from the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet were shot while reporting near the eastern Ukrainian city of Ohtyrka.

Unidentified attackers reportedly fired multiple times at reporter Stefan Weichart (who was wounded in the shoulder) and photographer Emil Filtenborg (who was wounded in the legs and back). The pair were clearly identified as journalists on their protective equipment and shouted “press” during the attack. They were able to make their own escape and are expected to recover.

Journalists remain in Ukraine

Hundreds of foreign reporters remain in Kyiv and Ukraine including at least 50 UK journalists.

There is also a large presence of US journalists reporting from Ukraine.

Pictures L-R: PA Wire/Damien Storan and Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Peabody Awards

The post Journalists under attack in Ukraine: Reuters security adviser killed and journalists injured appeared first on Press Gazette.

Local news deserts are a growing concern for democracy in the UK, but in Ukraine they are seen as a barrier to national recovery following the Russian invasion.

Research by the EU-funded Media Development Foundation has 13 rayons (or districts) of the country which are now devoid of independent local news (see main picture). The research has so far only looked at 11 out of Ukraine’s 24 oblasts (administrative areas).

Severely damaged Ukrainian regions were investigated to piece together the damage and decline of local journalism. The project found that journalism is essential to the nation’s recovery and attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI).

Launched in 2013, the Media Development Foundation (MDF) focuses on capacity building for independent local publishers.

The project’s head of research Maksym Sribnyi told Press Gazette how the project aims to raise awareness about Ukraine’s lack of local reporting and in turn, channel aid and investment into independent Ukrainian media.

He said: “The 11 regions we have covered in this first stage of research are recipients of aid from different countries.

“Local media is essential to overseeing this recovery process as it provides insight into the needs of each area.”

He added: “The idea of mapping news deserts was floating around before the war – but the full-scale invasion accelerated the need.

“The map of Ukrainian media organisations has been reshuffled thrice over ten years so we are not as aware of the regional situation as we should be.”

In the 11 regions covered, the team found 879 operating editorial teams. Kharkiv and Donetsk hosted the most independent editorial teams (14 and 13 respectively).

However, many deserts appear to be growing, such as in the case of Luhansk where many media outlets have disappeared since the Russian occupation.

The research found that in some cases, newspapers entirely consisted of reprinted press releases, suggesting they are operated from outside the local area, with no grounded or contextual understanding.

Andrey Boborykin, a resident expert with the MDF, oversaw the methodology and findings. He explained: “Ukraine has not performed well in terms of corruption, and of course, this has been present on the local level.

“Independent local journalism is essential in holding authorities accountable, so we see a direct correlation between safeguarding FDI and safeguarding the health of local media.”

He stressed the importance of integrating independent journalism into foreign aid packages, underlining how it is currently underrepresented.

Boborykin said the rapid decline of the digital advertising economy since the war has had extreme consequences on independent journalism.

He said: “The overall downturn in the economy makes the independent publishing sector even more reliant on support.

“At this time, it is hard to advise Ukrainian publishers anything but to work with international donor funds.”

However, Boborykin anticipates a change in the reader revenue economy.

He explained: “Our population has previously not been used to digital donations but they are now more comfortable with this since Ukrainians have been donating for military needs.

“This familiarity could help local newsrooms in the future.”

The investigation’s methodology is complex and has some gaps, which the researchers have themselves highlighted.

The research only acknowledged media outlets with at least some online presence, found it difficult to collect information from temporarily occupied territories, and ignored media outlets which did not indicate their ownership structure or focussed on too specific a topic.

They hope to expand their research to map the entire of Ukraine by May.

The post Ukraine’s local news deserts could be barrier to national recovery appeared first on Press Gazette.

Sun defence editor Jerome Starkey and British Fox News reporter Benjamin Hall joined News Corp chairman and Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch to meet Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine.

Hall was seriously wounded reporting from outside Kyiv in March 2022 when the vehicle he was moving in was attacked by Russian forces. He lost both his feet and the use of an eye in the attack, which killed his colleagues Pierre Zakrzewski and Oleksandra Kuvshinova.

At least ten journalists have been killed so far whilst reporting on the war in Ukraine since February 2022.

Ukrainian president Zelensky thanked media representatives for their comprehensive coverage of Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression and for exposing Russian atrocities despite the risks to themselves.

He said: “All this time, journalists, cameramen, editors, photographers, drivers have been on the frontline. As this is a hybrid war, information is also a weapon in Russian hands.

“My sincere condolences to the families and friends of those very brave men and women who lost their lives trying to show what is happening in Ukraine. In particular, it is thanks to journalists from many countries that we now have such support in the world.”

He awarded Hall with the Order of Merit third class for his outstanding contribution and thanked Lachlan Murdoch for his visit.

Murdoch was also briefed on the security situation by Ukrainian political and military chiefs and lay flowers at the Wall of Remembrance of the defenders of Ukraine.

Starkey has led The Sun’s frontline coverage of the Ukraine war.

In an interview with Starkey published in The Sun today, Zelensky spoke of the many plots to kill him by Russia, how he is not yet ready to compromise on giving territory to Russia and how elections scheduled for next year will not happen.

Rupert Murdoch last week handed over the leadership of News Corp to his son Lachlan as he moved from the role of chairman to chairman emeritus.

Murdoch senior said: “Like my father, I believe that humanity has a ‘high destiny’, and Lachlan certainly shares that belief. That sense of destiny is not just a blessing but a responsibility.”

The post Fox News reporter Benjamin Hall wounded outside Kyiv honoured by Zelensky appeared first on Press Gazette.

The Ukraine war and Lucy Letby murder trial have dominated the UK news cycle this summer.

Press Gazette has analysed which topics were chosen to lead UK news websites using data from Azernis, a competitor monitoring platform for newsrooms.

We looked at the lead articles – those that appeared in the top position of the homepage – each day for seven leading UK news outlets between 1 May and 31 August.

The outlets included those for which Azernis had four months of data: Sky News, BBC News, the Daily Mail, the Independent, the Mirror, The Times and Sunday Times, and the Daily Telegraph.

The subject of each article was identified by Azernis using machine learning to extract the most important topics, resulting in 32 main subjects. Articles that could not be “clustered” under a theme because they, for example, addressed a topic that only appeared once, were excluded.

News stories of summer 2023: Climate crisis low in priority

Our analysis found that despite a summer of wildfires and soaring temperatures across Europe, the climate crisis was not seen as the most important story during these months.

Two climate-related topics appeared in the data – the Greek wildfires and the European heatwave – that together were the subject of 85 (3%) of the 2,675 lead articles that were able to be assigned a topic. Climate change as a standalone issue and overarching topic did not, however, appear in the data.

Among four long-running stories identified in the data that appeared across the four-month period – the case of the baby serial killer Lucy Letby, the Greek wildfires and the European heatwave, migrant crossings in the English Channel and the war in Ukraine – the war was most often the lead story (making up 15% of leading articles or 408 stories), while those on migrants Channel crossings were least often the top story (3% or 67 stories).

However, some short-term stories such as the BBC presenter scandal received a lot of coverage in a brief time frame. There were 88 homepage lead articles about Huw Edwards, but the bulk of these appeared in mid-July over a two-week period.

The Titanic submersible story was another such topic, having been placed at the top of the homepage 115 times over the course of a few days in June – prompting a debate about news values when contrasted with the lack of coverage of the migrant crisis.

BBC went biggest on Ukraine while Letby dominated at Mirror and Mail

There were also significant differences between news outlets.

For the BBC, more than 53% of lead articles from the 499 articles by the public broadcaster in our dataset were about the war in Ukraine, compared to 6% for the Mirror and 8% for Mail Online.

Aside from the BBC, the war in Ukraine was the most popular single topic of the articles at the top of the homepage of The Telegraph (in the top spot 33% of the time), The Independent (30%), Sky News (28%) and The Times and Sunday Times (26%) websites.

For the Mirror, stories about baby serial killer Lucy Letby were the most common topic at the top of the homepage, accounting for 29% of the Reach title's lead articles during the four months. Letby was also the number one topic of lead articles on the website Mail Online (23%).

Philip Schofield’s affair was also a bigger topic for the Mirror and Mail compared to the other titles, each with 21% of featured stories at the top of their homepages about the ITV presenter.

Royal coverage, especially around the coronation of King Charles, was a bigger topic for the Mail, with 17% of its lead articles during this period identified as related to the monarch, compared to 1% at the BBC.

Mail Online switches homepage top story most often

When it comes to how often news websites update their lead articles, Mail Online and the Mirror updated the top story the most, with the Mail changing its lead story on average more than seven times a day, and the Mirror seven times a day.

Both sites also published the most content on their homepage, with the Mail averaging 374 articles across the whole homepage each weekday and 263 during weekends, while the Mirror published 267 on weekdays and 191 on weekends.

In contrast, The Times and BBC News updated their top homepage story the least, each around three times a day. The Times updates its homepage once in the morning, afternoon and evening rather than publishing constantly rolling updates.

The post Charted: The biggest news topics of summer 2023 appeared first on Press Gazette.

The Russian government has added more than a dozen journalists and media executives to its list of individuals banned from entering the country.

All of the newly-added media names are associated with either the BBC, Guardian News and Media or the Daily Telegraph.

The Russian foreign ministry said it was responding to “the aggressive anti-Russia policy pursued by Ldaondon” and that “work on expanding Russia’s blacklist in response to Britain’s actions is ongoing”.

The 13 new additions join a group already including the likes of Guardian editor Kath Viner, Daily Mail editor Ted Verity, BBC director-general Tim Davie, and presenters Piers Morgan and Huw Edwards.

[From August last year: Russia declares war on UK journalists – 41 leading editors and reporters sanctioned]

The foreign ministry referred to the newly-banned group of journalists as “Russophobia-charged officials and correspondents” publishing “propaganda support for the Zelensky regime”.

They include BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness, analysis editor Ros Atkins, disinformation correspondent Marianna Spring and two journalists working in the corporation’s new “BBC Verify” effort.

In The Guardian group are the newsbrand’s world affairs editor Julian Borger, chief reporter Daniel Boffey, columnist Emily Bell and both GNM’s chairperson and its chief financial and operating officer.

The three Telegraph journalists added, Colin Freeman, Francis Dearnley and David Knowles, all work on the publisher’s “Ukraine: the latest” podcast.

Dearnley, The Telegraph’s assistant comment editor, said on Twitter he was “proud” to have been sanctioned.

Also appearing on Friday’s list was Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, who the Russian government said “actively lobbies to bar Russian athletes from international sports”.

The Russian government said the journalists added were “implicated in fabricating fraudulent anti-Russia stories to be promoted in the media and in spreading false information about our country as they are trying to prevent and cut short attempts at impartial coverage of the developments in Ukraine and to exclude signs of dissent by using methods described by George Orwell in his novels 1984 and Animal Farm”.

Asked by Semafor editor Ben Smith about his reaction to finding out he’d been banned, The Guardian’s Borger said: “I felt a surge of pride at first, imagining my writing had unsettled the Kremlin, but when I saw the full list of names it looked more like they had been chosen almost at random, either by an algorithm or an intern in a hurry.”

Indeed, one name on the list is The Telegraph’s chief people officer Mark Musgrave. The list also includes a “Keith Freeman” – apparently a misspelling of Colin Freeman’s name. The only article on telegraph.co.uk under the Keith Freeman byline is headlined “‘The UK’s patient zero was one of my hotel guests'” and was written by the chief operating officer of a network of short-stay apartments.

Full list of journalists and media executives newly banned from Russia:

• BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness
• BBC News disinformation correspondent Marianna Spring
• BBC analysis editor Ros Atkins
• BBC Verify data and investigative journalist Daniele Palumbo
• BBC Verify journalist Jake Horton
• Guardian News and Media chair Charles Gurassa
• Guardian chief financial and operating officer Keith Underwood
• Guardian columnist and Tow Center professor Emily Bell
• Guardian world affairs editor Julian Borger
• Guardian chief reporter Daniel Boffey
• Telegraph head of audio development and Ukraine podcast presenter David Knowles
• Telegraph chief people officer Mark Musgrave
• Telegraph assistant comment editor Francis Dearnley
• Former Sunday Telegraph chief foreign correspondent Colin Freeman

The previous list as published on Press Gazette is as follows:

• Shaun Walker: Correspondent, The Guardian
• Con Coughlin: Columnist for the Daily Telegraph
• Stuart Ramsay: Chief correspondent, Sky News
• James Rothwell: Journalist for the Daily Telegraph
• John Witherow: Editor-in-chief, The Times
• Chris Evans: Editor-in-chief of the Daily Telegraph
• Richard Sharp: Chairman of the Board of Governors, BBC
• Tim Davie: Director general and editor in chief, BBC
• Kath Viner: Editor-in-chief, The Guardian
• Clive Myrie: Presenter and foreign correspondent, BBC
• Orla Guerin: Foreign correspondent, BBC
• Nick Robinson: Today presenter, BBC
• Paul Adams: Diplomatic correspondent, BBC
• Nick Beake: Europe correspondent, BBC
• Alex Thomson: Chief correspondent, Channel 4 News
• Dan Rivers: Correspondent, ITV News
• Peter Beaumont: Reporter, The Guardian
• Emma Graham-Harrison: Reporter, The Guardian
• Sophy Ridge: Journalist and host, Sky News
• Cathy Newman: Journalist and host, Channel 4 News
• Ted Verity: Editor-in-chief, Daily Mail
• Christian Broughton: MD, The Independent
• Larisa Brown: Defence editor, The Times
• Mark Galeotti: Political scientist and freelance journalist
• Joe Barnes: Brussels correspondent, Daily Telegraph
• Gideon Rachman: Columnist for the Financial Times
• Luke Harding: Foreign correspondent, The Guardian
• Dominic Lawson: Columnist for The Sunday Times and Daily Mail
• Lawrence Freedman: Columnist for The Sunday Times
• David Aaronovitch: columnist for The Times
• Dan Sabbagh: Defence and security editor for The Guardian
• James Crisp: Europe editor for The Daily Telegraph
• David G Rose: Freelance
• Caroline Wheeler: Political editor for The Sunday Times
• John Ryley: Head of Sky News
• Jonathon Munro: Head of BBC News
• Edward Carr: Deputy editor of The Economist
• Jerome Starkey: Defence and Ukraine correspondent for The Sun
• Robert Peston: Political editor for ITV News
• Piers Morgan: Presenter at TalkTV
• Huw Edwards: Presenter for BBC News at Ten.

The post Russia adds BBC, Guardian and Telegraph staff to journalist blacklist appeared first on Press Gazette.

Almost 20 years after becoming a foreign correspondent, Alex Crawford‘s willingness to report from some of the world’s most dangerous places is unchanged.

“Has my appetite diminished? Unfortunately for my family, I don’t think it has,” the Sky News special correspondent says.

“I don’t see it as an appetite for danger. I see it as an appetite for good journalism and some of it has danger.”

She does recognise that the level of danger she will accept is “probably a little bit higher than most other people just because of their reaction to what I’m doing”.

“But it doesn’t feel unwieldy or overwhelming, and if it does reach that point then I usually stop.” Having a team, and strict Sky News safety and security policies, helps too, she adds.

Crawford has worked for the broadcaster since its launch in 1989 and first became a foreign correspondent in 2005, with postings in the likes of India, the UAE and South Africa.

The journalist, who is now based in Istanbul, met up with Press Gazette during a break in the UK in July – shortly after the release of her new documentary film, Women at War: Mexico.

She takes the opportunity to speak passionately about the value of journalism – and the fact the industry is “floundering” and being devalued.

“It’s the most important thing, probably because it should be deciphering truth from lies. It should be investigating injustice and telling people about things that are going right. How do we value it so little?”

Crawford says she is “not just blowing smoke up our arses” when she asserts that journalism is “fundamental to almost everything”.

“It’s more important than any government or any prime minister or any president because we’re meant to be independent and thoughtful and the moral conscience.

“And that sounds grand because it is fucking grand. That’s what we should be aspiring to be. We may not always be doing it right but that’s what we should be and that’s why it’s so important.

“And foreign journalism is important because you bring back and tell truths and say what’s going on on the ground with a bit of knowledge to people who might not have any of that knowledge.”

“Probably foreign journalism and any journalism is going to have an inherent risk with it, and you have to, in a way, be prepared for those risks because getting to the truth of things is going to be uncomfortable for lots of people, newsrooms, editors and governments,” Crawford adds.

“The whole Partygate thing – okay, Pippa Crerar and Paul Brand probably aren’t in a country where they’re going to be put in jail, but it must have been pretty uncomfortable for a bit for them because there’s reputational damage if you get it wrong, and even reputational damage if you get it right, with people just calling you this, that and the other, or tearing you down on social media.

“In foreign parts, when you’re reporting on anarchy or hostility, the risks are different and maybe higher, but they’ve got to be worth taking.”

‘We’ve got to value our own industry better’

However, those risks should be shouldered by trained journalists, Crawford believes. She is uncomfortable about the increase in people – including high-profile figures, like politicians or sportspeople – “masquerading” as journalists of all types.

She says it “shouldn’t be possible for someone to just decide one day” they are a journalist. “We’ve got to value our own industry a little bit better, otherwise there is no value in it.”

That distinction also counts for people who are eyewitnesses to an event or have an opinion on something that has happened.

“I don’t think as a matter of principle you should be taking whole stories and whole anything from people who aren’t journalists. Of course, maybe take it – having checked out what they’re saying is true – credit saying, ‘so-and-so who was close by and claims she saw this’, but… what is the point of all the rest of us doing hostile environment courses, journalist courses, anything of that ilk and you’re happy to take pictures from a war zone with no HR? You haven’t checked whether they’re safe. You haven’t checked whether they’ve got a flak jacket. You haven’t even checked their facts.”

The reason all this is increasingly important? Crawford says: “Unfortunately, we’re in an era where all the guys who don’t like journalists are winning the battle of convincing the general public that all journalists are one up from snakes – or actually the snakes – instead of the defenders of truth, and it really doesn’t help when you have people masquerading as journalists.”

She continues: “It’s been going that way for a while, and that’s on top of the sort of Trump, Boris Johnson era of downgrading journalists when it suits them and taking columns when it suits them. It’s downgraded the whole industry.

“And now we’re all fighting to prove that we’re honest, that we’re genuine, that we have no agenda. It’s just made it a lot harder for us, for everyone, I think.”

Crawford is a patron of the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) and believes editors should remember why accredited training courses are so important.

“Otherwise, the industry will die, and it’s floundering right now, it’s really floundering.

“When I first started out, you couldn’t get a job as a journalist without an NCTJ certificate,” she adds. “And now I don’t know how much it’s worth, but it feels to me like it’s not worth very much if someone can just pick up a camera, take themselves off to Libya or Ukraine, send a few sexy pictures back and suddenly they’re a journalist.”

Alex Crawford says there is ‘appetite for good journalism’

Crawford is one of many of the world’s leading journalists who have been to Ukraine repeatedly since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

She has seen the landscape for journalists change from a “haphazard” and “anarchic” approach to one that is “very controlled” by press officers in the country – often former journalists themselves.

Ukraine is now doing “very well” at controlling both the message and journalists’ access. This is “extremely frustrating as a journalist because it just means you’re not quite sure – unless you can get to an area, you’re not quite sure what’s going on and what’s true and what’s not true,” Crawford says.

This has demonstrated how important it is to have accredited journalists with boots on the ground “investigating and checking things out and going to places and seeing it for yourselves and feeling it for yourselves and breathing it and talking to people – because otherwise, you’re going to get it wrong,” she adds.

Crawford admits she is “astonished” by the continuing level of interest in news and information from the war, which means the time and effort of rotating teams in and out of Ukraine is worth it.

“There’s an enormous hunger for what’s going on there. I think, judging by what does well and what doesn’t do well, they don’t just want bang, bang and people jumping in and out of armed vehicles, although there’s still an appetite for that.”

People are also interested, she explains, in reports like her investigation into what happened in the northern Ukrainian village of Yahidne, where almost the entire population was held captive in a school basement for 28 days near the start of Russia’s invasion.

According to Crawford, the high audience interest comes from all around the world, not just Europe. Her Women at War: Mexico film, which is currently available to watch on Sky On Demand, has also done “very well” online, she adds.

“I think there’s an appetite for good journalism generally. There’s obviously an appetite for gossip but that’s different to an appetite for really good journalism done well.

“There’s plenty of good journalists around, and because Ukraine has taken the focus of a lot of the world’s best journalists it does seem to follow that it gets the views.”

There is a “battle of the propagandas” in Ukraine, she says, between Russia and the West making independent journalism even more important.

“Somehow, in the middle of it, the journalists have to walk this narrow, dangerous path and try not to be brainwashed yourself. So, for instance, the idea of America sending cluster bombs should be appalling to absolutely everyone, including the journalists who are going to be on the side where they’re firing them and have been, like me, probably doing stories about how Russia has been using cluster bombs.”

Meeting inspirational people ‘keeps you going’

Crawford’s Women at War series of documentaries includes the recent Mexico film and a report last year on the plight of women in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s 2021 takeover. A third film will focus on Yazidi women in Syria and Iraq.

Crawford says she is “naturally drawn to stories about” women, often finding herself in conflict zones thinking: “How the hell are they coping? How the hell are they managing? How can they keep getting food in for their kids when there’s nothing around and shells landing all the time or why are they still here?” For example, she says, while in Ukraine, in her experience it was almost always women who organised the underground shelters.

She did wonder if focusing on women may “scare off” some of the potential audience – but says this has not turned out to be the case.

“I personally think they’re interesting and I think that’s the fundamentals of the story, isn’t it? You have to be interested and if you’re interested, you’ll probably make it interesting.”

Speaking about filming in Mexico, Crawford says she was particularly inspired by the first female mayor of Tijuana, the deadliest city in the country. They visited one of the city’s most dangerous areas together, with the Sky News team watched over by the National Guard – yet, Crawford says: “It felt like I was going on a tea outing with a mate.”

Crawford describes how she frequently meets inspirational people in her job: “That’s what keeps you going, I think, because you go into these absolutely dire situations and there are really horrible people but there’s also always people who are standout amazing, and who you cannot understand how they’re still so gentle and still so kind and considerate – and worried about you.”

Diversity in journalism still ‘superficial’

In 2021, Crawford was given the Woman of the Year prize from Women in Journalism at Press Gazette’s British Journalism Awards. But she says that although it is always nice to be recognised: “I and along with some really stunningly good female journalists don’t need a special award. We’re fucking better than them anyway.”

She believes men think the pursuit for equality has succeeded – but she disagrees. “I think it’s still quite superficial. It’s not the same just having equal number of women and equal number of men. It’s equal number of opportunities.”

Crawford continues: “You’ve got to stop looking at people as men and women, for a start. You’ve just got to look at their work. And you’ve got to stop making judgments about the way people look, or what age they are, or whether they’ve got a penis or not. It really doesn’t matter as far as journalism is concerned. It’s just whether you can do the job.”

She also objects to the London bubble of journalism that disproportionately hires Oxford and Cambridge graduates. But, she says, people from different backgrounds should not be hired and then profiled once inside into only reporting on a certain subject.

“Don’t take on a black kid from northern England and then make them do gang stories all the time,” she says. “When I came back from maternity leave, my first 22 stories were all mother and baby stories. If I wasn’t a fucking expert then, I was an expert by the end of it. I can imagine how frustrated these guys are.”

“We need lots more diversity,” Crawford adds. “But diversity is much more than just statistics. And like I said about women, it’s about everything. It’s about opportunities. It’s about doing things that are a little bit outside the lines.”

The post Sky’s Alex Crawford: ‘Journalism is the most important thing… How do we value it so little?’ appeared first on Press Gazette.

More than six billion people – 80% of the global population – have less freedom of expression than they had in the year 2000, according to a new report.

The Global Expression Report from UK-based free speech NGO Article 19 found that just 13% of the world’s population lived in countries classified as “open” in 2022, down from 22% at the turn of the 21st century.

Instead the largest share of the global population (34% or 2.7 billion people) lived in countries where the right to express opinions and beliefs and freely access information was in crisis.

The report found that 78% of global population – more than six billion people – lived in places where freedom of expression was considered to be “in crisis”, “severely restricted” or “restricted”, the worst three among the five possible categories.

While the report looked at the freedom of expression of everyone, not just journalists, Article 19's executive director Quinn McKew told Press Gazette it "has never been harder to be a journalist almost anywhere in the world in the past 30 years than it is right now".

She added: "We've seen declines across the board. Even in friendly countries, it is becoming much more challenging. You have cases of lawsuits being filed against journalists. In difficult countries in Europe and in other places, you have increasing physical threats against them as well."

Among the countries singled out by the report was Russia, which saw its score fall from 15 to seven in 2022. Press freedom in the country has worsened in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine as the country’s leadership used the conflict as a pretext to step up persecution of journalists, protesters and dissenters. More than 250 media outlets including the BBC, Voice of America and Novaya Gazeta have since been blocked in Russia.

McKew said: "This year’s Global Expression Report shows very clearly: freedom of expression is in decline and under threat around the world. With 80% of us now living with less freedom of expression than at the start of the century, we need to ask ourselves the question: what can be done to reverse this trend?"

She added: "While conflicts and power grabs prominently erode democracy and human rights, much of the decline comes from consistent, incremental erosion: changes in policy in the name of misguided understandings of 'public safety' or 'economic efficiency', or gradual shifts in attitudes of those in power – in autocracies and democracies alike.

"As the crackdown on free expression intensifies, so must our efforts to call out abuses of those in power – the big and the small – and advocate for solutions that put human rights at their heart. The global problems facing our societies can only be solved with more people being able to express themselves and have greater access to information, to hold power to account."

UK freedom of expression: Press freedom high but 'war on woke' has impact

Although the top ten countries for freedom of expression were all in Europe, the region has become increasingly polarised. Two decades ago most countries in Europe were rated as "open" by Article 19. Now, 82% of people in Europe live in countries classified as falling into one of the two extremes - either "open" or "in crisis".

While the UK is classified as "open", at rank 34 it places lower than comparable European nations such as Ireland (8), Germany (9) and France (23). Denmark and Sweden came out on top as the two most open countries in both the region and globally.

Of the UK, McKew said: "We continue to see a government that is incredibly hostile to the exercise of individuals right to dissent that is exacerbated by all the anti-protest laws. All of these are being housed under this kind of 'war on woke'. But it's not a 'war on woke', it's a war on people's ability to speak and to say things that are unpopular and that's the fundamental reason why freedom of expression is considered a protected right, because it's saying things that are unpopular leads to change, leads to calling out of corruption and leads to calling out of discrimination.

"Unfortunately, with things like the continued curbs on the rights to protest, the Online Safety Bill which puts incredible amounts of surveillance on individuals, and the continued push to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, the entire environment in the UK for full protection of human rights and civil rights in particular is increasingly hostile and becomes more worrying."

Press freedom in the UK is, however, a bright spot, with McKew saying the UK is continuing to make "good progress" on legally combating SLAPPs (strategic lawsuits against public participation) - lawsuits aimed at silencing criticism.

"The fact that anti-SLAPP amendments have been added to the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency bill is great and a real step forward," she said

"This is happening at the time that we're seeing the anti-SLAPP directive work in the EU pulling back from making really positive strides. So the UK is continuing to push all of this which is great to see. We'd like to see it, of course, expand beyond thinking that anti-SLAPP regulation and laws should be put in place just for economic crimes, but should be more broadly applied so that journalistic freedom is not impinged in this way."

She added: "The UK press is still very robust and very diverse. I think sometimes the robustness and diversity of the press can mask some of the other underlying problems when it comes to freedom of expression in the country."

Decade-long decline in global freedom of expression

Globally, freedom of expression has been in decline for over a decade. Between 2012 and 2022, 6.3 billion people living in 81 countries saw their freedom of expression worsen, while just 452 million people in 21 countries saw it improve. Much of this decline, however, was gradual, with no new countries entering the "open" or "crisis" categories in 2022.

In contrast to the stark falls of Afghanistan and Myanmar in 2021, there were no big one-year declines in 2022. The report noted that 2022 was a year of "consolidating autocracies, entrenching repression, and ongoing silence". Autocratic regimes in Hong Kong (score 14), Nicaragua (score 2), Turkey (score 7) and Belarus (score 2) entrenched power and cracked down on dissent and protest, said the report.

The report also found that restrictive countries increasingly have more economic clout. In 2000, open countries accounted for 63% of global income, compared to 39% today.

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Telegraph Media Group chief executive Nick Hugh has told staff the sale process for the newspaper has not yet begun.

Hugh also revealed in his all-staff email that The Telegraph’s reporting on the abortive Wagner rebellion in Russia on Saturday drove a marked spike in traffic and subscriptions.

The Telegraph and Spectator are due to go up for sale after Lloyds Banking Group effectively repossessed the titles’ Bermuda-based parent company from the Barclay family.

[Read more: Period media property for sale, extensively modernised – everything you need to know about The Telegraph sale]

In a message seen by Press Gazette, Hugh told staff: “In my last email, I said I would update you if there were any developments regarding a potential sale of TMG.

“The new directors of TMG’s parent company are currently exploring the possibility of appointing an investment bank. No sale process has begun yet.”

Investment banks are sometimes appointed to facilitate the sale of a company for a fee.

The Barclays are reported to owe Lloyds somewhere in the region of £1bn, which the bank hopes to partially recoup through a sale. Speculative estimates for the value of The Telegraph have generally varied between £400m and £600m.

Russia reporting drives record traffic at Telegraph

Most of Hugh’s note was taken up, however, with describing an “exceptional set of numbers across almost every metric we measure” on The Telegraph’s coverage of events in Russia.

Hugh said the paper’s liveblog of the Wagner mercenary rebellion against the Moscow government on Saturday “generated more app subscriptions than any article before” as well as more Stars – The Telegraph’s unique newsroom metrics system which combines measurements including subscriber conversion and retention and the attraction of new readers.

The day of the rebellion the Telegraph notched a record 10.8 million subscriber page views, beating the previous high of 10.76 million, and a record 1.08 million subscriber visits to the app, Hugh said.

Over the week The Telegraph app had its best-ever seven day performance, drawing 23.86 million app page views – a figure Hugh said was up 10% on both the two weeks preceding.

It was also a boom period for The Telegraph’s US metrics. There were 950,000 US page views on the day of the Wagner rebellion, “around double the usual number of views and the highest in the last two years”. Its Daily Digest email to US readers also “delivered double the usual number of subscriptions” while the app saw 644,000 page views from the US across the whole week, another record.

In common with other UK news brands The Telegraph is currently on a drive to expand its prominence – and revenue – in the US.

Hugh concluded: “We remain in a very strong position and can be increasingly confident of reaching our goal of one million subscriptions in 2023.”

Hugh revealed that goal last month at the Deloitte and Enders Media and Telecoms Conference, saying: “Four or five years ago that was less than 300,000, so that’s a great number for us.”

[From the Deloitte and Enders conference: News execs fear ‘end of our business model’ from AI unless publishers ‘get control’ of their IP]

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