{"id":47721,"date":"2022-03-05T07:39:38","date_gmt":"2022-03-05T07:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=47721"},"modified":"2022-03-05T07:39:38","modified_gmt":"2022-03-05T07:39:38","slug":"russia-ukraine-war-cnn-bloomberg-suspend-work-in-moscow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=47721","title":{"rendered":"Russia-Ukraine war: CNN, Bloomberg suspend work in Moscow"},"content":{"rendered":"<div readability=\"144.4792113159\">\n<p>CNN and Bloomberg News have become the latest global media outlets to suspend their operations in Russia after President Vladimir Putin signed into law a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/3\/4\/russia-prison-media-law-fake-reports-ukraine-war\">new bill<\/a> that punishes the spreading of \u201cfake news\u201d with jail terms of up to 15 years.<\/p>\n<p>CNN said on Friday that it was halting broadcasting in Russia as it continues \u201cto evaluate the situation and our next steps forward\u201d, while Bloomberg said it was temporarily suspending news gathering in the country.<\/p>\n<p>The decisions follow similar moves earlier by BBC, ABC, CBS News and Canada\u2019s CBC\/Radio-Canada.<\/p>\n<p>Bloomberg\u2019s Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait said he greatly regretted the suspension.<\/p>\n<p>But \u201cthe 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will not do that to our reporters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The legal changes came after Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine drew near-universal condemnation, as well as global sanctions, including a ban on Russian news network RT in many Western nations for what the European Union called systematic disinformation about the conflict.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"770\" height=\"434\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/R3HsmcAvLuw?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Moscow has sought to hit back in the information war, with officials saying its enemies \u2013 such as the United States and the EU \u2013 are spreading false information in an attempt to sow discord among the Russian people.<\/p>\n<p>It earlier <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/3\/4\/russia-restricts-access-to-several-western-media-websites\">cut access<\/a> to several foreign news organisations\u2019 websites, including the BBC, Voice of America and Deutsche Welle, while communications regulator Roskomnadzor also moved to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/3\/4\/russia-blocks-facebook-ukraine-war\">block Meta Platform Inc\u2019s Facebook<\/a>. The agency cited 26 cases of discrimination against Russian media.<\/p>\n<p>The Russian state-owned TASS news agency meanwhile reported that Russia also restricted access to Twitter.<\/p>\n<p>Amid the intensifying crackdown, news executives said they were worried the new law could imperil their journalists, stressing that organizations must balance the obligation to audiences to report the news with protecting journalists against retaliation.<\/p>\n<p>BBC Director General Tim Davie said the new legislation appeared to criminalise the process of independent journalism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt leaves us no other option than to temporarily suspend the work of all BBC News journalists and their support staff within the Russian Federation while we assess the full implications of this unwelcome development,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>He added that the BBC News Service in Russian would continue to operate from outside Russia. Jonathan Munro, an interim director of BBC News, said the corporation was not \u201cpulling out\u201d journalists from Moscow but assessing the new law\u2019s effect.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"770\" height=\"434\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/a2FwhrAHdN4?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Washington Post, Dow Jones and the Reuters news agency said they were evaluating the new media law and the situation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur top priorities are the safety of our employees and covering this important story fairly and fully,\u201d said Dow Jones Spokesperson Steve Severinghaus. \u201cBeing in Moscow, freely able to talk to officials and capture the mood, is key to that mission.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some well-known media outlets within Russia have chosen to close rather than face heavy restrictions on what they can report. News website Znak said it was closing Friday morning, shortly after the parliament approved the draft bill.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, Russia\u2019s top independent radio station <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/3\/2\/amid-war-an-independent-russian-radio-station-goes-silent\">Ekho Moskvy was closed<\/a>, and independent TV station Dozdh <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/3\/3\/liberal-russia-tv-radio-channels-suspend-operations-over-ukraine\">suspended operations<\/a> after receiving a threat of closure from the authorities.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Russia\u2019s Novaya Gazeta newspaper, whose editor Dmitry Muratov was a co-winner of last year\u2019s Nobel Peace Prize, said it would <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/3\/4\/russia-prison-media-law-fake-reports-ukraine-war\">remove material<\/a> on Russia\u2019s military actions in Ukraine from its website because of censorship.<\/p>\n<p>The newspaper said it would continue to report on the consequences that Russia is facing, including a deepening economic crisis and the persecution of dissidents.<\/p>\n<p>Officials also pressed ahead with a sweeping effort to target human rights organizations.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities raided the offices of Memorial, one of Russia\u2019s oldest and most prominent human rights organizations. According to its members, police didn\u2019t provide any explanation, and there were no warnings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe police refused to let me and the lawyer in without explanation, and when I tried not to let in the reinforcement officers who arrived in bulletproof vests and masks, they threatened to use force if I did not let them in,\u201d the chairman of International Memorial Yan Rachinsky said. \u201cThis is the level of justice today in the capital of Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another leading human rights group, the Civic Assistance, also saw its Moscow office raided.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CNN and Bloomberg News have become the latest global media outlets to suspend their operations in Russia after President Vladimir Putin signed into law a new bill that punishes the spreading of \u201cfake news\u201d with jail terms of up to 15 years. CNN said on Friday that it was halting broadcasting in Russia as it&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47721\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}