‘Information Dark Age’

“President Vladimir Putin has plunged Russia into an information dark age by criminalizing independent reporting of his war in Ukraine. Mention of the word ‘invasion’ in a report could now get a journalist sent to jail for years.

“Journalists everywhere must stand in solidarity with their Russian colleagues and foreign correspondents based in Russia in rejecting this barbarous censorship. For his last two decades in power Putin tolerated a handful of critical news outlets that provided a trickle of truth in a sea of state propaganda. But this legislation and website blocking have effectively dried up the free flow of information.” 

—Robert Mahoney, executive director, Committee to Protect Journalists, “CPJ: ‘Putin has plunged Russia into an information dark age,’” CPJ, March 7, 2022. Image:
Residents of Irpin, Ukraine, north of Kyiv, flee heavy fighting as Russian forces entered the city on Monday NPR. Chris McGrath.

• Editorial Comment: How about an airdrop of world newspapers over Moscow?

  

PeezPIX 

Ukraine woman tells Russian soldier: “Put sunflower seeds in your pockets so they grow on Ukraine soil when you die.”

 

 

 

 

 

Read all about it! The March issue of Senior News: Age & Ageism. Check it out!

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“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

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Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism