Border Crisis Prompts Strong Response From Reporters

Michael Hedges November 17, 2021 - Follow on Twitter

The contentious Poland-Belarus border zone where several hundred migrants have been huddled remains restricted for reporters. An exclusion zone was established September 3rd, subsequently extended into December. Independent Polish news publishers and broadcasters have been clamoring for access to the area as questions about conditions mount. Reporters for international news outlets have rushed to the scene.

Three international agency photojournalists were reportedly “attacked” Tuesday (November 16) by “people in Polish Army uniforms” near the town of Michalow, outside the officially restricted zone, reported Polish media portal Wirtulnepolska (November 17). The three were forced to exit their vehicle and handcuffed until police arrived to conduct a search, which included examining camera memory cards. The police officers told the reporters their presence in the area could subject them to a criminal complaint. Tuesday night was “not a calm night,” said a National Defense Ministry spokesperson to the BBC (November 17).

With the passage of time - not to forget videos of rock throwing and water cannons - Polish news organizations have become increasingly annoyed with the exclusion zone and hostile policing. “It is a bizarre situation,” said Gazeta Wyborcza foreign affairs correspondent Maciej Czarnecki (November 15). “It is easier for CNN and BBC teams to broadcast from Belarus, an authoritarian country where independent journalists are subjected to repression, than from an EU and NATO member state that defends itself against hostile actions by Minsk.”

Independent journalist Eryk Mistewicz noted that international publishers have “signalled the lack of good-quality photos and video recordings from the Polish side. They use Russian and Belarusian photos and recordings of those with crying children, because there are no good-quality video and photo materials from Poles.”

Indeed, US news network CNN and UK public broadcaster BBC sent reporters Matthew Chance and Steve Rosenberg, respectively, to Belarus. Mr. Czarnecki was particularly critical of the CNN reporting focused on mothers with children. “Whose interest is it to emphasize that Poland does not want to let mothers with babies on its territory? The answer seems obvious. CNN and BBC broadcast from the Belarusian side. Yes. Poland shoots itself in the foot.” Reuters, the Guardian, the New York Times and others have recently reported from Belarus.

Sending news crews across the border into Belarus has been generally dismissed by Polish publishers. “There is no such possibility, because in order to go there, you would have to take advantage of the invitation of the regime of Alexander Lukashenko,” said Gazeta Wyborcza deputy chief editor Roman Imielski. “Previously, (free-lance reporters) operated behind the eastern border to report on what was happening, but after a dozen or so weeks independent journalists are in prison or have left the country.”

There was an indication last week that Polish authorities would begin allowing news access to the area. Prime Minister Mateusz Moraweicki referred (November 12) to “creating an appropriate place, a center very close to the border in which journalists would also have much faster access to information, to people who live in the border belt.” He also warned that reporters would be “susceptible to Belarusian and Russian fake news.” To wit: two RT France reporters, extension of the notorious Russian outlet, were arrested in Poland this week for working in the “emergency zone,” said Russian news agency TASS (November 16). They were ordered to pay a fine in lieu of jail time.

By the time darkness fell Wednesday evening (November 17) reports surfaced of a break in the crisis, at least some of it. Some refugees have been relocated from the border camps by bus to Minsk, reported AP (November 17). Other unverified reports claim Iraqi refugees will board aircraft flights from Minsk to Iraq tomorrow (November 18) and that outgoing German chancellor Angela Merkel communicated directly with Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. Polish sources estimate 2,000 refugees remain in the camp with the BBC reporting just 1,000 remaining.

See also...

• Hot Topics - Media in Poland