War Reporters Go To The Scene, The Rest Argue About Place Settings

Michael Hedges April 5, 2022 - Follow on Twitter

Experienced reporters study their subjects well. Readers, listeners and viewers expect this and won’t tolerate anything less. Sports reporters, for example, know the players, teams, coaches, arenas and rules as well as their own gear and schedules. Neither fans nor players give the ignorant a second chance. War reporting is not sport.

Witness is the underlying basis of all reporting. Journalists and investigative reporters expect to be on the scene. “Being in the neighborhood” does not suffice, even in war. Those who find this difficult should find a different calling.

Dutch writer and journalist Robert Dulmers was expelled from Ukraine this past weekend (April 3). On assignment for daily newspaper Nederlands Dagblad he posted to social media photos and videos of rocket impacts on Odessa. He was visited by authorities later that day, taken to a police station, told his military accreditation had been revoked, driven to Moldova and told not to come back for ten years.

Mr. Dulmers had arrived in Ukraine, duly authorized, about a month earlier. Several hundred reporters and news crews are likewise in the country to witness the Russian invasion and its effects. Defense forces, with bigger issues on their minds, can lose patience with civilians with video cameras wondering around battle fields. Publicly posted photos can provide invaluable information to aggressors, from target pin-pointing to casualties. On entry, Mr. Dulmers was informed by the Ukrainian military of specific limitations, to which he agreed. The video he posted showed Russian missiles striking an oil refinery and fuel storage depot, easily considered critical infrastructure.

"There is no evidence that Dulmers violated instructions or restrictions imposed by the army,” said Nederlands Dagblad managing editor Sjirk Kuijper, somehow misunderstanding the purpose of those limitations, perhaps not aware. With experience reporting from former-Yugoslavia three decades ago, Mr. Dulmers, oft described as “eccentric,” would have likely been aware of military prerogative in war zones. “It is very worrying that Robert has been chased out of the country under threat of a loaded gun," said Dutch Journalists’ Association (NVJ) Thomas Bruning. "Ukraine wants to be like Western countries but shows its bad side.”

In another example of journalistic privilege, German public broadcaster ARD news anchor Georg Restle delved into alternative realities live on the air (April 3). "It was not possible for journalists today to get their own picture of the situation in Bucha,” he said, quoted by media news portal Meedia (April 4). As those paying attention are aware, Bucha, Ukraine is the scene of monstrous war crimes by Russian forces against Ukrainian civilians, as dozens of reporters publicly attested.

Still, he proceeded, doubled-down as we say. “Until last night, I did not know which journalists (had been allowed) or why an exception was apparently made yesterday,” he replied on social media. “However, the statements yesterday and today that journalists were basically not allowed to go to Bucha and other places due to the restricted zone regulation were correct.”

German colleagues took turns pulling Herr Restle apart, line by line. Bild had four reporters in Bucha during the time frame in question, the tabloid gleefully noted (April 5). Correspondent Paul Ronzheimer, on site in Bucha, added that Herr Restle “helped Russian propaganda.” Tabloid Bild, published by Axel Springer, never has a kind word for German public broadcasting.

On several German TV news shows, the conversation among reporters and hosts devolved into cat fights, insults flying. Several commentators made specific note that ARD and regional public broadcasters “had almost no correspondents in Ukraine at the beginning of the war and even now very few are there.” Scoring points - “toxic masculinity,” said one participant - was the order of the day.

Back in Ukraine, reporters have been under fire. A CNN crew, literally, came face to face with Russian artillery when embedded with Ukrainian forces near Mykolaiv (April 4). "We fell to the ground and then ran to the cars,” said CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman. “We jumped into our Mitsubishi Pajero, but it was damaged and didn't start. At least two tires were punctured. All windows are broken. The tank was punctured, fuel was leaking.” Mr. Wedeman knows war reporting: Lebanon, Syria, the Balkans, Afghanistan and now Ukraine.

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• Hot Topics - Media in Ukraine

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