Mikael Storsjo provides web hosting in Finland for the Kavkaz Center, one of the most controversial Internet news agencies covering the Caucasus; it has been branded a terrorist propaganda organization by Russia.
Journalism and Censorship in the Caucasus: Revisiting Stories Never Told
Since the election of President Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine has suffered an erosion of press freedom. As incidents of government intimidation rise, media watchdogs fear a return to the dark ages for the country's independent media.
Pulitzer Center and Internews honor Persephone Miel and announce the launch of the Persephone Miel Fellowship to help journalists outside the United States report on their home countries.
As a journalist in the North Caucasus refusing censorship, Yuri Bagrov was “treated like an enemy” and made an illegal immigrant in his homeland. Now, he is trying to survive as a refugee in the U.S.
Despite all of the dangers, Magomed Evloyev refused to shut down his website on the grounds that it was the only uncensored source of public information in his homeland, Ingushetia.
Zurab Markhiev believes that in the Caucasus a journalist must also be a human rights defender since censorship makes crime easy. This belief exiled him to Europe, where he is forced to hide.
Independent journalists in the North Caucasus often find that reporting is a life-threatening pursuit. Many have been forced to flee Russia and seek asylum elsewhere, while others have been murdered for their work.
Censorship and criminalization in the North Caucasus forced Valery Dzutsev, a former coordinator for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) to either “quit journalism or never return home.” He chose political asylum in the U.S. and cut ties with Russia.
A one-way ticket from Russia to Georgia bought Oleg Panfilov journalistic freedom. After the success he has now gained in Georgia, he reflects upon the hopelessness of journalism in Russia.
Journalist Elena Maglevannaya dared to expose the torture of Chechen detainees in Russian prisons. As a result, she was sued for libel, attacked by neo-Nazis and threatened with institutionalization.
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Grantee
Fatima Tlisova is an investigative journalist, researcher and expert on the North Caucasus region of Russia. She has written extensively on Circassian nationalism, the role of Islam in regional...