There are no official statements or publications on the Reporters Without Borders website or its regional offices confirming that European journalists are forced to provide false information about the situation in Pokrovsk.
Users on social networks are sharing a video with the logo of the international organization Reporters Without Borders (French: Reporters sans frontières, RSF), which states that European journalists are allegedly «being forced to lie about the situation in Pokrovsk».
There are no official statements or publications on the Reporters Without Borders website or its regional offices confirming that European journalists are forced to provide false information about the situation in Pokrovsk. Using the name of a well-known human rights organization without citing official sources is a classic disinformation tactic designed to increase credibility of a false message. The organization has not published any videos with such statements.
International journalists enjoy a high level of protection. Thus, cases of coercion by the host country would be the subject of immediate and widespread outrage in the global media and human rights circles. Yet the messages are shared only in pro-Russian channels.
It is worth noting that international organizations, including RSF, do indeed record threats to press freedom during wartime, but do not accuse Western or Ukrainian authorities of coercion to spread disinformation.
RSF notes that Ukrainian journalists work in extremely adverse conditions due to the Russian invasion, the death and injury of colleagues, and wartime pressure and restrictions. Still, they conclude that overall the Ukrainian media demonstrate considerable resilience.
Human rights activists emphasize that in the Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine media outlets are being destroyed and replaced with Kremlin propaganda. At the same time Ukraine is reforming media legislation and facing difficulties due to martial law, which sometimes leads to restrictions on information access from journalists.
Earlier, StopFake refuted a similar claim. Using the logo of Reporters Without Borders, propagandists stated that the ‘Zelenskyy regime’ is responsible for murders and disappearances of journalists in Ukraine.
