This is not the first time and certainly not the last time that we will raise this issue of the editorial treatment of the war in Ukraine on franceinfo, by our reporters, in the field in particular. Since the start of the war in Ukraine on February 24, listeners and Internet users have written a lot to the mediator of the Radio France antennas, Emmanuelle Daviet.
This week, this news has indeed taken on a new dimension with, last Wednesday, the address to the nation of Vladimir Putin, who said he was ready to use all means against the West, which he accuses of wanting destroy Russia: threat of recourse to nuclear weapons, mobilization of 300,000 reservists. And this announcement of the mobilization provoked demonstrations and then a lively debate in Russia.
Also held until Tuesday, September 27, referendums of annexation by Russia, which began yesterday in regions of Ukraine, wholly or partly controlled by Moscow. Particularly dense news and the listeners say they are indeed extremely attentive to the way in which this reality is documented, reported and treated editorially.
Emmanuelle Daviet: Franck Mathevon, you are director of international information. How is the editorial staff currently deployed in the field and working from Paris to cover these events?
Frank Mathevon: So what is certain is that the war in Ukraine is an absolute priority for the international editorial staff and for franceinfo. We have permanently had teams on the ground since the beginning of the conflict, international editorial teams, and the various Radio France editorial teams, we had up to 4 to 5 teams. Today, we have at least one or two. A freelance correspondent, Maurine Mercier, moved to kyiv in August for Swiss Radio and Television and for Radio France. And we are currently thinking very seriously about sending a resident reporter to kyiv, for a longer mission.
We also have at the international editorial office in Paris, a Ukrainian, Anna Ognyanyck, and a Russian journalist from the independent media Dozhd, Denis Kataev, to help us identify good information, to collect testimonies, to do translations, quite simply to flush out false information, fake news, and all our editorial staff are mobilized, all our specialists, our defense specialist, our diplomatic correspondent. We don’t want to miss anything about this conflict in Ukraine, especially when we are going through a turning point like the one that just happened this week with Putin’s speech.
The other question raised by listeners concerns the freedom of action of reporters in the field. Franck Mathevon, can Western journalists carry out interviews without being hindered by the Russian authorities? Do journalists have to ask for authorizations to do their job, ask listeners?
So yes, the question arises, especially on the Russian side, you need accreditation to work in Russia, which depends on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. An accreditation enjoyed by our correspondent in Moscow, Sylvain Tronchet. It is currently renewed every three months, whereas it was renewed every year before. But you know, there was a law at the beginning of the conflict which framed what could be said, on what is called “the special operation” in Ukraine, a law was passed in Russia. In practice, it would seem that the foreign media are not subject to it.
In any case, for them, speech is relatively free. We can broadcast – we did it on franceinfo in recent days – interviews with men who do not want to be engaged, despite the announcement of a partial mobilization by Vladimir Putin. We can broadcast interviews with people who are against the war. We document the fact that we recruit people who have no military experience, for example. But we also know that there are slightly more delicate subjects to deal with, for example the victims of the conflict, the return of soldiers. However, it is considered that at this stage the conditions are acceptable for working in Russia, even if there are some restrictions.
In your opinion, what is the major difficulty in covering these events?
I would say that the major difficulty is the impact of this war on all aspects of our international coverage. It is truly a conflict that has reshuffled the cards, which has changed diplomatic priorities, which has shaken up relations between countries. So, of course, you have to cover the war. It is complicated. We know that the truth has difficulty in imposing itself in times of conflict, we must be careful. You need a specific device. We talked about it, but basically, we have experience in this area.
But we must also cover all the consequences of this war, they are immense, economic, diplomatic, the future of the EU, the role of China, that of Turkey, the influence of the United States. So we really had to redeploy, remobilize to cover all aspects of this war in Ukraine, and not miss anything from this conflict.