Global Investigative Journalism Network (https://archive.gijn.org/tag/russia/page/11/)
Within the borders of China and Russia, the use of invasive information controls and techniques is well-known and widespread. But the use of these technology systems to suppress citizens’ fundamental human rights goes beyond what is happening inside any one country’s borders. Increasingly, authoritarian actors are exporting these tools and know-how to other countries, a new report finds.
Hundreds of what appear to be Twitter bots are artificially inflating the retweet and favorite counts of tweets with links to articles from some of Russia’s top news agencies. Lawrence Alexander discovered that these same fake accounts have previously mass-posted links to scores of pro-Kremlin LiveJournal blogs—themselves part of a network of thousands. In this piece, which originally appeared on Global Voices, Alexander walks us through his research process.
Often referred to as the only independent radio station in Russia, Echo Moskvy has been subjected to state pressure for some time, but 2017 was particularly bad. One radio host was almost killed, two journalists went into in exile and several more were detained in the course of their work.
The Bell illustrates a growing trend in which Russian journalists and media managers are finding ways of building news organizations that are not financially dependent on rich businessmen vulnerable to Kremlin pressure.
Getting hassled by authorities is nothing new for investigative journalists. But two recent incidents serve notice that some countries are cracking down with a tried-and-true technique to stop pesky foreign reporters: prosecuting them for visa technicalities. In Indonesia and Russia this week, authorities are trying to stop coverage and even training by investigative journalists.
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from August 12 to 18 finds information designer Giorgia Lupi discussing how to embrace data complexity, The New York Times Opinion building a forking path visualization to predict an individual’s political leanings, the Guardian visualizing Brexit’s potential impact on the UK’s food imports, and El Universal Mexico looking at the incidences of crime claiming young victims.
As a rule, media development grants are not news. But a number of Russia’s leading newspapers, including Izvestia and Moscow Times, reported last week that the U.S. Embassy in Lithuania (@USEmbVilnius) has announced that $500,000 is being made available to regional media organizations to combat Russian propaganda.
In Russia, veteran human rights activist Leonid Agafonov and journalist Natalia Donskova have teamed up to create a series of investigative reports on life for women behind bars. The project covers taboo topics, spanning health issues like the treatment of cancer patients and childbirth in prison to sexual abuse and LGBT relationships.
An internal report of Danske Bank, the largest financial institution in Denmark, found a series of “major deficiencies in controls and governance” that allowed $235 billion in questionable transactions to be made in its branch in Estonia.
The US Treasury Department hit Russian oligarchs and their companies with a host of new sanctions today, zeroing in on the country’s energy sector and cronies of President Vladimir Putin. Among those blacklisted: seven oligarchs, 12 companies and 17 senior government officials, including metals magnate Oleg Deripaska, who is tied in media reports to Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort. Here’s a look at the actual documents.