I brevet, som samtliga nordiska journalistförbund skrivit under, riktas skarp kritik mot Timur Shafir. Han är idag både generalsekreterare i det ryska journalistförbundet RUJ och vice ordförande i Internationella journalistfederationen, IFJ, där journalistförbunden i Norden är medlemmar.
Kritiken kommer efter att Timur Shafir i en intervju bland annat sagt att det är motiverat att tvinga ryska medier att enbart använda det ryska försvarsdepartementet som officiell källa. Även att det är okej att ryska medier tvingas avpublicera artiklar som avviker från Putinregimens beskrivningar.
Företrädarnara för de nordiska journalistförbunden skriver i sitt protestbrev:
"This statement is written in order to express our discontent and underline the fact that we cannot accept the membership of a person in the IFJ Executive Committee supporting state censorship."
Hela brevet finns att läsa nedan.
Dear IFJ Executive Committee,
The journalist unions of the Nordic countries, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark express serious concern about the recent statements of Mr. Timur Shafir, Vice-President of the IFJ and secretary of the Russian Union of Journalists in an abstract of an interview with well-known Russian journalist Vladimir Pozdner, published February 26th on the Telegram channel Radiotochka NSN.
In the interview, Shafir commented on the restrictions imposed by Roskomnadzor, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, on several media outlets. Roskomnadzor blamed media outlets for “publishing unreliable, socially significant, untrue information about the shelling of Ukrainian cities by the RF Armed Forces and the death of civilians in Ukraine as a result of the actions of the Russian Army.”
Journalist Pozdner found the demands by Roskomnadzor to remove information from already published stories a worrying tendency that would make it difficult for all journalists to work. Instead of condemning state censorship, however, Shaffir stated that due to the situation of war, Roskomadzor “has a reason to declare that the only source of reliable information is the Ministry of Defence,” thus accepting the de facto censorship.
Timur Shafir is the Vice President and member of the Executive Committee of IFJ.
By accepting state censorship and restrictions on the work of free media, Mr Shafir is in danger of discrediting the IFJ. One of the main tasks of the IFJ is to defend press freedom and access to information worldwide. The work of journalists is especially risky during wartime, and all IFJ members must be devoted to ensuring the safety and professional integrity of journalists covering wars and conflicts. The action of Mr Shafir in this interview is in gruesome contrast with these principles.
This statement is written in order to express our discontent and underline the fact that we cannot accept the membership of a person in the IFJ Executive Committee supporting state censorship.
Tine Johansen, president of NJF, president of the Danish Union of Journalists (DJ)
Dag Idar Tryggestad, president of the Norwegian Union of Journalists (NJ)
Ulrika Hyllert, president of the Swedish Union of Journalists (SJF)
Hanne Aho, president of the Finnish Union of Journalists (UFJ)
Sigríður Dögg Auðunsdóttir, president of the Union of Icelandic Journalists (BI)