German TV channel ZDF’s Moscow bureau head, Armin Coerper, has recently produced a segment on life in Mariupol under Russian occupation, sparking strong criticism from Ukrainian media experts, officials, and society.
In his report, Coerper said he didn’t notice restrictions in the city imposed by the Russian invaders, claiming his team could freely move around Mariupol without being monitored or supervised, as per Hromadske.
While acknowledging the Russian occupation, he simultaneously stated, “Mariupol is not a ghost town, and I want to make that clear.”
In 2022, Russia’s aggression caused a humanitarian catastrophe in Mariupol, with almost 90% of the city destroyed in artillery and air attacks. Residential houses, hospitals, schools, kindergartens, and businesses were damaged or destroyed, and thousands of civilians were killed. To conceal its war crimes, Russia has demolished 465 buildings in the city with nearly 33,500 apartments in them.
During the seizure of Mariupol, Russian armed forces bombed the city’s drama theater, which resulted in the deaths of over 600 civilians seeking shelter in it. Despite clear evidence of the tragedy, Coerper presented information suggesting that the theater had restrictions on Russian-language performances before the occupation.
The destroyed theater has also become a target for the so-called “reconstruction” of the city, aiming to remove traces of the crimes of the occupiers. This has further intensified the debate surrounding the ZDF report, as Ukrainians questioned the accuracy and objectivity of the coverage at a critical time in Mariupol’s history.
“Another sector where you can feel Russian occupation is education. New textbooks and teaching programs have been introduced in schools, with history lessons now naturally following the Russian narrative,” explained Coerper in the report.
The German reporter portrayed the city as “alive,” saying that stores and restaurants are open and residents have access to heating, hot water, and internet services. He also asserted that “he did not witness any resistance” in the city and suggested that the majority of the population supported the Russian occupation.
“If there are people in this city who remain pro-Western, they are probably much more reserved and may fear repressions if they speak with us,” admitted the German journalist.
In response to the segment, Ukrainian media expert Diana Dutsyk, a member of the Journalism Ethics Commission, has expressed concerns about the level of professionalism of Armin Coerper.
“The main message of this report says life in Mariupol isn’t bad, and a person can live under occupation,” said Dutsyk on social media.
According to the expert, her agency has already had several “ideological misunderstandings” with journalists from Germany and other countries on how to cover the news on occupied territories.
“Unfortunately, discussions on revising approaches to balance the reporting at international journalistic forums have never ended effectively. Instead, media outlets often accuse Ukrainian journalists, insinuating that they are all traumatized and, therefore, react over-emotional,” Dutsyk said.
The phrase that the team of journalists works in the city “freely” looks like an invitation to other media to break the law and cooperate with the occupation authorities, warned the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine.
In a condemning statement, the state-owned enterprise said the ZDF report was created with the approval and assistance of Russian occupation authorities, which is a direct violation of Ukrainian law. It also emphasized that the fact of entering Mariupol through Russian territory should have been explicitly addressed in the report.
The company called on the ZDF to explain all the violations and “give its audience a wider context to the facts described in the report.”
The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Oleh Nikolenko, took to social media to condemn the report, stating that distorting reality does not qualify as journalism.
Distorting reality is not journalism. Moreover, @ZDF Moscow bureau chief’s visit to occupied Mariupol without Ukraine's consent violated Ukrainian legislation. We call on @ZDF to provide an official explanation. Violating Ukraine’s laws may impact media’s further work in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/8Gif5ZrPhq
— Oleh Nikolenko (@OlehNikolenko_) February 2, 2024
“Distorting reality is not journalism. Moreover, @ZDF Moscow bureau chief’s visit to occupied Mariupol without Ukraine’s consent violated Ukrainian legislation. We call on @ZDF to provide an official explanation. Violating Ukraine’s laws may impact the media’s further work in Ukraine,” Nikolenko said on X.
Later, on 30 January, a comment from the ZDF editorial team appeared on the page with the report’s publication.
“ZDF takes criticism of the reports from Mariupol seriously. As a journalist, Moscow studio director Armin Coerper went to Mariupol to get an independent picture of the situation in territories occupied in violation of international law.
He tells the story of a city completely destroyed because of the Russian aggressive war and its forcible russification. Armin Coerper implies that those who oppose Russian occupation have to fear repressions if they speak with a Western journalist,” the statement reads.
Meanwhile, a team of the “20 Days in Mariupol” documentary, directed by Mstyslav Chernov, is waiting for the decision of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to win the 2024 Oscar Award. The movie, which was created in co-production between the AP and PBS’ “Frontline”, features the work of Ukrainian photographer Evgeniy Maloletka and Ukrainian field producer Vasilisa Stepanenko.
In 2023, the “20 Days in Mariupol” was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Documentary Feature category. Chernov and his team documented the siege of Mariupol, including the tragic deaths of many young people in the city, mass graves, and the bombing of a maternity hospital.
Earlier, the documentary was recognized with a Pulitzer Prize for public service and for breaking news photography. The “20 Days in Mariupol” was acknowledged as one of the most significant nonfiction films of the year and received multiple nominations, including from the BAFTAs, the Producers Guild, and the Directors Guild.
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