Wednesday, December 01, 2004

The Ukraine Refrain

More must reading from the Des Moines Register: As protests spread, free press stirs This was written by Steve Berry, former L.A. Times reporter and current Univeristy of Iowa prof. In it he describes the work of Ukrainian reporter Hellen Pany Ly Shyn.

While she waited in a corridor to talk to election workers, a group of men she described as "bandits" rushed into the building. Ly Shyn heard a commotion and shouting. A shot was fired. She ran into the office and saw the men and election workers locked in a tug-of-war over the ballot bags. Finally, the men overpowered the workers, knocking one fiftyish-woman to the floor. They took the ballot bags and drove away.

After checking in at her office, Ly Shyn went into hiding without writing a story.

But she recovered enough shortly afterward to tell her story to a reporter for another newspaper, the Ukrainian Truth, and to some television reporters.

"I'm still frightened," she said. "But I am proud to have been able to tell the whole of Ukraine about the events that took place that night."

In Ukraine, she has good reason to be afraid. Since 2000, nearly 40 journalists have been killed. One particularly aggressive investigative journalist was beheaded, and President Leonid Kuchma has been widely reported as a suspect in the still-unsolved case. Last year alone, 42 journalists were attacked or harassed.

Don't they realize they are all just pawns of the American plot!? They should stop complaining about the occasional beheading and just curl up with the Guardian instead. They'll know what to do!

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