The Washington Post has announced that the paper will be removing signatures and dates from some stories to protect its staff after Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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“We continue to seek clarity as to whether Russia’s new restrictions will apply to international news organizations. For the time being, to protect our Moscow journalists, we will be careful to remove signatures and dates from certain stories,” the newspaper said in a statement. “We want to be sure that our Moscow correspondents are not responsible for materials produced outside of Russia.”
The law signed by Putin sentences people to 15 years in prison if they are found to be spreading “fake news” about Russian forces. Following the passage of the law, BBC, CNN and Bloomberg announced they were halting or rescheduling operations in Moscow.
“It seems that this law criminalizes the process of independent journalism. It leaves us no choice but to temporarily suspend the work of all BBC News journalists and their support staff in the Russian Federation while we assess the full implications of this undesirable event. This is stated in a statement by CEO Tim Davy.
Davy said that as a result of their service in Russia, they will conduct operations outside the country.
“It is with great regret that we have made the decision to temporarily suspend news gathering within Russia,” Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Mickletwait said. “A change to the Penal Code, which seems to be designed to turn any independent reporter into a criminal purely by association, makes it impossible for any semblance of normal journalism to continue domestically.”
Russian independent media also suffered from the intrusion, suspending their coverage.
“We need strength to exhale and understand how to work further. We really hope that we will return to the air and continue our work, ”Natalia Sindeeva, general director of the Dozhd TV channel, said on the air.