Some 37% of foreign journalists name problem with accreditation as most serious in Ukraine – research

KYIV. Jan 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – More than a third of surveyed foreign journalists in Ukraine consider the difficulty of accreditation for international media to be a significant problem, according to a survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) and the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security.

According to the analytical report on the results of the survey, the difficulty of accreditation for international journalists is considered as a "significant" and "rather significant" problem by 37% of respondents, while 60% consider it rather "minor" and "very insignificant" problem.

It is noted that some of the respondents had significant delays in obtaining accreditation, and some were not able to obtain it at all.

"At the same time, in at least one case, two employees of the same company applied at the same time and received accreditation with a difference of several months. Journalists also complain that they sometimes have to wait for months to receive accreditation. At the same time, since reporters often change, delays in obtaining accreditations do not allow them to work outside of Kyiv and closer to the contact line," the report says.

According to the study, freelance journalists had more trouble getting accreditation because they felt the current form was not well suited to their cases. In addition, there are still a large number of local accreditations, but there is no list of them and contacts of responsible persons.

"Sometimes, only when you arrive at the place or even at the checkpoint along the way, you can find out that local accreditation is needed there. This process is very non-transparent and can significantly delay journalists," the report says.

The respondents also noted that the rules for deprivation of accreditation and return or appeals in such a case are opaque or unclear.

The survey was conducted in September-December 2022 using the method of personal interviews among foreign media journalists who visited Ukraine at least once after February 24, 2022 and published at least one material about the war in Ukraine. Some 55 respondents (reporters and foreign media correspondents) were surveyed, representing 28 countries, as well as five Ukrainian fixers who had experience working with foreign journalists in Ukraine. It is noted that most of the respondents were representatives of the G7 countries and countries neighboring Ukraine.

The KIIS emphasized that the study is not representative of all foreign media employees working in Ukraine, and expresses the opinion of only those who took part in it.