Journalistic View on the Russo-Ukrainian War

The beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War seems distant. Since late February, more than 9.1 million refugees have fled across Ukraine’s borders after Russia invaded Ukraine. This ongoing war has already resulted in many casualties. When searching for a breakdown of causalities, the numbers differ since the figures are based on verified incidents and the actual numbers are most likely considerably higher. The main reason for the war (if there is truly any main reason) was for Russia to overturn Ukraine, expelling its government which would eliminate Ukraine’s want to join NATO. This would’ve been an issue since if Ukraine was a NATO member, the alliance would hold an obligation to defend it against Russia and adversaries. Ukraine and Russiabecame hostile after the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, so this has been a developing conflict.

Now that we’ve created some framework, let’s see what a journalist across the world has to say:

I couldn’t imagine covering the war in Ukraine on the ground. This kind of reporting takes incredible skills while trying to cover all the bases (including the effect on the world and real people). The humanitarian crisis is being felt across the world. Journalists help obtain crucial evidence and uphold human rights.

Ukraine’s long-term recovery is concerning and needs to be considered by other countries. In the past month, the country laid out its plan for a postwar future, costing up to 750 billion dollars. The scale of this task will also account for loads of media coverage, hopefully in the very near future. According to the journalists’ union, at least 23 journalists have been killed since the invasion, though, again, it’s difficult to receive definite numbers. Any fatality is devastating, especially under the circumstances in Ukraine. As a learning journalist, this is scary. Even the media narratives appear different between the two countries (for obvious reasons of related patriotism). I learned the term, ‘peace journalism,’ which iscommitted to exploring root causes of conflict while aiming to shed light on the cultural and structural causes of violence, and how it impacts the lives of people in a certain conflict.

The US’s public views are complicated when conflict elsewhere arises, especially eastern conflicts, where most citizens don’t understand the full extent … rather the amount of our country’s involvement matters. As journalists, we shouldn’t and can’t stop there. We want our media to portray conflicts elsewhere as fair and ethical as possible.