Reporters Against Power, Ep. 6 - Russia

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In Moscow, Fidan Ekiz visits Novaja Gazeta, one of the few critical newspapers in Russia.

Ever since six journalists of NG were murdered in the line of duty, chief editor Muratov worries about the danger his colleagues get themselves into. Pavel Kanygin is one of NG’s star reporters. While covering the Ukraine, he has been kidnapped and beaten up twice by pro-Russia rebels. And of course he has been reporting on the crash of flight MH-17. For that reason, Pavel is sent to the Netherlands to cover the investigation report about what caused the plane to crash. Fidan stays in Moscow to witness how the event is covered by the dominant pro-Putin media like Russia Today and Lifenews. Their propaganda strategy is simple: Everybody is lying anyway, so people can choose the truth that suits them best. That is the tragedy of Pavel and of Novaja Gazeta. They fight for the truth in a country where the majority of the people does not even believe truth exists.

Series Description:

A daughter of Turkish immigrants in The Netherlands, Fidan Ekiz visits the courageous people that practice journalism under dictatorship or oppression and becomes a part of their adventurous daily life. After being a news correspondent in Turkey for some years, Fidan returns to The Netherlands and starts making documentaries. At age of 38 she tries to redefine the importance of journalism.

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Main credits

Schaap, Kees (film director)
Oostrom, Anja van (film producer)

Other credits

Cinematography, Jan Pieter Tuinstra; editing, J.P. Luijsterburg.

MARC Record See Worldcat record

Keywords

First Hand Films,Documentary,Film,The Netherlands,Reporters Against Power,Kees Schaap,Anja van Oostrom,Joanne Becker,2016,Journalism,Fidan Ekiz,Freedom of Speach,Free Press,Democracy,Colombia,Turkey,Uganda,Russia,Burma,Hong Kong; "Reporters Against Power, Ep. 6 - Russia"; First Hand Films

00:00:07.680 --> 00:00:08.440
(gentle instrumental music)

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- Hello.

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(lively instrumental music)

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(speaking in foreign language)

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- Hi.
- Hello.

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- How are you?
- Fine.

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- I don't know you, but I could
hug you because I'm so cold.

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It's freezing.

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How are you?

00:05:51.160 --> 00:05:52.040
- But it's dangerous.
- Yeah.

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- It's dangerous to be
a journalist in Russia.

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You're always, always
under pressure, you know?

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- You always have to be careful.

00:06:02.880 --> 00:06:03.999
Maybe we should
walk a little bit.

00:06:04.999 --> 00:06:05.360
- Okay.

00:06:07.240 --> 00:06:08.400
- [Fidan] It's so
funny about Russia

00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:09.960
that everything we see
here is like a fairy tale.

00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:13.800
Very harmless,
they're very innocent.

00:06:40.960 --> 00:06:42.200
- We suspect the man who
used to live in Chechnya.

00:06:45.880 --> 00:06:47.040
I cannot say his name because
it's only our suspicion.

00:06:52.640 --> 00:06:53.600
- Because of them?
- Yeah.

00:06:57.440 --> 00:06:58.600
- What would happen if
you did say his name?

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- I don't know what may happen.

00:07:05.999 --> 00:07:06.920
- Are you afraid for that?

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- I'm not afraid,

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but I need to be careful.

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- You see that guy
who just meeting me

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and he say to me hello,

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but I don't know him and may
be someone who doesn't like me.

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He can just...

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There are too much
crazy people in Moscow

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who know about this
and they have guns.

00:08:05.200 --> 00:08:06.640
- I decided to be a journalist
when I was 10 year old boy.

00:08:16.040 --> 00:08:17.160
I could do interesting
story about people,

00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:21.560
about unhappy people
in this country.

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I hope that people who
try to kill this country,

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maybe when they read my stories,

00:08:33.480 --> 00:08:34.520
they will change
their mind, you know?

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Policemen, corrupted men,
criminals, other criminals,

00:08:46.760 --> 00:08:47.520
and many, many other bad guys.

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But I didn't think that
it would be so difficult.

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Oh, I'm looking for Yelena.

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Nice to meet you too.

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You are very busy, right?

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I'm a journalist.

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If I would work at a
newspaper like Novaya Gazeta,

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I would be very cautious.

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And I think I wouldn't be able
to just freely walk around

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in the darkness or,

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it's okay to say if
you're scared sometimes.

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- [Fidan] Okay, I believe you.

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But how is that?

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I just don't understand.

00:14:54.040 --> 00:14:54.999
Your colleague was killed.

00:14:56.560 --> 00:14:57.680
I would be scared if my
colleague was killed.

00:15:01.480 --> 00:15:02.640
Even more colleagues
of you were killed.

00:16:11.520 --> 00:16:12.280
- Hi, hello.
- Hello, Pavel.

00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:15.080
- Welcome, welcome, welcome.

00:16:16.400 --> 00:16:17.120
- How are you?
- Fine.

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This is my wife, Natalya.

00:16:38.520 --> 00:16:39.120
Can you ever go back?

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- And I still feel a bit
like, my hands are trembling

00:17:12.999 --> 00:17:13.600
when I talk about it

00:17:14.999 --> 00:17:15.920
and when Pavel talk about it.

00:17:18.320 --> 00:17:19.640
- Every time Pasha
leaves for an assignment,

00:17:22.999 --> 00:17:23.480
how do you feel?

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- I ask him to call every
night so I know he's fine

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because that one time
he didn't call me,

00:17:34.200 --> 00:17:35.320
it was the time
he was kidnapped.

00:20:59.760 --> 00:21:00.999
- It's Nightly International,
live from Moscow.

00:21:01.800 --> 00:21:02.600
Thanks for joining us here.

00:21:02.760 --> 00:21:03.999
You're watching right now a
press conference of Almaz-Antey,

00:21:05.240 --> 00:21:06.720
the military manufacturer
of Russia's Buk missiles.

00:21:33.760 --> 00:21:34.360
- Ladies and gentlemen,

00:21:35.360 --> 00:21:36.560
as a result of the
shown presentation,

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we have proved that the missile

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which took down
Boeing over Ukraine

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was a 9M38 from Buk.

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- One year ago, a preliminary
report on the accident

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concluded that MH17
broke up in midair.

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- They sought opposing views.

00:22:45.600 --> 00:22:46.680
Can you be critical
about Putin all the way?

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Are there lines,
borders, you can't cross?

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- Me, personally, I've
never run into an instance

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where someone said to
me, you can't say that

00:22:57.960 --> 00:22:58.999
or don't say this, or
don't touch this, no.

00:23:00.999 --> 00:23:01.999
- But maybe they
don't have to say it.

00:23:02.040 --> 00:23:03.400
Maybe you just already
know, just by working here.

00:23:04.760 --> 00:23:05.999
- Self-censorship is a
problem all across the world.

00:23:09.600 --> 00:23:10.360
- I don't do it in Holland.

00:23:11.120 --> 00:23:11.999
- Of course you don't, right.

00:23:12.320 --> 00:23:13.080
You say whatever you want.

00:23:13.320 --> 00:23:14.080
You report on whatever you want.

00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:15.320
But you don't touch
certain stories.

00:23:16.320 --> 00:23:17.440
- No, there are
no limits for me.

00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:20.680
I don't feel like I have limits.

00:23:20.840 --> 00:23:22.080
- Do you feel like you're
telling the ultimate truth?

00:23:22.840 --> 00:23:23.999
Right, your truth
is the real truth.

00:23:24.520 --> 00:23:25.680
- No, no, no, that's
not what I'm saying.

00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:27.320
I'm just trying to
report on what I see.

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- But that's the tone.

00:23:30.080 --> 00:23:30.720
That's the tone.

00:23:31.080 --> 00:23:32.520
Like, you live in Russia, that
means you must be censored.

00:23:36.320 --> 00:23:37.080
We live in the free world.

00:23:37.999 --> 00:23:38.760
That means we tell the truth.

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We cover everything.

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And this is the tone

00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:43.640
that is pushed by
journalists around the world.

00:23:44.600 --> 00:23:45.720
- You think Holland
is the same as Russia?

00:23:47.560 --> 00:23:48.320
- No, I think that Russia--

00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:49.520
- Because here
media are controlled

00:23:49.999 --> 00:23:51.240
by the federal government.
- But there's plenty

00:23:51.840 --> 00:23:52.960
of opposition media
that's not controlled,

00:23:54.720 --> 00:23:55.480
that criticize Russia harsher

00:23:56.080 --> 00:23:57.120
than any Western
publication ever could.

00:23:59.040 --> 00:23:59.999
(gentle instrumental music)

00:24:07.800 --> 00:24:08.840
- Hello, Hans.
- Great to see you.

00:24:09.999 --> 00:24:10.800
- Nice to see you too again.

00:24:13.999 --> 00:24:14.999
What do your own
family think about you

00:24:17.800 --> 00:24:18.560
who still suffer all the time?

00:24:23.560 --> 00:24:24.720
- Most of them help
me out everyday

00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:26.320
and they let me talk
about it everyday.

00:24:29.320 --> 00:24:30.840
And when I don't want to
talk, they say it's okay.

00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:33.320
And even colleagues at
my work say the same.

00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:36.320
But they see that
I'm trying my best,

00:24:37.840 --> 00:24:38.960
but that I'm still
struggling everyday.

00:24:41.999 --> 00:24:42.280
And why?

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Because it wasn't necessary
that your daughter was killed.

00:24:45.040 --> 00:24:46.160
- [Pavel] I'm sure that
majority of Russians,

00:24:47.880 --> 00:24:49.120
they're of course suffered
about the tragedy with MH17,

00:24:56.080 --> 00:24:56.999
but they do not know the truth.

00:24:59.480 --> 00:25:00.840
- Because the news on state
television is all so--

00:25:04.120 --> 00:25:05.240
- [Pavel] Because
the news isn't news.

00:25:06.040 --> 00:25:06.840
The news is propaganda.

00:25:07.160 --> 00:25:07.800
- Right, yeah.

00:25:08.120 --> 00:25:08.760
All their news.

00:25:10.360 --> 00:25:11.520
- But how could we
make Russia great?

00:25:17.440 --> 00:25:17.999
- Russians help.

00:25:18.760 --> 00:25:19.360
- Is it possible?

00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:20.280
- You help, you help.

00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:21.080
- Yeah, I know.

00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:22.960
(speaking in foreign language)

00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:25.720
(gentle instrumental music)

00:25:34.760 --> 00:25:35.040
- Hi.

00:25:35.200 --> 00:25:36.280
I'm from Novaya
Gazeta from Moscow.

00:25:37.999 --> 00:25:38.440
- Yes.

00:25:39.600 --> 00:25:40.680
They will be inside
the restaurant waiting.

00:25:44.680 --> 00:25:45.800
There are a couple
of journalists.

00:25:46.240 --> 00:25:47.080
- Couple of journalists?
- Yeah.

00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:49.680
- From which TV
channel or newspaper?

00:25:51.999 --> 00:25:52.560
Do you know?

00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:53.600
- RT TV.
- Oh, okay, thank you.

00:25:58.880 --> 00:25:59.480
So Russia's propaganda.

00:26:00.320 --> 00:26:01.400
- [Woman] Thank
you for coming out.

00:26:03.360 --> 00:26:04.520
The presentation will
start by our chairman.

00:27:12.440 --> 00:27:13.040
Do you support Putin?

00:27:14.040 --> 00:27:14.920
- Da.
- You have to.

00:27:56.720 --> 00:27:58.000
- Ladies and gentleman, the
international investigation

00:27:59.999 --> 00:28:00.999
into cause of the
crash has demonstrated

00:28:02.999 --> 00:28:04.200
that flight MH17 crashed
because of a 9N314M warhead

00:28:10.440 --> 00:28:11.200
detonated outside the airplane

00:28:13.200 --> 00:28:13.999
at the left side of the cockpit.

00:28:14.760 --> 00:28:15.880
This warhead fits
the kind of missile

00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:17.999
that is installed in the BUK
surface-to-air missile system.

00:28:21.400 --> 00:28:22.480
As a result of the
warhead's detonation,

00:28:23.999 --> 00:28:25.360
thousands of small pre-formed
metal objects were ejected

00:28:28.760 --> 00:28:29.360
with tremendous force.

00:31:37.240 --> 00:31:38.280
- They say that we
couldn't have questions.

00:31:39.999 --> 00:31:41.280
And it's strange for me
because we are journalists.

00:31:43.800 --> 00:31:44.600
It's our job to have question.

00:31:45.360 --> 00:31:46.480
But why did they
decide to refuse us

00:31:52.520 --> 00:31:53.560
to have the question,
I do not know.

00:31:56.880 --> 00:31:57.600
I don't know.
- No.

00:31:58.999 --> 00:31:59.840
(somber instrumental music)

00:34:20.240 --> 00:34:21.000
(speaking in foreign language)

00:34:51.360 --> 00:34:52.760
- I read also that you said
it had something to do,

00:34:57.760 --> 00:34:58.999
your withdrawal for
financings had something to do

00:35:00.200 --> 00:35:01.560
with Putin wanting to
wreck your business empire.

00:35:06.600 --> 00:35:07.760
- [Aleksander] No,
I never said that.

00:35:08.600 --> 00:35:09.560
But being the proprietor
of newspapers,

00:35:11.800 --> 00:35:12.999
here or in London or
anywhere else in the world,

00:35:15.200 --> 00:35:16.280
they always put the
blame on the proprietor.

00:35:18.640 --> 00:35:19.720
They always will
hold you responsible

00:35:20.480 --> 00:35:21.240
for what the journalists do.

00:35:22.720 --> 00:35:24.000
And otherwise, you're
treated in a common thing

00:35:26.400 --> 00:35:26.999
in your own way,

00:35:27.600 --> 00:35:28.720
whether I really, has
it been too much for me,

00:35:31.120 --> 00:35:32.200
whether I really
want to take a break

00:35:32.760 --> 00:35:33.880
or whether I have been
changing my position

00:35:34.999 --> 00:35:36.200
because the world has
become much more complicated

00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:39.960
in the recent couple of years.

00:35:40.800 --> 00:35:41.960
- I think you want
to retire, right?

00:35:44.320 --> 00:35:44.999
- I beg your pardon?

00:35:45.080 --> 00:35:46.200
- I think you want to
retire, sounds like it.

00:35:47.880 --> 00:35:48.920
- Ah, well, how
about taking a break?

00:35:50.320 --> 00:35:51.280
- Oh, okay, good luck.
- Thank you.

00:35:53.000 --> 00:35:53.960
- Bye bye.
- And to you.

00:38:53.720 --> 00:38:54.480
- I think the European media

00:38:54.920 --> 00:38:55.680
discredited themselves last year

00:38:57.600 --> 00:38:58.680
when the tragedy
of Boeing occurred.

00:39:00.999 --> 00:39:01.800
And everybody played on emotions

00:39:02.520 --> 00:39:03.280
and they put Putin on top cover.

00:39:04.080 --> 00:39:05.520
And it was ridiculous, like
Putin killed our children.

00:39:07.160 --> 00:39:08.600
I'm sorry, but, so you know
TV and media and politics

00:39:11.999 --> 00:39:12.920
are the same in every country.

00:39:13.480 --> 00:39:14.480
- But is there something
like the truth?

00:39:15.999 --> 00:39:16.999
- I don't think
there is a truth.

00:39:17.360 --> 00:39:17.999
That's the thing.

00:39:18.120 --> 00:39:18.999
It's just a point of view.

00:39:19.560 --> 00:39:20.160
- You're on your own.

00:39:21.840 --> 00:39:22.720
- Okay.
- Because he's trying

00:39:24.680 --> 00:39:25.280
to tell the truth.

00:39:27.999 --> 00:39:28.800
- You play like black and white.

00:39:29.440 --> 00:39:30.200
There is no black and white.

00:39:30.999 --> 00:39:31.720
What is the truth?

00:39:33.240 --> 00:39:34.000
(gentle instrumental music)

00:39:35.120 --> 00:39:36.200
- If people don't want
to hear the truth,

00:39:36.999 --> 00:39:38.240
I'm thinking, what are you
risking your life for then?

00:39:57.480 --> 00:39:58.240
- Even if it's for a minority,

00:39:58.480 --> 00:39:59.600
you're willing to
risk your life.

00:40:44.680 --> 00:40:45.840
About three months,
about everything.

00:40:55.120 --> 00:40:56.200
So you still believe
it's possible?

00:40:58.520 --> 00:40:59.000
That's good.

00:40:59.520 --> 00:41:00.320
- [Pavel] I want to believe.