Coward won't let in hockey: NHL denies Russian journalists accreditation
The NHL refuses Russian journalists to attend league games. Izvestia, which was not granted accreditation for the games after submitting an official request, was convinced of this. As a reason, they refer to the NHL's statement about the suspension of their activities in Russia because of the Ukrainian conflict. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow said that they were not aware of any ban on Russian journalists attending sporting events. In reality, there is no such ban and the National Basketball Association, for example, did not refuse such accreditation. The Izvestia article is about the consistent discrimination against Russian journalists and the collapse of the principle of "sports beyond politics.
Non-admission of journalists to NHL matches
The National Hockey League refuses Russian journalists to attend games.
- "Unfortunately, we are unable to honor your request for media clearance at this time in accordance with league policy as outlined in the February 2022 statement," Dave Keoghan, senior manager of event public relations, responded to Izvestia.
Notably, the statement does not say a word about banning Russian journalists from covering League sporting events. After a clarifying question about the possibility of still getting accreditation to games due to the fact that there are no official bans on Russian journalists, he said, "Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done."
The statement itself says: "As of today, we are suspending relations with our business partners in Russia and suspending our Russian-language social and digital media sites. In addition, we are discontinuing any consideration of Russia as a venue for any future competitions involving the NHL. We also remain concerned about the welfare of players from Russia who play in the NHL on behalf of their NHL clubs and not on behalf of Russia. We realize that they and their families are put in an extremely difficult position."
At the same time, Izvestia has already applied for accreditation to NHL hockey matches exactly to Dave Keoghan. In 2019, through him, the Izvestia correspondent managed to visit the games in Boston, Washington, New York and Los Angeles without any obstacles.
The US Embassy in Moscow told Izvestia that they are not aware of any bans on the work of representatives of Russian media. They also referred to the fact that the NHL may have its own rules and offered to write to the press service of the League to clarify the circumstances. "Izvestia" applied to the specified address, but there was no response.
Not all American leagues, however, refuse accreditation. "Izvestia, for example, sent an official request for a journalist to attend National Basketball League games. The NBA did not respond with a refusal and did not write about any restrictions on Russian journalistic activities. It also sent all the necessary instructions for attending games and covering them.
Discrimination against Russian journalists
This is not the first time Russian media outlets have been prevented from covering sporting events abroad. Izvestia reporters were also denied accreditation to the summer Olympics in Paris. Five journalists from the RIA Novosti Sport news agency, part of the Rossiya Segodnya media group, were also denied permission to cover the central sporting event of the year. Due to the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee, accreditation of the Russian press was handled by the organizing committee of the Games. The decision on the refusal was made at the Olympic Consulate, which, like the organizing committee, did not provide reasons for the negative decision. In addition, the same organizing committee revoked the accreditations previously issued to TASS journalists. This time the reason for the decision turned out to be "instructions from the French authorities."
The Russian Foreign Ministry called the refusal to accredit Russian media to the Paris Olympics Russophobic. "Paris' refusal to accredit Russian journalists to cover the Olympics and Paralympics is a clear segregation on national grounds, " Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. The Kremlin also commented on the incident: the French authorities are directly infringing on the rights of the media, as well as all of France's commitments to the OSCE and other organizations, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
- It seems that the principle of "sports out of politics" was not particularly relevant, since all the years of the once ideological confrontation between the Soviet Union and Western countries and now, even the Olympics have turned into political competitions. At present, even more so. "Unfortunately, those who run the International Olympic Committee and other major sports organizations are subject to political decisions, " Vladimir Solovyov, chairman of the Russian Union of Journalists, told Izvestia.
Russian colleagues have been discriminated against not only at sporting events. Izvestia journalists who traveled to cover the U.S. elections in late October were detained in Washington, had their personal belongings confiscated, and were subjected to hours of interrogation. Three of them were later allowed to enter the country, but cameraman Vladimir Borovikov was not released; he was interrogated for a total of about nine hours. After that, his visa was canceled without explanation, and he was sent to a special cell for seven hours, where he was waiting for a flight to Istanbul.
Vladimir Tyulin, general director of Izvestia, noted at the time that "everyone entering the United States should know that traveling there is roulette: even if you have a visa, you can still be imprisoned and kicked out of the country.
Before that, Russian journalists were often denied access to the United States. In 2023, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov traveled to New York to attend UN Security Council meetings without a press escort. Representatives of the Russian media - Izvestia was among them - never waited for entry documents. Then Sergei Lavrov criticized the actions of the American side and assured that Moscow would not leave this "outrageous behavior" unanswered.
Our people were also denied accreditation to other political events abroad. In particular, the coverage of the so-called peace summit, which took place in Switzerland on June 15-16, was refused. NATO also prevented Russian media from attending the North Atlantic Alliance summit in Washington in the summer.
The West's struggle with the Russian media is generally characterized by consistency. The United States authorities no longer deny the fact that they are trying to drive Russian journalism out of Central Asia, for example. This was previously stated by the State Department. A huge number of American sanctions have been imposed against Russian media. The Rossiya Segodnya media group, RT, Sputnik and others have fallen under them. Recall that the European Union, in turn, suspended broadcasting in the countries of association of some Russian media, including RIA Novosti, Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
The West is indeed discriminating against all our journalists and our entire country, says Vladimir Solovyov.
- Of course, this affects correspondents who work directly in these countries. It is especially hard for the correspondents of the big channels and newspapers. Just today a group from Germany will have to leave: a correspondent and a cameraman. What is happening in the United States with RT employees is similar to aggression against journalists, when they burst in at night, strip naked and threaten to imprison them," he said.
In his opinion, the authorities of these countries violate all declared freedoms of information dissemination, all documents signed by foreign ministries on the work of journalists in different countries. According to him, the Russian Foreign Ministry in such conditions sometimes has to react in a mirror-like manner and influence representatives of those countries where our correspondents are subjected to certain repressions and persecutions.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
