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Amid clampdown, Barents journalists intensify cooperation

Chair of the board in Barents Press Norway, Arne Egil Tønseth (left) and board member Amund Trellevik welcome to the largest ever Barents Press annual meeting. Here with the youth journalist course already in session.

KIRKENES: As Russia curbs freedom of expression, 150 journalists and bloggers from all over the Barents Region gather for lively debate on cross-border reporting in times of trouble.

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Barents Press

Barents Press is a network for Finnish, Norwegian,Swedish and Russian journalists in the Barents Region, and counts as one of Europe’s most successful journalistic network across country borders.

It is unique in many way; mostly because of its vast geographic coverage which includes many societies and native populations.

The initiative to the foundation of the Barents Press association was officially taken at the Barents ministerial in Kirkenes, January 1993. 

Arne Egil Tønseth and Amund Trellevik with Barents Press Norway can welcome to the largest ever annual meeting in the informal journalist network. Barents Press was formed 20 years ago, aimed to facilitate for better cross-border reporting among journalists in the north of Norway, Russia, Finland and Sweden.

“Especially these days, with the ongoing propaganda-war over Ukraine, Barents Press plays an important role. Journalists traveling across the borders, discovering each other’s culture and society are the best to examine the truth,” says Arne Egil Tønseth, pointing to the fact that the truth often is the first looser in any conflict.

Amund Trellevik says this weekend’s Barents Press meeting is the largest international media-event in Norway this year, with over 150 participants from all over the Barents Region.

“We will exchange views on how to better report on important high-level international politics issues. With high tension over press freedom, Barents Press is more important than ever,” argues Amund Trellevik.

The journalist gathering has already made headlines from Moscow to Oslo, following Norwegian authorities’ refusal of entry to the controversial Russian journalist Dmitry Kiselyov. He was invited by Barents Press to present a Russian view about freedom of speech.    

Freedom of speech is, even without Kiselyov’s participation, a hot topic for the Barents journalists. On Tuesday, Russia State Duma adopted amendments to the law “On information, information technologies and on protection of information.” The legislation obligates bloggers whose personal websites or pages on social media networks have 3,000 or more visitors per day to declare their family name and electronic addresses to authorities. All bloggers will also have to abide by rules applicable to mass media, including the extremism law strictly limiting what can be said in disfavor of authorities or the state interest. 

The legislation is strongly condemned by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). 

“If enforced, the proposed amendments would curb freedom of expression and freedom of social media, as well as seriously inhibit the right of citizens to freely receive and disseminate alternative information and express critical views,” says Dunja Dunja Mijatović, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media in a statement. She calls on Vladimir Putin to veto the amendments to the law and stop attempts to restrict free expression and free media.

Arne Egil Tønseth with Barents Press Norway, however, argues that both sides in the conflict, both Western Europe and Russia, have a powerful propaganda war going on right now. “We will do our best to keep the free word alive, keep the borders open, whatever the politicians might argue,” says Arne Egil Tønset.

Keeping the borders open for journalists and bloggers is not an easy task.

Russian journalist Dmitry Kiselyov is not the only reporter denied access to the debate at the annual meeting of Barents Press in Kirkenes. Aleksandr Serebryanikov, better known as Blogger 51 in Murmansk, is also invited but can’t leave Russia after the Murmansk Oblast Investigative Committee charged him with extremism. Authorities did not allow Serebyanikov to release information on his own case, and he denies all charges. The Serebryanikov-case is highlighted in the U.S. Department of State’s 2013 Human Right Reports on Russia

“Here we both have journalist Dmitry Kiselov, denied entance to Norway, and a blogger Aleksandr Serebryanikov, denied passage out of Russia. We call on both Norwegian and Russian authorities to be reasonable and clear the way for freedom of speech,” says board member of Barents Press Amund Trellevik to BarentsObserver.