Daily Herald opinion: Reporting on Ukraine and the threats to a country when it lacks a free press

This editorial represents the consensus opinion of The Daily Herald Editorial Board.

Consider for a moment how you perceive the violence in Ukraine, now in its sixth week.

Is it a mighty struggle between a small, determined people at war with a large, ruthless invader? Or, a necessary preventive military action intended to protect a proud and independent people from a cruel coalition of Western countries bent on destroying their culture?

Depending on where you live, you have a choice between those points of view, and indeed, debates rage in the United States over whether certain news outlets reject the former view of Ukraine and lean toward the latter position on Russia. But in some parts of the world, Russia in particular, you see evidence of only one point of view.

In Russia, reporters who suggest anything other than the government's official point of view — that the conflict is a necessary measure to stop the spread of Nazism on its borders — can face up to 15 years in prison. News outlets are not permitted to show images of the impact of the war, describe the suffering in Ukraine or even document the numbers of killed and wounded Russian soldiers.

Not surprisingly, public opinion polls in the country are beginning to show a steady shift in attitudes toward support for the “action” and its instigator Vladimir Putin. The New York Times reports that the closest thing to an independent pollster in Russia has found that 83% of the country's population supports the war, compared to 69% in January. Another Times story documents the growing pro-Putin sentiment from a population force-fed three times the usual daily news content, all expressing one unfaltering point of view.

The result?

“The confrontation with the West has consolidated people,” The Times quotes pollster Denis Volkov.

All who adhere to the view that the press in the West or the United States in particular is an “enemy of the people” should consider seriously the meaning of those numbers — distorted though they might be by the potential fears of a populace to express views contrary to the official line. And anyone who loves freedom should be chilled by the prospect of a society in which dissent from their government's self-serving point of view is a felony crime.

It is likely that even in an open society, press reports will tend to lean toward the interests and impressions of the general population. Hard as they may try to report objectively, journalists are products of their society and entirely dispatching long-held national, community and family values is not a natural human property.

But there is an immense difference between a society willing to let them try and one that insists they must describe events or interpret them according to one absolute predetermined ideology. Your view of the conflict in Ukraine may remain fixed or, more likely, it may shift over time as you see different perspectives and learn new facts, brought to you by a diverse and unrestricted cadre of news organizations and commentators.

Two weeks ago, we turned over this space to honor the sacrifice of three journalists who were killed while covering the war in Ukraine. An Associated Press story last week details the lengths to which news organizations outside Russia are going to acquire and report news from Russia about the conflict.

Take a moment to imagine how difficult it would be to maintain a free society without such efforts and such sacrifices — but also without such opportunities.