Banning Foreign Journalists Was 'A Failure' — Ukraine MFA

What You Need To Know:

✔️The inclusion of three journalists from the BBC was a failure;
✔️The MFA keeps a list of journalists critical of Ukraine;
✔️The whole government failed because there is "no reason to ban journalists for critical reporting."

Oleksii Makeiev, a representative of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, says that the ban on foreign journalists "was a failure" by the Ukrainian government.
He admits that the list was made early in 2015 and that "it's not a sanctions lists, it's a list of journalists who are critical of Ukraine. This is our routine job, to monitor the foreign media."
In his opinion, "if you have a journalist who is critical, you may approach the journalist to explain the policies of our country. This is what the MFA does, it talks to foreign journalists and explains our country.
When asked how journalists can avoid being placed on the list, Makeiev said, "Not only those journalists who are not critical of Ukraine, but also those journalists who do not commit crimes in Ukraine."
The crimes he's referring to include crossing into Ukraine through Russia illegally and monitoring elections in separatist held areas.
Many governmental bodies were involved in the preparation of the list, but as Makeiev admits, they are just reviewing the list now. It seems that the list was passed without ever having been thoroughly checked.
Finally, he says ultimately, the whole government failed because he "sees no reason to ban journalists." Going forward, he says there needs to be a full review of the system and from now on, lists should be checked three or four times.

Oleksii Makeiev spoke with the Sunday Show's co-hosts Ian Bateson and Nataliya Gumenyuk on Sunday September 20th, 2015.

Banning Foreign Journalists Was 'A Failure' — Ukraine MFA by Hromadske International on Mixcloud