Carte Blanche on M-Net reports from Ukraine tonight after Russia's invasion: 'What has life become in the small villages as the country became a war zone?'

by Thinus Ferreira

The weekly investigative magazine show Carte Blanche on M-Net (DStv 101) is reporting from Ukraine for tonight's edition at 19:00 to witness first-hand the devastation after Russia's unprovoked invasion and war with its neighbouring country. 

"We agonised over sending someone to Ukraine: why this war and not others? What access are we likely to get? Is it worth the risk? Do South Africans care? Some questions were easier to answer than others," says John Webb, Carte Blanche executive reporter.

"But, having despatched a producer and cameraman to the region, our challenge now is to tell a compelling and relevant story. And, without losing sight of the immediate human cost, examining the catastrophic impact on global food and fuel pricing should bring home this war’s many unexpected consequences," he says.

Anina Peens is in Ukraine on Sunday night as presenter and producer as Carte Blanche counts the human and economic cost of Russia's invasion which will enter its sixth week next week. 

Anina Peens joined a group of volunteers to take aid supplies into Ukraine, and it was a long and uncertain journey.

Despite promises of peace, Russian air and ground attacks remain unrelenting despite Ukraine’s commitment not to join NATO. Meanwhile, the African Development Bank has issued a warning of a large-scale food crisis as natural gas, wheat, and fertiliser prices skyrocket.

"What has life become in the small villages where Ukrainians attempt normality even as their homes and country have become a war zone?" Carte Blanche asks. 

Sky News correspondent Stuart Ramsay wounded and cameraman shot in violent ambush in Russia's war in Ukraine.

by Thinus Ferreira

The Sky News (DStv 402) chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay was wounded and the cameraman Richie Mockler shot twice during a violent ambush by Russian soldiers near Kyiv in Russia's ongoing invasion and war in Ukraine.

Sky News published the shocking and harrowing account of Stuart Ramsay and the TV news crew online, saying that the "experience illustrates the scale of the mayhem and violence as Russia's invasion enters a new and deadlier phase".

Writing in his first-hand account, Stuart Ramsay says "we were being ambushed by a saboteur Russian reconnaissance squad".

"It was professional, the rounds kept smashing into the car - they didn't miss."

"Producer Martin Vowles, who was driving, got out of the car first, quickly followed by Andrii Lytvynenko, our local producer, leaving me, Richie, and my producer Dominique Van Heerden inside, taking cover in the footwells and across the backseat."

"We knew we had to get out to survive, but the incoming fire was intense."

"Dominique pushed open her door a little further and slipped to the ground, crawling towards a motorway barrier and then dived down a 40-foot embankment, rolling to the bottom."

"Richie was shouting to me, but I can't really remember much.

I do recall wondering if my death was going to be painful," Stuart Ramsay wrote.

"Then I was hit in the lower back. "I've been hit!" I shouted. But what amazed me was that it didn't hurt that bad. It was more like being punched, really."

"It was strange, but I felt very calm. I managed to put my helmet on, and was about to attempt my escape, when I stopped and reached back into a shelf in the door and retrieved my phones and my press card, unbelievably."

"Richie says I then got out of the car and stood up, before jogging to the edge of the embankment and then started running. I lost my balance and fell to the bottom, landing like a sack of potatoes, cutting my face. My armour and helmet almost certainly saved me."

"But Richie was still inside the car. The rounds were ploughing into the car every time he moved. He was actually being protected by the engine block - he knew that."

"He called out, and we shouted at him to come. But then silence. It seemed like an eternity before he emerged over the barrier and jumped down towards us, followed by a hail of gunfire."

"At the bottom, we regrouped. The five of us were alive. We couldn't believe it. We were in shock, no doubt about it. But elated to be alive. Martin said to me, it's a miracle any of us got out, let alone all five of us."

"Still in the firing line, we headed away from the car, using a concrete wall for cover."

You can read the rest and full version of Stuart Ramsay's story on the Sky News website.

As DStv viewers wonder why MultiChoice continues to carry the propaganda channel Russia Today, the BCCSA gets complaints while MultiChoice says it has no editorial control over RT and a subscriber starts a petition for its removal.

by Thinus Ferreira

While DStv subscribers are wondering why MultiChoice hasn't removed Russia's RT propaganda channel in the way that other pay-TV operators in the world have done and with the Broadcasting Complaints Commission receiving complaints from DStv subscribers, MultiChoice says it has no control over RT.

Meanwhile a DStv subscriber Jared Myroff has started an online petition, directed to MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela and the pay-TV operator's chairperson Imtiaz Patel, imploring MultiChoice to remove RT from DStv.

RT is also carried on Telkom's TelkomONE streaming service, with an RT documentary channel carried on StarTimes's StarSat pay-TV service.

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine that started an unprovoked war last week with Ukraine, the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) told TVwithThinus on Monday that it has received 3 complaints from DStv subscribers so far asking why MultiChoice has not removed the Kremlin-funded propaganda channel from DStv's channel line-up.

With pay-TV services in America, Canada, Germany, Poland and several other countries including Australia that removed RT since Saturday from their channel line-ups, MultiChoice was asked whether the Randburg-based pay-TV operator is looking at doing the same, and what MultiChoice's stance is on the content being broadcast by RT on its DStv platform.

MultiChoice on Monday through one of its external PR agencies said "We have no editorial control over third-party channels". 

According to the BCCSA and Broadcasting Code, operators like MultiChoice are responsible for all of the content - whether local channels or international third-party channels - they broadcast.

Australia’s biggest pay-TV operator Foxtel also removed RT on Sunday as a linear TV channel and from its streaming service. 

"In view of concern about the situation in Ukraine, the Russia Today channel is currently unavailable on Foxtel and Flash," Foxtel said in a statement.

Canada's two biggest pay-TV services, Rogers Communications and Bell Canada both announced on Monday that they're dropping RT completely.

America's DirectTV on Monday announced that it's removing RT "and will no longer offer their programming effective immediately".

The 1+1 Media Group, a Ukrainian media conglomerate, on Monday said they wrote to media companies worldwide, asking them to stop transmitting Russia's propaganda-filled TV channels like RT.

"More than 20 local providers from Poland, Australia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Canada, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Germany, as well as representatives of international corporations have already responded to the request," 1+1 Media Group said in a press release on Monday.

"As of 26 February they have started the turning off of the propagandistic TV channels on their satellites, cable networks and across other platforms and sources."

YouTube also blocked RT from generating any advertising revenue from any of its content placed on Google’s video streaming service.

"In light of extraordinary circumstances in Ukraine, we're taking a number of actions,” Michael Aciman, global communications and public affairs manager at Google, said in a statement. 

"We're pausing a number of channels' ability to monetize on YouTube, including several Russian channels affiliated with recent sanctions. We will be significantly limiting recommendations to these channels. And in response to a government request, we've restricted access to RT and a number of other channels in Ukraine."

In the United Kingdom where RT still remains on the air, that country's broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, on Monday announced in a statement that it had " opened 15 new investigations into the due impartiality of news programs on the RT news channel."

"We have observed a significant increase in the number of programs on the RT service that warrant investigation under our Broadcasting Code," Ofcom said.

A DStv subscriber Jared Myroff has started an online petition on change.org that already gained traction, saying that RT is "a tool of the greater Russia propaganda machine" and that is "currently using its air time to spread misinformation on the invasion that Russia has undertaken on Ukraine".

"As a DStv customer, part of your fees goes towards DStv to paying for this channel to have air time in our country and poison the minds of our citizens."

"Essentially our MultiChoice subscriptions help fund Russia and Putin's propaganda machine. The goal of this petition is to gain the attention of the top management of MultiChoice and to remove the Russia Today "news" channel from our screens," the petition states.