US- Ukraine - Austin - USAGM
Metadata
- US- Ukraine - Austin - USAGM
- February 15, 2024
- Content Type Package
- Language English
- Transcript/Script English PF IS UKRAINE RECKONING HEADLINE: Group Trains Conflict Journalists to Collect War Crimes Evidence TEASER: The role of media in ensuring accountability for war crimes is increasing, with journalists in Ukraine trained to collect evidence for legal proceedings. PUBLISHED AT: 02/14/2024 at 7:32 pm BYLINE: Anna Chernikova DATELINE: Kyiv EDITING: Vladyslav Smilianets VIDEOGRAPHER: Eugene Shynkar PRODUCER: SCRIPT EDITORS: JJ, DLJ VIDEO SOURCES: VOA ORIGINAL; REUTERS PLATFORMS: WEB __ TV X RADIO __ TRT: 3:18 VID APPROVED BY: mia TYPE: TVR NOTES: For questions and final review, Anna’s email is: annachernikova.b@gmail.com Include Jessica Jerreat jjerreat@voanews.com on final review. This is for House and also Inside Story on Feb 15 )) ((INTRO)) [[Journalists covering conflicts around the world have unique access to the scenes of war crimes, but there are few mechanisms to use that content as evidence in a court of law. The Reckoning Project aims to change that. For VOA, Anna Chernikova reports from Kyiv. ]] ((NARRATOR)) The Reckoning Project aims to be a game changer in the world of human rights and investigative journalism. ((NARRATOR)) Co-founded by Janine di Giovanni, a human rights reporter and investigator in conflict zones, the project fights for justice and accountability in times of war: in the court of public opinion and the courts of law. ((Janine di Giovanni, The Reckoning Project Co-Founder (FEMALE IN ENGLISH))) ((Zoom)) “I've always worked in conflict zones, war zones with the aftermath of war and I've always taken testimonies of survivors. //cutshots// Someone has to keep a record of that. //cutshots// I think all wars, and all places where people suffer, should be treated equally.” ((NARRATOR)) The Reckoning Project combines advocacy and journalism, training reporters and researchers to record, collect and conserve witness statements and testimonies so that they can be used in legal cases. That means, among other things, that reporters must ask nonleading questions and not coach witnesses they speak with on how to answer. The journalists are not affiliated with any court system and receive support from foundations and nonprofits. The interviews sometimes feature in news reports, but di Giovanni says there's a bigger purpose. ((Janine di Giovanni, The Reckoning Project Co-founder (FEMALE IN ENGLISH)) ((Zoom)) “In this short term, working with prosecutors, working with advocacy, putting pressure on the U.N. or governments. In the long term: to keep a lasting memorial of what happened.” ((NARRATOR)) Two years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the project is laying the groundwork for future war crimes trials. ((NARRATOR)) Nataliya Gumenyuk leads a Kyiv-based team focused on talking with survivors and witnesses to war crimes. ((Nataliya Gumenyuk, The Reckoning Project (FEMALE IN ENGLISH))) “Everybody to whom we talk potentially is eligible to speak at court. In cooperation with international analysts and lawyers, we developed this methodology to where what they say is not just journalistic material but also can be used as evidence for the prosecutors, for the law enforcement in Ukraine and abroad.” ((NARRATOR)) An important task is to prove that certain war crimes are not an aberration, but part of a pattern perpetrated by the Russian army. ((NARRATOR)) Moscow denies carrying out atrocities, even as the U.N. documents Russian tactics causing over 10,000 civilian deaths, its abduction of hundreds, possibly thousands of children, and use of rape as a weapon. ((Nataliya Gumenyuk, The Reckoning Project (FEMALE IN ENGLISH)) “We see that the same commanders are still shelling the rockets indiscriminately into the civilian infrastructure: into the train station, houses, shopping malls, and things like that, and they act the same way, they torture the people, they electrocute them, the very same way in Berdyansk and Kherson, in Kakhovka, and as it was in Izium.” ((NARRATOR)) With the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the U.S. unsealing war crimes charges against Russian military personnel, the work of The Reckoning Project and others is likely to play an important role in future hearings. ((ANNA CHERNIKOVA, VOA NEWS, KYIV))
- Transcript/Script PF IS UKRAINE RECKONING HEADLINE: Group Trains Conflict Journalists to Collect War Crimes Evidence TEASER: The role of media in ensuring accountability for war crimes is increasing, with journalists in Ukraine trained to collect evidence for legal proceedings. PUBLISHED AT: 02/14/2024 at 7:32 pm BYLINE: Anna Chernikova DATELINE: Kyiv EDITING: Vladyslav Smilianets VIDEOGRAPHER: Eugene Shynkar PRODUCER: SCRIPT EDITORS: JJ, DLJ VIDEO SOURCES: VOA ORIGINAL; REUTERS PLATFORMS: WEB __ TV X RADIO __ TRT: 3:18 VID APPROVED BY: mia TYPE: TVR NOTES: For questions and final review, Anna’s email is: annachernikova.b@gmail.com Include Jessica Jerreat jjerreat@voanews.com on final review. This is for House and also Inside Story on Feb 15 )) ((INTRO)) [[Journalists covering conflicts around the world have unique access to the scenes of war crimes, but there are few mechanisms to use that content as evidence in a court of law. The Reckoning Project aims to change that. For VOA, Anna Chernikova reports from Kyiv. ]] ((NARRATOR)) The Reckoning Project aims to be a game changer in the world of human rights and investigative journalism. ((NARRATOR)) Co-founded by Janine di Giovanni, a human rights reporter and investigator in conflict zones, the project fights for justice and accountability in times of war: in the court of public opinion and the courts of law. ((Janine di Giovanni, The Reckoning Project Co-Founder (FEMALE IN ENGLISH))) ((Zoom)) “I've always worked in conflict zones, war zones with the aftermath of war and I've always taken testimonies of survivors. //cutshots// Someone has to keep a record of that. //cutshots// I think all wars, and all places where people suffer, should be treated equally.” ((NARRATOR)) The Reckoning Project combines advocacy and journalism, training reporters and researchers to record, collect and conserve witness statements and testimonies so that they can be used in legal cases. That means, among other things, that reporters must ask nonleading questions and not coach witnesses they speak with on how to answer. The journalists are not affiliated with any court system and receive support from foundations and nonprofits. The interviews sometimes feature in news reports, but di Giovanni says there's a bigger purpose. ((Janine di Giovanni, The Reckoning Project Co-founder (FEMALE IN ENGLISH)) ((Zoom)) “In this short term, working with prosecutors, working with advocacy, putting pressure on the U.N. or governments. In the long term: to keep a lasting memorial of what happened.” ((NARRATOR)) Two years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the project is laying the groundwork for future war crimes trials. ((NARRATOR)) Nataliya Gumenyuk leads a Kyiv-based team focused on talking with survivors and witnesses to war crimes. ((Nataliya Gumenyuk, The Reckoning Project (FEMALE IN ENGLISH))) “Everybody to whom we talk potentially is eligible to speak at court. In cooperation with international analysts and lawyers, we developed this methodology to where what they say is not just journalistic material but also can be used as evidence for the prosecutors, for the law enforcement in Ukraine and abroad.” ((NARRATOR)) An important task is to prove that certain war crimes are not an aberration, but part of a pattern perpetrated by the Russian army. ((NARRATOR)) Moscow denies carrying out atrocities, even as the U.N. documents Russian tactics causing over 10,000 civilian deaths, its abduction of hundreds, possibly thousands of children, and use of rape as a weapon. ((Nataliya Gumenyuk, The Reckoning Project (FEMALE IN ENGLISH)) “We see that the same commanders are still shelling the rockets indiscriminately into the civilian infrastructure: into the train station, houses, shopping malls, and things like that, and they act the same way, they torture the people, they electrocute them, the very same way in Berdyansk and Kherson, in Kakhovka, and as it was in Izium.” ((NARRATOR)) With the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the U.S. unsealing war crimes charges against Russian military personnel, the work of The Reckoning Project and others is likely to play an important role in future hearings. ((ANNA CHERNIKOVA, VOA NEWS, KYIV))
- NewsML Media Topics Conflict, War and Peace
- Topic Tags Austin
- Network VOA
- Embargo Date February 14, 2024 20:15 EST
- Description English Journalists covering conflicts around the world have unique access to the scenes of war crimes, but there are few mechanisms to use that content as evidence in a court of law. The Reckoning Project aims to change that. For VOA, Anna Chernikova reports from Kyiv.
- Brand / Language Service Voice of America - English