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Sezin Öney, originally from Turkey, is based in Budapest and Istanbul. She her journalism career as a foreign news reporter in 1999 and she turned into political analysis as a columnist since 2007. Her interest in her main academic subject area of populism was sparked almost decade ago; and now she focuses specifically on populist leadership, and populism in Turkey and Hungary. She studied international relations, nationalism, international law, Jewish history, comparative politics and discourse analysis across Europe.
A Journalist Contributing To "Fake News" By Staging His Own Death
On 29th of May, bad news originating from Ukraine spread like wildfire: dissident journalist Arkady Babchenko had been shot just outside his apartment in Kiev, as he went out to buy bread. His wife found him bleeding to death, and Babchenko eventually died in the ambulance on his way to the hospital.
Babchenko became resurrected the next morning at a press conference: The murder had been staged, supposedly to catch Russian operatives actually plotting Babchenko’s assassination. The journalist himself alleged that he had no other choice to save his life. It has not yet been explained in a convincing manner whether why there was no other alternative to faking the murder. Apparently, even his wife had no idea about the plot, and Babchenko apologised to her.
This article by Sophie Pinkham, a young expert on Ukraine and self-declared adorer of the country, is one of the many articles expressing shock and disbelief that some scheme like this could actually be staged. As long time Moscow correspondent Shaun Walker also wrote for the Guardian in his article "The Babchenko stunt may end up feeding the Kremlin spin machine":
There’s no doubt that we can expect the “Babchenko defence” to be used as Moscow’s stock response to reports or even photographs of various Russia-linked atrocities for years to come.
And in Pinkham's words:
In its endless one-upmanship against Russia, Ukraine has once again cut off its nose to spite its face, severely undermining its own credibility and that of journalists. This stunt also seems a gratuitous blow to what is left of public sincerity, compassion, and trust. Next time a journalist is killed in Ukraine (and, unfortunately, it seems certain that there will be a next time), even the least cynical observers, the kinds of people who wept all night over Babchenko’s supposed death, will likely wonder whether they should believe in a tragic death until they’ve inspected the corpse themselves.
Sadly, that's the "true side" of the story.
