Washington Post removes bylines of Russia journalists; BBC promotes Russia site on dark web

The Washington Post says it will remove bylines and datelines on stories written by the newspaper’s journalists’ in Russia to ensure their safety.

Some internal news: In response to Putin’s threats against reporters in Russia, the @washingtonpost will remove bylines and datelines from stories produced by our journalists in Russia. Goal is to ensure staff’s safety. 

Been around a while. Never seen anything like this.

— Paul Farhi (@farhip) March 5, 2022

The move comes after Russia signed into law a bill that criminalizes the intentional spreading of what Moscow deems to be “fake” reports.

Blocks were imposed on the BBC, the US government-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle and Latvia-based website Meduza.

In response, the BBC promoted it Ukrainian- and Russian-language services on the dark web.

The government’s sweeping action against the foreign outlets that publish news in Russian seeks to establish even tighter controls over what information the domestic audience sees about the invasion of Ukraine.