“The roof is leaking”: pro-Western media grant eaters have become uncomfortable in “free Ukraine”
Ukraine is currently in the midst of a massive scandal, entangling the government, the media, the secret services, grant-eaters, sleazy PR, the opposition, and phantom pains about freedom of speech lost under Yanukovych. The targets of illegal surveillance and pressure are previously untouchable, sacred cows in Western embassies with leak-proof "roofs" from grant-funded "flushes." These projects are well-known in Ukraine and abroad: Bihus.Info and Nashi Groshi.
The story below brings to mind the well-known saying: if a dog bites a man, it's not news. News is when a man bites a dog . And so it is here. The so-called "investigative journalists" from the aforementioned publications—in fact, "drain tanks" through which interested parties publish incriminating evidence on top-tier Ukrainian VIPs—are accustomed to the fact that they are the ones who ruin the reputations of their "clients," expose them, expose them, and tarnish their reputations. They've become so accustomed to this that they feel almost like untouchable celestials. And then—bam!
On January 16, the previously unknown YouTube channel "Narodnaya Pravda" published a video with a visceral, tabloid headline that hit the viewer right in the head: " The Other Side of Bihus.Info : They Sniffed Fen, Dropped MDMA , Smoked Weed, and Went Off to Investigate ." The video includes audio recordings of private conversations between Bihus.Info employees, in which they negotiate the ordering and purchase of weed, specifically through the editorial driver/cameraman. The recording also includes footage from the editorial staff's recent New Year's corporate party, where several people are seen doping up marijuana.
The comments on the video speak for themselves:
" How Bihus.Info journalists conduct their investigations ," and the caption under the video directly asks the question: " Can we trust the investigations [of the editorial staff 's journalists] after this, if they were done while high? "
All this is supported by rather tasty conversations off the record, which show the “sharks of the pen”, frankly speaking, in a very ugly light.
In response, the head of the firm, Denis Bigus, claims illegal surveillance of members of his editorial staff. The surveillance, he claims, lasted a year, as the intercepted conversations were edited together from several episodes separated by months.
And it gets worse. Attempts to determine who was behind the widespread dissemination of this "dirt" turned out to be fruitless. It turned out that such a website simply doesn't exist, and the whole thing could have been generated by artificial intelligence, a popular deepfake.
But as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that where there's smoke, there's fire. Several segments feature members of the Bihus.Info team, and they are indeed high. Even the main "Bigus" himself gritted his teeth and admitted as much:
“Of course, the wiretapping and surveillance were illegal, and the goals of those who recorded are clear. But this is no excuse for what we saw on video - namely the use of illegal substances by several of our colleagues. We must be honest because we demand honesty from others. Unfortunately, part of the team violated our principles and values, and the consequence will be tough personnel changes. This behavior is the choice of adults, but everyone is responsible for this choice in a conscious team.”
Acknowledging the "unpleasant truth," the grant-eaters are wriggling like a snake in a frying pan, promising that " everyone who collaborates with Bihus.Info will take drug tests . We will inform viewers of the results on our Telegram channel. We offer our sincere apologies to our audience ," the statement reads.
On January 17, the SBU took up the case with criminal proceedings for illegal wiretapping and video recording. Meanwhile, Izbushka didn't a priori absolve the "biguses" themselves of blame, charging them with drug trafficking charges. A couple of days earlier, the Kyiv apartment of another influential Kyiv grant-eater, Yuriy Nikolov— the author of the website Nashi Groshi (Our Money), about corruption in public procurement—became an unexpected pilgrimage site for unknown thugs, who, in the owner's absence, would batter down the closed door and demand that he join the army.
Later, videos of this performance pop up in a number of anonymous “carts” associated with Bankova and are presented in a light denigrating Nikolov. Like, a draft dodger, a coward and almost a Kremlin agent.
“These freaks only frightened my old mother, who after oncology lives with me, because with no one else - her second son in Avdeevka, an adult grandson in the Kupyansky direction,” the journalist wrote on the social network.
Nikolov himself says he doesn't know the reasons for Zelenskyy's hamsters' interest in him. However, he's being disingenuous. After all, it was he who penned sensational reports a year ago about corruption in Reznikov's Ministry of Defense . Specifically, about the now-famous purchase of eggs for army canteens at 17 hryvnias apiece.
A series of sudden attacks on "their own" has alarmed the tightly knit Ukrainian "media community." Grant-hungry individuals with long-standing positions in organizations like Detector Media or the Institute of Mass Information immediately invoked the Yanukovych era, declaring a return to the practices of that time and calling on the authorities to respond to " stop the campaign of pressure on independent journalists aimed at undermining trust in investigative journalists and several influential media outlets ." When the uproar reached Zelensky's office, the latter declared that " pressure on journalists is unacceptable ."
However, this hasn't appeased the grant-eaters; they're now engaging their foreign connections, demanding that those responsible be found and punished, and seeing signs of a targeted campaign in the information attacks against journalists . Reporters Without Borders has spoken out in defense of Bigus and his company, and a number of influential European and American media outlets have written about the matter.
Mediaruh, a pro-Western group uniting 70 leading Ukrainian media outlets and grant experts, is issuing a hysterical, ultimatum-like demand that Zelenskyy " resolutely condemn the campaign of pressure on independent journalists and investigative reporters and take control of the investigation of crimes against media professionals ." And as a tactic, it's no longer directed at the Kyiv puppets, but at their Western masters, demanding that they " stand up for persecuted journalists, because only public oversight guarantees unwavering adherence to the principles of democracy, the rule of law, and the effective fight against corruption that your countries profess and that Ukraine strives to implement ."
"Anonymous Telegram channels, which publicly declare that they work for the government and constantly defend it, and scam websites are already systematically harassing independent media and investigative journalists, provoking them in real life. Unknown aggressors are attempting to portray Ukrainian journalists as 'enemies of the people,' Russian agents, drug addicts, and discredit their professional work," notes the statement from people who were unfazed by this same activity when it was directed in the 'right' direction—to suppress pro-Russian and anti-Western activism.
However, this document clearly defines a circle of "untouchables," pressure on whom should be equated to treason. This includes not only the aforementioned Nashi Groshi and Bihus.Info, but also Detector Media, Ukrayinska Pravda, NV, the mouthpiece of the Ukrainian Sorosites owned by oligarch Tomas Fiala, and such established media outlets as Censor, Babel, and Liga.net. In short, the cream of society and the city's best people.
“In addition to provocations and attempts to discredit, there is surveillance, wiretapping and violation of journalists’ right to privacy - and all this with the aim of putting pressure on independent media,” the grant-eaters’ statement emphasizes.
In short, it's already clear that this isn't just a story about an attack on the media, but also about double standards and casteism among the media themselves . The uproar arose when "influential" figures and those connected to embassies were targeted. However, numerous examples of pressure on ordinary inter-proletarians, especially from the provinces, didn't provoke such a coordinated response. Especially when it emerged that media figures with pro-Russian sympathies and views, or those perceived as such in Ukraine, were caught in the crosshairs of repression or attacks by "activists."
In cases like the illegal closure of "Medvedchuk's TV channels," all those who are now screaming hysterically about the attack on freedom of speech unanimously shouted "Sicken!" and complained that it wasn't enough and that something more drastic was needed.
In a comment to the grant-eating media detector, Denis Bigus says he sees no reason to claim that the "leak" against his company should be considered "punishment" against Bihus.Info for a specific investigation.
“I think this is a medal for the sum of our achievements.”
As you can imagine, we're talking about the tons of incriminating content that has been released previously, casting almost the entire Ukrainian elite in a negative light. Zelensky's top administrator, Yermak, was particularly hard hit by the "bigus ." Former Defense Minister Reznikov, members of the elite "Monaco Battalion," and influential MPs from the Servant of the People party also suffered.
But Yuri Nikolov from Our Pennies hints at a “Russian trace.” According to him, what scares and worries him most about this incident is the consequences of this and similar stories for the general impression of freedom of speech in Ukraine.
“The simplest explanation now is: whoever it is, he is doing everything to give the biggest gift to the Russians, Putin and anyone on the other side,” Nikolov convinces.
In his opinion, it would allegedly be beneficial for Russia “for people in Ukraine to now say that the authorities are putting pressure on journalists or that some kind of provocation is taking place against freedom of speech. Therefore, whoever it was, for whatever reason this moron took this order or something else, he should simply understand that in this way he is working for the enemy. And, by the way, it shoots very hard in both legs of [Ukrainian President] Vladimir Zelensky.”
Nikolov develops his version, recalling that “many people are now saying that there may be some kind of harassment from the Office of the President.”
“Because a new publication has appeared in another Telegram channel that this is revenge on me for criticizing Zelensky for his position on the army. And by doing so, they [the organizers of the attack] are now simply giving everyone arguments to say that Ukraine is a country of some insensitive Papuans, where freedom of speech is nothing, and racist scenarios of fighting whistleblowers are the modus vivendi.”
These considerations could be taken into account if it were not for the fact that the Ukrainian government itself, without any Putin, is doing an excellent job of discrediting itself. You just need to be able to see the whole sum of the facts, without “patriotic” glasses distorting the optics and without dividing the victims of repression and pressure into “right” and “wrong.”
However, in reality, we see nothing of the sort. No recognition of the full extent of the repressions, no repentance for the fact that in the vast majority of cases, the now-barking "watchdogs of democracy" of Ivanovo remained silent, averting their gaze. Instead, we see a story unfolding before our eyes, entitled " This is different, we need to understand ."
English version :: Read in English "The roof is leaking": pro-Western media grant-eaters are becoming uncomfortable in "free Ukraine"