Four journalists killed in Ukraine by Russian forces

Two American journalists and two Ukrainian journalists are dead as a result of violence from Russian troops. Protests erupted across the globe in response to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian crisis, with Ukrainians and allies gathering at Trafalgar Square in Central London. Graphic by HARRY LADA, Art Director

Journalism, although an important profession, can also be extremely dangerous. Whether journalists are in a war zone or dealing with controversial topics, there are always risks involved.

Brent Renaud, an American journalist and documentary filmmaker, was fatally shot in Ukraine March 13 while working on a documentary about refugees titled “Tipping Point.” The next day, Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and Oleksandra Kuvshynova, the 24-year-old Ukrainian journalist traveling with him, were also killed by Russian forces outside of Kyiv.

“You're liable to upset people (as a journalist),” said Jeff Swimmer, a documentary professor in Chapman’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. “(People) may feel you got your facts wrong (or that) you portrayed them wrong and they’ll be upset. In most situations, people will keep to themselves, or maybe there will be a lawsuit. (But) in some situations, that same anger can lead to violence.”

Zakrzewski and Kuvshynova were riding alongside Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall when the vehicle came under fire. Hall was the only passenger to survive the attack, though he was hospitalized in Ukraine with serious injuries and later evacuated out of the country.

Camera operator Yevhenii Sakun, who worked for Ukrainian television station LIVE, was killed by Russian shelling March 1 along with four civilians, marking the first known death of a journalist in Ukraine during the ongoing invasion.

But Brent Renaud would be the second, after Russian troops opened fire on his vehicle at a refugee checkpoint in Irpin. Even so, Swimmer affirmed that Brent Renaud’s cinematic legacy will survive in the wake of his passing.

“(Brent Renaud) liked to work alone and that made (his job) even more dangerous; he was really fascinated with refugees and issues of migration with conflict,” Swimmer said. “I don't think he was a guy who sought out dangers or who was reckless at all. He was just following stories that he was really interested in covering.”

In his early career, Brent Renaud worked alongside his brother, Craig Renaud, on countless projects. This included the series "Off to War," which was centered around Arkansas reservists in the Iraq conflict. The brothers also covered the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. 

But after the birth of his son, Craig Renaud gave up international travel and Brent Renaud was on his own. 

“He was an incredibly brave and courageous filmmaker who followed his instincts about what was a good story," Swimmer said. "He was not interested in (making a lot of) films. He really wanted to get to know the characters, get to know the struggles they were dealing with. It's a really brave approach to documentary filmmaking. (His death is) a terrible loss.”

Despite the fact that he does not find himself in active war zones, Swimmer said he has faced his own risks being a documentary filmmaker when visiting Sumatra, Indonesia after the tsunami in 2004. 

“It was really difficult because there were about a quarter of a million deaths (due to the tsunami),” Swimmer said. “There were aftershocks going on from the earthquake, day and night. There were bodies everywhere and it was a really grueling time. But as a filmmaker, you want to tell important stories. You want to be in the center of where history is happening.”

Although there are risks involved, documentary filmmaking also presents amazing opportunities. July Rocha, a sophomore broadcast journalism and documentary major, said his favorite part is being able to interview a variety of people. 

“I want (interviewees) to reveal as much as they can to me, because I'm really interested in figuring out how they perceive life and their perspective on things,” Rocha said. “(The full interviews are not) what you see in the film, because (in the film) you’ve edited it. So it's more raw than what ends up in the final cut.”

Kyle Kjer, a senior broadcast journalism and documentary major, spent time in the Marine Corps before finding himself at Chapman. He said that having a background in the military has helped him to better understand the journalistic endeavors of someone like Brent Renaud. 

“In America, we discovered how important the press can be in these types of situations," Kjer said. "(For example) like Vietnam, the war in Iraq, and Afghanistan, and now (Ukraine). We don’t censor our press. We allow coverage to occur much more fluidly now than we used to, and you can see the effects.”

Kjer said that media coverage is important during conflicts like the Russo-Ukrainian crisis, because it gives people in other countries the opportunity to see coverage of important events. 

“(As journalists), we are fighting our own war with words to try and save lives by showing the other side,” Kjer said. “I guess you could say we are showing the story that's occurring before it gets to a bigger conflict, where there is fighting with bullets and explosives.”