"Save our guys"

LifeNews drew attention to the kidnapping of its journalists with a flash mob #SaveOurGuys on social networks

In mid-May, two journalists from the LifeNews TV channel were kidnapped in Ukraine. In an effort to attract media attention to what is happening, NewsMedia holding employees, their friends, celebrities and ordinary users supported the #SaveOurGuys flash mob on social networks.

A few days ago, the National Guard of Ukraine detained two journalists from the LifeNews TV channel, Marat Saychenko and Oleg Sidyakin, near Kramatorsk. According to RIA Novosti , they were charged with “promoting terrorism” in eastern Ukraine. Since Sunday, May 18, the channel’s employees have stopped communicating.

Despite the appeal of the Russian authorities through the OSCE demanding the release of the journalists, they were both taken to Kyiv for interrogation. Although no formal charges have been brought against Saichenko and Sidyakin, LifeNews sent its own lawyer to Kyiv to assist the detainees. The TV channel does not have more accurate information about their location and condition.

In order to attract international attention to the problem, LifeNews CEO Ashot Gabrelyanov initiated a flash mob by taking a photo with a sign #SaveOurGuys - “Save Our Guys.”

On the morning of Tuesday, May 20, the official account of the Russian Foreign Ministry also joined the campaign.

All day long, photos with signs were published by stars of Russian show business: Timati, Mikhail Galustyan, Tina Kandelaki, Dima Bilan and other friends of Gabrelyanov. At the time of writing, more than 3 thousand posts have been published on Instagram alone using the hashtag #SaveOurGuys (many of which, however, are screenshots, reposts or duplicate images).

Let the Western colleagues of our journalists tell us how Russian journalists are treated in Ukraine #SaveOurGuys

— Oleg Gazmanov (@OlegGazmanov) May 19, 2014

Subsequently, the online flash mob grew from the Internet into real life. According to the Izvestia newspaper , across the country, students took to the streets of cities, holding posters with the hashtag.

The #SaveOurGuys flash mob also spread beyond Russia: the blog Mashable , which usually rarely reviews political phenomena, wrote about the campaign on social networks.

However, not everyone supported LifeNews. Ukrainian sources reported that Saichenko and Sidyakin were transporting weapons , and did not enter the country as representatives of the media . US State Department spokeswoman Jenn Psaki suggested that they may be smugglers, not journalists.

Question: if, say, in Tatarstan a reporter is caught for filming militants preparing to shell an airport, will this be an infringement of freedom of speech?

— Vladimir Varfolomeev (@Varfolomeev) May 19, 2014

Other journalists reproached LifeNews for the fact that the channel did not support its colleagues who were imprisoned for filming on the Arctic Sunrise ship.

Kieron Bryan, an English journalist who spent 2 months in jail for filming Greenpeace, is also calling for the release of Life members. Life didn't support him

— Feldman (@EvgenyFeldman) May 20, 2014

There were some jokes too.

At the beginning of May, a similar campaign was held in the United States under the slogan #BringBackOurGirls - “Bring Back Our Girls.” It was dedicated to the kidnapping of 223 young girls from a school in northeastern Nigeria by members of the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram. The name Boko Haram means "Western education is prohibited."

Its main driver was US First Lady Michelle Obama, who posted a photo on Twitter holding a sign. (the “-mo” indicates that the message was personally approved by Michelle Obama)

Our prayers are with the missing Nigerian girls and their families. It's time to #BringBackOurGirls . -mo pic.twitter.com/glDKDotJRt

— The First Lady (@FLOTUS) May 7, 2014

The tweet was published a day after Barack Obama announced that a detachment of military officers and lawyers was being sent to Nigeria to search for the missing girls.

The flash mob was supported by popular Hollywood stars, including the entire cast of The Expendables 3 during the Cannes Film Festival.

Top model Irina Shayk, the girlfriend of football player Cristiano Ronaldo, also joined the campaign, but she was condemned for her nudity in the photograph, which gave the campaign a sexual overtone.

Michelle Obama herself got it too. Some users turned her photo against her, hinting at murders using drones in Muslim countries, reports RT .

Ashot Gabrelyanov compared the LifeNews action with a similar #SaveKessab flash mob that took place at the end of March , the goal of which was to attract the attention of the world media to what was happening in the village of Kessab in northern Syria. At that time, world celebrities of Armenian origin were involved in promoting the hashtag, speaking out against the alleged local genocide of Armenians. In Russia, the movement was supported by Margarita Simonyan and the Gabrelyanov family.

@barabanch Only after Kim Kardashian published the picture #SaveKessab of America. The media began coverage. Until then there was silence. If you don't know, keep quiet

— Ashot Gabrelyanov (@gabrelyanov) May 19, 2014

Save your games,
Nikita Likhachev,
TJournal

#Scandal #Tina_Kandelaki #Timati #Aram_Gabrelyanov #Ukraine #Ashot_Gabrelyanov #NewsMedia #Lifenews #clashes_in_Ukraine #Vladimir_Soloviev #genocide_in_Kessab #Jennifer_Psaki #SaveOurGuys #Oleg_Sidyakin #Marat_Saychenko #Mikhail_Galustyan #Mar iya_Kozhevnikova #Oleg_Gazmanov #National_Guard of Ukraine #BringBackOurGirls #Michelle_Obama