For journalists, the confusion surrounding Russia’s attack on Ukraine deepened the challenge of covering it — and made one CNN reporter’s stumbling upon an airport under attack Thursday all the more remarkable. While Russia’s invasion had been an ominous possibility for months, it unfolded with little reliable information from the attackers. Many reporters depended upon sporadic audio and video of bombs exploding in the distance, and details from Ukrainians and American intelligence, to try to tell the story of citizens in a Western-styled democracy suddenly plunged into war. CNN’s Matthew Chance followed a tip from a Ukrainian source when he and a crew rushed to an airport about 20 miles outside the capital city of Kyiv. Russians had attacked, but by the time Chance had arrived, he was informed that Ukrainians had regained control of the airport. He approached some soldiers guarding the gates for confirmation and was told he was mistaken. He thought he was talking to Ukrainians. “I said, ‘Where are they then?’” Chance told The Associated Press later. “He said, ‘We’re the Russians.’ We were like, what? We had no idea. The whole complexion changed. Suddenly, I realized we’d stumbled upon the advance position of Russian special airborne forces who had been deployed a couple of hours ago to take the airport.” Chance was composed enough to ask for permission to do a live report. He was told he’d better hurry. “I don’t think I’d ever driven so confidently up to a Russian checkpoint as I did today,” he said. “We didn’t realize they were Russians, of course. It could have gone, in retrospect, not very well.” Russian information was difficult to come by and not considered trustworthy. CBS News’ Charlie D’Agata said the network was sometimes able to cross-check details with Russian sources. “We do have to take that with a pinch of salt because the propaganda machine on the Russian side has been just off the hook over the last few weeks,” D’Agata said, “and it’s sometimes difficult for our journalists to decipher what’s right and what’s wrong.” ABC News correspondent Martha Raddatz said Ukrainians sources and, in particular, American intelligence, have been a solid source of information on Russian moves while they were happening. Information from the Russian Defense Ministry was sporadic and occasionally defensive; one announcement Thursday stated that military, and not civilian, locations were being targeted. In retrospect, a new Russian regulation adopted several months ago was both chilling for journalists and a hint of what was to come. The regulation made it illegal for someone not registered as a foreign agent in Russia revealed information such as troop movements or positions to any foreign entity. “You don’t get the kind of access with the Russians that you do with other countries, other militaries,” Chance said. “The majority of information I get about this conflict comes from the Ukrainian side. They’ve got much more of a culture of openness, where the culture in Russia is much more closed and opaque, particularly when you’re an American journalist or working with an American country.” Information from Moscow immediately leading up to the conflict was considered suspect because it was evident that much of it had been recorded in advance, Trey Yingst, a Fox News reporter in Kyiv, said. Yingst spent much of Thursday doing […]

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