German newspaper Bild announces boycott of 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia
The German newspaper, Bild, announced their boycott of Russia, where the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup will be held in the summer. The German newspaper refuses to send their journalists to the largest football tournament due to censorship by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to Bild, media representatives’ freedom of speech was restricted.
"Putin imposed censorship on the precursor to the World Cup. Journalists were only allowed to report on Confederations Cup football matches. The president of Russia will not allow journalists to report freely," the article, Bild Boycotts Putin's Tournament reads.
It was noted that in addition, the visiting media are "denied freedom" by limiting their work only to the sport venues. They are not allowed to write about anything other than football or travel to other cities, but only those where games will take place.
"A journalist who cannot report everything he sees is not a journalist, but a propagandist," the author of the publication, Matthias Brügelmann wrote.