A good rule of thumb when you are working as a reporter is to never become the news yourself. This is precisely what happened to the Sky News Chief Correspondent, Briton – Stuart Ramsay when he reported from Romania claiming that he uncovered a secret network of Romanian arms smugglers and suppliers to any Islamic terrorists willing to buy from them – which proved not to be such a big secret later on.
It became mysterious, confusing and extremely public or a classic case of journalistic pedophilia. This is not to say that Stuart Ramsay is not doing a great deal of good work. He is a risk taker journalist and kudos to him for that.
The Eastern European Gun Runners report from Romania was broadcast on Sky News on August 7 2016 in the wake of the Paris attacks. Romania has accused the British reporter of fabricating the whole story.
The known facts :
- Sky News was and is defending the story on gun smuggling in Romania by claiming it is a real story.
- The Romanian arms smugglers are not real traders of death, one of them used to work for Vodafone( the mobile phone company) and was a keen hunter.
- The Romanians involved, Aurelian Mihai Szanto, Attila Csaba Pantics and Levente Pantics have been arrested after the Sky News aired the video made by Stuart Ramsay, thus cutting short their careers in weapon supplies to the terrorists.
- The Romanian weapons suppliers had no business plan in place and no experience in arms dealing, unless they wanted free marketing.The video ends with Stuart Ramsay himself telling the viewers that the arms dealers will expect him to be a buyer next time they meet.Since there was a cameraman present filming them and they were aware of it, we can safely assume that the Romanians knew beforehand that the meeting is not an opportunity to sell weapons.
- The weapons on display are real but not illegal, the AK-47 is a modified version used for hunting.
- Stuart Ramsay is not a newbie when it comes to reporting.
Romanian media reaction
Stuart Ramsay
The journalist from Sky News did not react well to the accusations made by the Romanian authorities, instead he took to Twitter to mock the accusations brought against him.
Ok I’m genuinely laughing. Why would anyone face charges for exposing a fact? It’s real. Wake up.
— Stuart Ramsay (@ramsaysky) August 11, 2016
He comes across as a very puerile individual to say the least and that is not an overstatement.At the time his unprofessional response seemed genuine.But you have to be a bit weird to do his job.
He clearly misjudged the effect his reporting would have not only on Romania who has very strict gun control laws and has taken an almost daily battering in the British press before the Brexit vote , but also the effect on Sky News, whom now have no choice but to stick with his side of the story. For now at least.
He wants to be perceived as a Pro-European.
“There is no subterfuge here. They knew we were a news organisation wanting to illustrate how getting a weapon is relatively easy and they believed we were going to buy them.”
Stuart Ramsay
What is definite is that Stuart Ramsay will consider Romania from now on as the most dangerous country in the world for his personal safety, because Romania might arrest him. The Romanian investigation is not completed and a spell in a Romanian prison is not a holiday.
Romania’s DIICOT has the option to charge him and have the British authorities deliver him for questioning by using the European Arrest Mandate, bizarrely – the Romanian authorities chose not to.
However, the question if he was tricked by a conman, along with the ‘gun dealers’ or if he is a rogue reporter remains unanswered. Perhaps Sky News could send another reporter to Romania to investigate.
Could Stuart Ramsay , Sky News Chief Correspondent be innocent? Only he knows and for a reporter, he doesn’t talk much about it,when he could milk it ’till blood comes out. Or write a book about it.
Ok there is really a lot happening in the world and I’m focusing on more award winning journalism yeah !
— Stuart Ramsay (@ramsaysky) August 11, 2016
Journalism can be a dirty business, like the legendary case of a reporter who threw some coins in a rubbish skip just to get some shots with children rummaging in them and claiming later on that the children were looking for food.
Romanian investigators accuse British journalists of fabricating arms trading investigation
‘Shame on you, Sky News!’ Romania threatens reporter over ‘staged’ terror report
19 Comments
A millionaire landlord accused of sending an email to a man claiming he would be shot by the Romanian mafia has had his charges dropped.
Fergus Wilson appeared at Maidstone Magistrates’ Court this week charged with sending a threatening message for the purpose of causing distress or anxiety.
The 69-year-old, of Heath Road, Boughton Monchelsea, had been due to stand trial on March 27 following allegations that the email had been sent via his letting agent.
What are you talking about ?
A Sky News team was near Kyiv on Monday when they came under fire. Camera operator Richie Mockler took two rounds to his body armour, chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay was wounded. The team are now safely back in the UK.
https://news.sky.com/video/ukraine-invasion-sky-news-team-under-fire-as-ambushed-near-kyiv-12557676
Stuart Ramsey is a proven liar. He is now in Mexico claiming “half” of the co-called Caravan in Tijuana is made up of children. This is blatantly false. Stuart is a propaganda pusher…not a journalist.
I must admit it was my first thought too, but I virtuously suppressed it.
Yet more evidence that Boris and Priti are spot on in insisting that ALL Ukrainians now coming into our UK are properly and bureaucratically vetted BEFORE passing past our UK Border Force, in order to detect any SPETNAZ, etc, potential saboteurs – in my opinion !
They managed to film the encounter on the phones and can be heard using expletives as they duck for cover.
The crew, wearing press vests, were fired at by Russians.
He says they discovered later that they were “being ambushed by a saboteur Russian reconnaissance squad”.
“It was professional, the rounds kept smashing into the car – they didn’t miss,” he writes.
Ramsay was wounded, though it was not immediately clear how seriously, while camera operator Richie Mockler took two rounds to his body armour. “Luckily”, he says, they were all wearing bulletproof vests and helmets.
The team managed to get to safety down a 40ft embankment by the roadside, all the time coming under sustained gunfire.
Sky producer Martin Vowles, who was driving, got out of the car first, quickly followed by Andrii Lytvynenko, their local producer, leaving Ramsary, Mockler, and producer Dominique Van Heerden, inside, taking cover in the footwells and across the backseat.
I am a journalist myself and I reckon that Stuart Ramsey painted himself into a corner with the Romanian terrorists piece. And I also think that due to pressure from Sky top dogs to deliver and tuica, might be not be a reasonable explanation, however, he did indeed made a mistake.
It’s a question of how many times you can get it wrong before you are declared a bogus journalist, my instinct tells me that Stuart Ramsay is a good journalist who should stop drinking,
You didn’t finish top of your desinformatzia class, did you Comrade? Try some more vodka.
So Ukrainian police were diverted from protecting their own civilians to assisting idiotic foreign journalists? Tells you everything about this self obsessed attention competition from the media.
I feel really sorry for the journos, being under fire whilst trying to gather news in a war zone.
However, it seems that nobody actually knows who was firing at them or why, so why print suppositions?
It totally negates their work, if “made up” things are reported as “fact”. They might as well just have stayed at home, safe and warm and everyone can write whatever fiction they like.
I’m horrified by the propaganda in the UK media. You would expect it from the Russians (maybe even from the Ukrainians, who are after all, fighting to save their country) but I don’t expect it at home from our own.
I assume that when things are dropped they fall.
Should I just stick to facts?
So that next time see something fall when someone dropped it, it might be because the Ukrainians threw it down?
In a country where armed militias abound, criminals have been released from prison and armed, weapons have been distributed to all and sundry – how on earth are we to know who did this? The Click Romania should be very careful to avoid participating in the current storm of hysteria and disinformation. In historical and geo-political terms, it is not at all a ‘given’ that the Russians are the ‘bad guys’ and the Ukrainians are the ‘good guys’. These roles are frequently going to be reversed.
Sky news is a puppet mouthpiece of neo fascist Brussels.Russian TV is a puppet mouthpiece of traditional-fascist Russia.
Bias beyond belief just like all the other neo fascist news we are subjected to every day.
Sure your real name isn’t Александр утка ? (or even more likely Александр гусь )
“Russian infiltrators” Well of course it couldn’t be anything else that would not fit the narrative
The road block is not in the film.
The narrative makes that quite clear.
The film starts after they had been told to turn back at the roadblock.
I’m certainly not suggesting that we should “turn a blind eye” to anything.
Just that, as in a British Court of Law “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” is the standard that our journalists should aspire to.
An opinion piece is a different matter but factual reporting, should be factual, no angles, no slants.
Putin is the neo-fascist; he is even threatening his own citizens if they dare speak against him.Yet another stupid name you bots are so pathetic you can’t even choose names well never mind tell the truth. Then again that would require you to be human and not just paid walking diarrhoea!
Standard operating procedure for Putin’s SS they do the same wherever they go. Journalists were targeted in Syria. They are desperate to hide their genocide. 15 years for any Russian exposing it at home.
You need to get to RT via a VPN. If you want a very strong view try Saker.ie .Watch Russia leaning sites but use your brain like you have to watching the BBC. We are not sheep.
Recalling the events, Ramsay said there was a small explosion out of nowhere, the car came to a stop and rounds of bullets began smashing into the car.
“We knew we had to get out to survive, but the incoming fire was intense,” he said.
Two of the producers got out first, followed by another producer and then Ramsay and the camera operator.
“I do recall wondering if my death was going to be painful. And then I was hit in the lower back. ‘I’ve been hit’ I shouted.
“But what amazed me was that it didn’t hurt that bad. It was more like being punched, really.”
Having watched the footage, those Russians couldn’t hit the side of a barn door. Rounds flying in every direction but none actually hitting five moving targets….
Only journalists and firefighters run towards danger. The Russians don’t want journalists covering this, that’s why they are a target. The Ukrainian people want this show to the world, they need all the help they can get.
Sky news team however, poor call if they didn’t have a high risk team advisor with them, professional x military would have not let them get into that position.
So they carried on filming themselves being shot at???
Really…?
It is called getting evidence of your murderer.