Three opposition television channels have been taken off the airwaves in Kharkiv amid controversial circumstances, leaving activists complaining that Ukraine’s second-largest city has no channels to report critically on the pro-presidential municipal authorities.
The A/TVK and Fora channels, co-owned by former Kharkiv Oblast Governor Arsen Avakov, a member of the opposition Batkivshchyna Party, were cut off on Sept. 14. ATN, another Avakov channel, was turned off in August.
The disappearance of the channel is the latest jolt for Ukraine’s embattled media. Ukraine has dropped in international rankings of media freedoms since President Viktor Yanukovych took office on Feb. 25, 2010, amid accusations from critics that television channels and newspapers are following an increasingly pro-government line.
ATN was first shut down in August by the sanitary-epidemiological service, which received a complaint from a local resident, who is also head of the local Molodi Regiony, or Young Regions, a youth division of the ruling Party of Regions. The service said it had established that ATN did not have the correct permission for its transmission equipment.
Despite later obtaining the permission, ATN was never put back on air. “We were told that the permission was revoked by SES,” said Iryna Rubashko, head of Fora channel.
SES told the Kyiv Post it had launched an internal investigation into the incident.
ATN continued to work, producing news for Fora and A/TVK. But one day after both channels ran a story on Sept. 13 about ATN’s appeal to Yanukovych, accusing Kharkiv’s mayor of pressuring them using SES, they were cut off.
Experts warn that Kharkiv scenario could be used for shutting down critical regional media in Ukraine.
Ukrainian Digital Communications, which transmits the channels’ signals, belongs to the same owners as the channels themselves. Maksym Tsyan, who has headed Ukrainian Digital Communications since August, could not explain the reason for the shutoff.
He said, however, that there is an ongoing court case between the owners of the channel, hinting at a conflict between Avakov and business partner Oleksiy Lipchansky.
A source in the media business said the reason for the cutoff is that Lipchansky, despite being a member of Batkivshchyna, had taken the side of pro-presidential Kharkiv Mayor Gennadiy Kernes, who defeated Avakov in an election last year. “Tsyan is Lipchansky’s man who does what he is told to,” said the source, speaking on conditions of anonymity to avoid conflicts with the mayor.
Kyiv Post could not reach Lipchansky for comment. Kernes denied any involvement in the scandal, speaking to journalists on Sept. 20.
Avakov did not respond to emailed questions, but wrote in a blog on the Ukrainska Pravda news website that the channel’s shutdown was an act of political persecution.
Mykhailo Dobkin, the governor of Kharkiv Oblast appointed by Yanukovych, raised the prospect that Avakov could face criminal charges, alleging on Sept. 29 that “Avakov’s shadow was behind the massive land fraud” in the region, adding that an investigation is under way.
Experts are skeptical and point to too many coincidences.
“If three channels are being shut down in one day, and with the history of being cut off due to the bizarre SES story, it seems too much of a coincidence,” said Yuriy Lukanov, head of the Kyiv Independent Media Trade Union.
Despite all the attention, it appears unlikely that the channels will be back on air soon. Other providers that could transmit the channels signals are refusing them services
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe raised concerns in a letter to Yanukovych and the matter is being investigated by state prosecutors.
Despite all the attention, it appears unlikely that the channels will be back on air soon. Other providers that could transmit the channels signals are refusing them services, according to Olena Barannik, head of A/TVK.“They say they fear pressure from city authorities,” she said.
Halya Coynash, a member of the Kharkiv Human Rights Group, said city residents are now deprived of balanced news, as all the remaining media in Kharkiv are loyal to Kernes and the Party of Regions.
“There is virtually no independent media in the regions; they all serve their owner’s interests – either those in power, or those in opposition. They are always used as political tools,” said Viktoria Siumar, head of the Mass Information Institute, a media watchdog.
Experts warn that Kharkiv scenario could be used for shutting down critical regional media in Ukraine. “There is a real business conflict [about the Kharkiv channels], which is being used and blown out of proportions for political reasons,” said a European diplomat in Kyiv.
Siumar said pressure on regional media is strong, as most media owners fear conflicts with authorities. “It gets both hilarious and outrageous, as in one region journalists are being pressured into using photoshop on the governor’s photos to make his chin look better,” she said.
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Kyiv Post staff writer Svitlana Tuchynska can be reached at [email protected]
