The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s election observation mission, part of the Office of Democratic Initiatives and Human Rights, painstakingly monitored major news outlets to assess campaign coverage. Their findings, outlined in a statement the day after the elections, confirm the findings of permanent media monitors in Ukraine.
The problem is that most major news outlets in Ukraine are owned by one of five oligarchs – Rinat Akhmetov, Igor Kolomoisky, Victor Pinchuk, Dmytro Firtash and, amazingly still, murky forces that were close to ex-President Viktor Yanukovych front man, Sergei Kurchenko. President Petro Poroshenko also owns channel 5, one of the nation’s main sources of TV news.
It wouldn’t be so much of a problem except that Ukraine’s media owners enforce a clearly biased agenda on TV, radio and in newspapers.
The OSCE/ODIHR findings are worth quoting here:
“The political and business interests controlling the media often influence editorial policy, and paid-for coverage is widespread. The legal framework overregulates pre-election coverage, although the provisions are poorly defined. The incomplete transformation of the National Television and Radio Company from a state-owned to a public broadcaster hampered its independence and editorial freedom. Media monitoring by the ODIHR election observation mission showed that only three registered parties were granted meaningful editorial coverage, and most television channels with a national reach predominantly featured two to three political parties in their prime time coverage.”
The problems in media are emblematic of shortcomings in other institutions in the nation, including the judicial system. In many institutions, whether government or the private sector, powerful financial interests continue to obstruct the public good.
Some of the solutions rest with journalists and consumers of news. Journalists have to seek out independent outlets as workplaces and resist attempts at censorship. Consumers of news, who likely support a de-oligarchization drive, should seek out independent sources of information.
Government should create the framework for free speech to flourish in a market economy that gives media owners a chance to survive on advertising and subscriptions, not oligarchs and grants. Government could also codify stronger protections against censorship and libel lawsuits and promote the creation of a strong publicly funded news organization akin to the BBC.
