The Sept. 2-5 event brought together about 1,000 of the most influential publishers, CEOs, journalists and media professionals from all over the world. The focus was to share industry knowledge of best practices.
The organization, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, is also a leader in the never-ending global struggle for free expression. For the most part, Ukrainians – as during the Euro 2012 football games – did a great job showcasing their great hospitality. Many participants came away impressed with the beauty of the city and its people. We need more such international events.
However, holding the conference in Kyiv is not without ironies. Some people thought the organization should have boycotted Ukraine because of President Viktor Yanukovych’s rollbacks in press freedoms since taking power in 2010. We, however, agree with conference organizers that the event presented a fantastic opportunity to spotlight – before the nation and the world – the creeping authoritarianism in the nation.
Two Kyiv Post editors joined nearly 20 colleagues in staging a silent protest (holding signs) as President Viktor Yanukovych exercised his free-speech rights in telling the media leaders there is no threat to free speech in Ukraine.
That’s not true. The official strangling of TVi, one of the last television stations doing hard-hitting investigative journalism, is but one example of the administration’s trampling on free speech. There are several dangerous pieces of legislation, including a proposal promoted by a pro-presidential lawmaker that would criminalize libel. Already laws have been passed that restrict the public’s right to know how taxpayer dollars are spent.
Others thought the conference should not have taken money from billionaire Dmytro Firtash, whose Group DF was the main financial sponsor. Firtash has been no friend of free speech. But if his sponsorship signals a change in his attitude, we congratulate him and are willing to let bygones be bygones from his ill-fated libel lawsuit against the Kyiv Post two years ago.
World Association of Newspapers president Jacob Mathew said local organizers make the sponsorship decisions. Boris Lozhkin, president of Ukrainian Media Holding and vice president of the Ukrainian Association of Press Publishers, justified Firtash’s involvement by emphasizing that the billionaire had no control over the conference agenda. That was true, leaving Firtash with essentially a highly visible advertisement for Group DF. Fair enough.
But the influence of Ukrainian Media Holding led to some curious choices for panel discussions. For instance, Oksana Bogdanova, editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda in Ukraine, looked out of place on an ethics panel. The credible Institute of Mass Information in Kyiv released a study this summer concluding that the daily tabloid practices “jeansa” – the all-too-common practice of newspapers accepting money to publish PR material and disguising it as news.
Bogdanova, when pressed on the issue, denied this: “Our journalists do not write ‘jeansa,’” she said. Her newspaper will have to do more, however, to convince skeptics. Lozhkin was also less than persuasive when he told the Kyiv Post that the company he leads – with more than 50 media brands – has a policy against paid-for news and that any journalist caught engaging in the unethical practice would be fired. We hope that is the case, but have doubts about his credibility on this issue. In any case, “jeansa” is not journalism – it’s simply lying to readers.
For the record, the Kyiv Post separates paid advertising from news. News is defined by journalists. “Jeansa” is unacceptable here. Anybody who asserts anything to the contrary will face the impossible task of finding evidence where none exists. “Jeansa” is hard to hide. Careful readers are the best judges of whether an article is newsworthy, fair and accurate. For “jeansa” to take place in a news organization, it would need the tacit support of the publisher, the CEO, the chief editor and the news staff. Whatever the Kyiv Post’s flaws, everyone inside this organization knows the newspaper strives to adhere to the highest ethical journalistic standards. The Kyiv Post has earned our motto “Independence. Community. Trust.” Our reward – high credibility with readers and advertisers since 1995 – is invaluable.
Ukraine’s hopes rest on the follow-up of the World Association of Newspapers. Its board of directors got a rare two-hour audience with Yanukovych over lunch on Sept. 3 to raise their concerns. The recommendations they made are contained in a report this year entitled “Make freedom of expression a reality, Mr. President.” The full report is available at: http://www.wan-ifra.org/articles/2012/03/29/ukraine-freedom-of-expression-dossier. The findings show an excellent understanding of the nation’s problems.
Mathew, the organization’s president, assured the Kyiv Post that the group is no “fly-by-night organization” and will keep up the pressure on Yanukovych to uphold the president’s commitment to free speech. We hope that Mathew and the organization that he leads are true to their word. The nation will be grateful, too.
