The ENEMO observation mission for parliamentary elections in Ukraine has called on cable providers of digital broadcasting and concerned government agencies to remove restrictions and prohibitions for the media on free expression.
“We’re calling on the authorities to remove restrictions and prohibitions on the media,” the head of the ENEMO mission, Peter Novotny, said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.
The organization’s first interim report says that a large number of cable operators disconnected the broadcasting of the TVi channel in eastern regions in Ukraine, while in Kyiv the channel was transferred by the Volia cable operator to the most expensive package.
ENEMO said that the channel was most critical of the administration of President Viktor Yanukovych.
The mission also reported a case in Kurakhove in Donetsk region, where the local Kapri TV Channel was removed from digital broadcasting, and residents complained to the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting, but received no official answer.
Another case was reported in Odesa, where the chief editor of the MIG TV Channel was forced to resign after “they refused to promote the image of the Regions Party and candidate Presman.”
“Local government has blocked the channel’s budget, and 20 journalists were obliged to resign and were left without an income,” reads the report.
