Two executives and an adviser at Inter TV, the nation’s highest rated channel, are prepared to resign over censorship of news coverage, media watchdog Telekritika reported, citing anonymous sources at the media outlet.
An Inter TV source, who asked anonymity because the person is not authorized to speak publicly, said that Anna Bezliudnaya, a longtime associate of billionaire Dmytro Firtash, took over management of Inter holding on Dec. 24, and is assembling her team of managers, including Anton Nikitin, identified as her cousin, in a top role overseeing news.
Firtash owns more than 70 percent of Inter Group.
An e-mailed inquiry to Inter channel’s press service wasn’t answered.
The news coverage on Inter, the most widely watched station in UKraine because of its national reach, appears to have tilted more toward pro-government coverage and less about anti-government EuroMaidan demonstrations. Controlling the news on Inter TV is important to President Viktor Yanukovych and other politicians, especially ahead of the scheduled 2015 presidential elections.
Those set to depart are linked to presidential chief of staff Serhiy Lyovochkin, who owns a 20 percent share in Inter Group, the holding company that owns nine television channels, including Inter. His spokesperson, Anna Ostrovska, is on vacation and couldn’t be reached, while his office was unavailable because Dec. 29 is a weekend day.
Telekritika head Natalia Ligachova told the Kyiv Post that Nazim Bedirov, who heads the channel’s key information programs, plans to resign his post after the winter holidays. Meanwhile, executive director Lavrentiy Malazonia has already resigned, reported Telekritika. A third person, Ihor Shuvalov, known as an advisor to Lyovochkin, also will depart.
The fate of Savik Shuster, whose political talk show on Inter employs 30 people, is unclear. He told media watchdog Telekritika that his contract has been renewed for next year but that his show’s format and future as a live broadcast is still under discussion.
The recent changes suggest a further split within the pro-presidential ruling Party of Regions.
Inter has been controlled for several years by various members of the so-called “gas lobby,” a group of aligned and influential businessmen that include Firtash, Lyovochkin and ex-Deputy Prime Minister Valeriy Khoroshkovsky, who left the nation last year after reportedly having a falling out politically with Yanukovych.
