TV channel wins three lawsuits against Vadym Rabynovych and his publications; but is required to give airtime to opposition leader after election debate fiasco
TV channel studio 1+1 has had mixed fortunes in four lawsuits heard at Kyiv`s Perchersk District Court over the last two months. It won three and lost one.
In rulings on Dec. 27 and Jan. 16, the court ruled that CN-Stolichniye Novosti, the publisher of the Kyiv weeklies Stolichniye Novosti and Stolichka, should run articles in both newspapers refuting false information they published concerning Studio 1+1 in early 2002. In the second ruling, the court also required that CN-Stolychny Novosti and its owner Vadym Rabynovych pay Studio 1+1 Hr 10 million in punitive damages.
The TV company brought the cases to court after CN-Stolychniye Novosti publications carried articles last February and March in which Studio 1+1 was accused of tax evasion and forging documents to obtain its broadcasting license.
The third case brought by Studio 1+1 was against Rabynovych himself, who talked about Studio 1+1’s alleged license violations during a press conference he called at UNIAN news agency last Feb. 7.
The court ruled on Jan. 20 that Rabynovych should call a press conference at UNIAN within five days to publicly apologize to Studio 1+1. As of Jan. 29, Rabynovych had not done so.
When the Post contacted CN-Stolichniye Novosti, the company stated the only person authorized to comment was Stolychniye Novosti editor Volodymyr Katzman. Katzman could not be reached for comment, however.
While Studio 1+1 welcomed the rulings against Stolychniye Novosti and Rabynovych, it said it was puzzled by the outcome of another case brought against it by opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.
The court ruled on Dec. 6 that Studio 1+1 should provide Tymoshenko with airtime to refute false information it had broadcast about her.
Tymoshenko filed a lawsuit against Studio 1+1 and the political parties that founded the election block ZUBR (For the Union of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia) in connection with a live debate aired on the channel on March 7 ahead of parliamentary elections.
Tymoshenko was initially invited to participate along with representatives of ZUBR, but when she turned up at the studio she was turned away by security who said that the channel’s management had postponed the debate.
However, Progressive Socialist Party leader Natalia Vitrenko, representing ZUBR, was allowed to speak in Tymoshenko’s absence. During the broadcast, she accused Tymoshenko of being a thief.
The court obliged the channel to give Tymoshenko 50 seconds of airtime to refute this information. The court required Vitrenko to pay the channel for Tymoshenko’s airtime.
“I believe that this ruling contains some contradictions,” Studio 1+1 General Director Volodymir Oseledchyk said. “It is the person who gives the information on air who should bear responsibility for it, and not the TV station.”
Oseledchyk said that Studio 1+1 is planning to appeal the ruling at the Kyiv Appeals Court.
