French media watchdog notices disturbing level of hostility toward journalists on the part of Ukrainian authorities.
Reporters Without Borders, a French-based watchdog promoting freedom of the press, on Sept. 2 released a 14-page report entitled “Press Freedom: Temptation To Control,” about the media situation in Ukraine.
Based on findings from a July 19-21 visit to Ukraine, the report says there has been a marked increase in attempts to obstruct the work of the media, including physical attacks on journalists within the last six months and are indicative of a disturbing level of hostility toward journalists on the part of the authorities.
Report conclusions:
When prosecutors refuse to recognize a journalist’s complaint but register the complaint filed by his aggressor, it sends a clear message. It shows that that government officials feel no responsibility towards civil society and the citizens who voted them into power. Worse still, the Ukrainian laws that exist to protect media freedom and the ability of journalists to work are not being used to punish even the most flagrant violations.
Acts of censorship that favor the new government [led by Prime Minister Mykola Azarov] have been growing steadily in the strategic broadcasting sector.
In most cases, it has been the management itself that told staff not to broadcast certain stories or to eliminate passages critical of the government.
None of the people Reporters Without Borders talked to on this trip said the situation was comparable to that prevailing under ex-President Leonid Kuchma (1994-2005), or that there was anything resembling a return of the notorious “temniki” (government directives about how to cover stories).
But broadcast media pluralism has been seriously eroded. If the trend continues, the freedoms acquired in recent years could be swept away and the advances needed to improve civil liberties, including freedom of expression and the right to information, will not take place.
To what degree is the government capable of creating a truly public broadcasting service, one that is independent of the government and really serves the population? Is it ready and able to reach a consensus on this issue by working with civil society and media representatives? All this remains to be seen.
It is hard to be optimistic at the moment, although President Viktor Yanukovych has called for press freedom violations to be properly investigated.
Several recently adopted laws restrict the work of the media and expose them to intolerable prosecutions on the grounds of protecting privacy. Websites are also subject to increased surveillance, one that shows that the authorities are becoming aware of the growing influence of the Internet and new media in shaping public opinion.
Attacks on journalists and cases of obstruction of their work are continuing. Many of them are taking place in the provinces, where harassment of the media is more intense and, at the same time, less well known.
The Oct. 31 local elections, which Reporters Without Borders will monitor with particular attention, will test the government’s will to normalize relations with the media.
The authorities still have a chance to give Ukrainians and the international community evidence of a desire to abandon these practices. For his first trip abroad as president in March, Yanukovych chose to go to Brussels and “set himself the objective of concluding negotiations to reach an association accord with the European Union.
The European Commission has included respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in its list for priorities for the 2010 European Union-Ukraine association agenda.
Only the demonstration of a clear political will to do what is necessary will restore confidence in the authorities. Developments in the coming months will be crucial for determining whether the trend of the past two quarters is temporary or destined to continue.
The conflict of interests between Valeriy Khoroshkovsky’s Inter Media Group and his various senior positions in the state apparatus and his media holdings [are serious]. Is Khoroshkovsky – who heads Ukrai e’s main intelligence agency, the State Security Service, and sits on the board of the national bank and the High Council of Justice as well as owning the country’s most important media group – trying to rein in two TV stations [TVi and Channel 5] that criticize the government and hobble two of his personal business rivals all at the same time?
It is a fair question. It is very hard to accept the government’s view that this is just business dispute.
Finally, the investigation into journalist Georgiy Gongadze’s abduction and murder on Sept. 16, 2000, is supposed to be on the verge of completion, which should open the way for a new trial in this case. This gives the authorities a new chance to end the lack of judicial transparency by allowing the public and the press to attend the trial.
Ukraine has achieved significant progress in media freedom and the right to information in the past five years.
If this is to continue, the country’s leading political figures must help to ensure that press freedom violations are dealt with quickly, instead of being ignored, that the judicial system is able to operate in an independent manner, that legislation compatible with international standards is adopted, and that the influence of the country’s wealthiest businessmen over its political life and media is curtailed.
Recommendations:
Deal with flagrant violations of media freedom with thoroughness and rigor and, above all, ensure that those responsible for physical attacks on journalists are prosecuted;
Ensure that the police and judicial authorities apply the legal provisions regarding press freedom, especially article 171 of the criminal code.
Involve civil society representatives in the drafting of the law that creates a public broadcaster to help ensure that it is independent of the government;
Make the system of allocating broadcast frequencies more transparent and, in the legal dispute over the frequencies of TVi et 5 Kanal, ensure that the next hearing is open to the public and press;
Ensure the independence of the entities that regulate broadcasting by taking particular care with their composition and the selection of their members;
Ensure free and rapid access to public information, both for journalists and ordinary citizens; and
Guarantee the transparency of the investigation into journalist Georgiy Gongadze’s murder and the open nature of the coming trial.
Reporters Without Borders reiterates its readiness to meet with the Ukrainian authorities in the near future in order to continue the dialogue it began with them at the start of the year.
The report can be found online here.
Read also ‘Court cancels frequencies of feisty TVi, Channel 5’
