When STB and 1+1 TV journalists went public in May with allegations of pressure and censorship, it worked – to some extent.
Journalists at the two television stations say station management – who many believe were acting at the behest of President Viktor Yanukovych’s administration – eased up. But nobody is declaring victory in Ukraine’s ongoing battles over free speech.
“Our colleagues from other channels used to tell us that it was easier for us to go public, since everyone supported us,” said Nataliya Sokolenko, one of the STB journalists who openly spoke of pressure. “In this case, I usually say that at least morally it is easier to do it together and the result then comes faster.”
Independent experts agree that, based on monitoring, coverage on both TV stations became modestly fairer and less blatantly pro-administration after censorship allegations were raised publicly.
“Since 1+1 and STB journalists declared, several weeks ago, that they are being pressured, coverage on those channels got more or less unbiased,” said Viktoria Siumar, head of the International Media Institute in Ukraine. “Now, at STB, there are no ‘prohibited’ stories for coverage. This is unlike Inter, ICTV, First National Channels, where there is a balance of faces, but not a balance of views.”
Sokolenko said she is glad that journalists went public with their charges of interference in editorial decisions. “I don’t know about our channel’s management, but the journalists do not feel any pressure,” Sokolenko said.
With 1+1, the nation’s second most-watched TV station, the story is a little different. After several 1+1 journalists went public with accusations of outside interference in editorial decisions, the station’s billionaire owner – Igor Kolomoisky – met with journalists and agreed to start from scratch.
“After we publicly raised our concerns we had a breath of fresh air. We got to do some of the stories that were put off the air,” Serhiy Kudimov, a 1+1 journalist, said. “A vivid example of that was [1+1 reporter] Myroslav Otkovych’s story on changes proposed by the Party of Regions deputy Vasyl Kyselyov to a law on the Ukrainian famine, Holodomor, [which claimed lives of several millions of Ukrainians in 1932-33], according to which the word ‘genocide’ should be removed from the law.”
Previously, Otkovych’s story was kept off the air about Yanukovych’s refusal to consider as genocide the Holodomor, the Stalin-ordered famine that killed millions of people.
However, unlike on STB, 1+1 reporters still see reasons for concerns.
“Although we achieved more freedom, some of our demands – like rotation of the channel’s journalists covering the presidential administration, the Cabinet, and the Verkhovna Rada – never materialized,” Kudimov said.
According to some insiders, presidential administration officials dictate to 1+1, and possibly other channels, which reporters they want to see in the president’s pool of journalists, and the station complies. So, in essence, the administration handpicks the most Yanukovych-friendly journalists covering the beat, ensuring favorable coverage.
Moreover, a recent Sunday weekly digest did not cover the parts from the president’s June 4 press conference during which journalists raised the issue of censorship and pressure on a number of TV channels. There was also not a word about what the president failed to do during his first 100 days in the office.
Siumar said that, despite these gradual improvements in freedom achieved at STB and 1+1, most national channels are biased in favor of the presidential administration.
Kudimov says the channel’s journalists enjoy a little bit more freedom, but still do not get the feeling of complete freedom. “The current situation is more of wait and see how things develop,” he said. Summer is not a political season and tempers will remain low for now, unlike in the fall when pressure on us might return, the reporter added.
“We have attained victory at STB and partially at 1+1. Yet, a more global aim – media freedom in other Ukrainian media – is still to be accomplished,” added Sokolenko.
The International Media Institute head has one recipe against censorship.
“If journalists fight for their professional freedom, they eventually get it. But if they prefer to be told what to do, they are not going to make much of a difference,” Siumar said.
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at [email protected]
