BYT-Batkivschyna faction MPs Andriy Shevchenko, Oleksandr Abdullin and Viktor Ukolov, who are members of the parliamentary committee on the freedom of speech, have congratulated SOCEMIE (Societé Opératrice de la Chaîne Européenne Multilingue d’Information Euronews) on the launch of the Ukrainian version of the Euronews channel but expressed "serious concern" about the independence of the editorial staff of the news project.
"As you already know, the first day of work of the Ukrainian version [of the channel] caused a scandal: the coverage of the events on August 24, on Ukraine’s 20th Independence Day, in the Ukrainian language appeared to be politically supportive of the authorities," reads an open letter from the MPs to SOCEMIE published on the Web site of the Batkivschyna Party.
"Comparing the English and Ukrainian versions proves there is a political colouring of the Ukrainian version. The Ukrainian staff did not mention the political trial on the opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko and her arrest. The Ukrainian version significantly reduced the number of participants of the protest against [Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovych. In addition, the Ukrainian version made no mention that the authorities banned peaceful meetings of citizens in Kyiv and other cities of Ukraine on Independence Day," reads the letter.
"For the Ukrainian audience it’s obvious that the information policy of the National TV and Radio Company of Ukraine, which formed the Ukrainian editorial team of Euronews, is under the strict control of President Yanukovych’s team," the authors of the letter said.
In connection with this, the MPs called on SOCEMIE to warn their Ukrainian partners that political propagandizing in the Ukrainian version of Euronews was impossible, and consider a possibility of replacing the management of the Ukrainian editorial of Euronews by the management that could secure editorial independence and involve Ukrainian journalists and citizens in the further evaluation of the quality of the Ukrainian version.
Earlier, on August 25, the Telekritika Internet Web site posted an article criticizing the editorial policy of the Ukrainian version of the Euronews channel, according to which the Ukrainian translation of news about Ukraine on Euronews significantly differs from the English versions.
As reported, the Ukrainian version of Euronews channel started broadcasting on Independence Day, on August 24, at 1500.
