You're reading: Zelensky party lawmaker wants new law governing journalism during the war

Ukraine is hardly a heaven for journalists. This year, it lost one position in the World Press Freedom Index and was ranked 102 out of 179 countries, placing it between Lebanon and Mozambique.

Now, a member of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s political party has expressed support for a worrying new law governing the press.

Serhiy Shvets, a lawmaker from the Servant of the People party, wants to create unified rules for journalists working while the country is at war.

“How do we deal with freedom of speech during the war, a state of emergency, martial law?” Shvets asked on Aug. 6, according to Interfax news agency. “So far, it is regulated by the norms of different agencies, but there is no systematic approach.” He wants to change that.

Shvets is a former journalist at the 1+1 television channel, which is owned by oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, who previously was Zelensky’s business partner. Like most oligarch-owned channels, 1+1 is not known for its independence.

In his comments to Interfax, Shvets suggested that a new law on the media should feature a special “war glossary” defining terms like “occupation troops” and “separatists.” And he wants this law to be adopted quickly.

Experts, however, are skeptical of Shvets’ declaration.

Igor Rozkladaj, a chief expert on media law at the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law (CEDEM), told the Kyiv Post that, currently, it looks more like an idea than a solid concept.

“He (Shvets) did not mention any specific details” of the future bill, Rozkladaj said.

Moreover, “glossaries” of war terms already exist in Ukraine. Rozkladaj noted that the Ministry of the Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons published a handbook of terms for describing the armed conflict in Ukraine on July 9.

Furthermore, if the bill is complex, it will require at least a year to be developed and adopted, Rozkladaj said.

He believes Shvets’ proposal misses the point: the key issue for Ukrainian media is financial transparency and de-oligarchization to ensure that media outlets are independent from their owners. That should be put into a new law, he says.

Another important subject for journalists in Ukraine is getting accreditation to the conflict zone, a difficult and often ineffective process.

“It makes sense to change this mechanism in the law to make it much more effective for Ukrainian and international media to have an access there,” Rozkladaj said.

Oleh Zhdanov, a military expert and reserve colonel, says Shvets’ proposed law is unnecessary and could be used to control information from the warzone, something he finds worrying.

“If this law will be approved, then we will not be able to find out about (troop) losses and shelling of our positions (in the warzone). The information will be controlled. But society must know the truth,” he told the Slovo i Dilo analytical site.

Shvets did not reply to a request for comment from the Kyiv Post.