10.06.2010

Beginning of June marks attempts by authorities to restrict journalist rights

During the first week in June there were a number of apparent attempts by the new Presidential Administration and Cabinet of Ministers, as well as regional representatives of the ruling party, to restrict the rights and freedoms of the media and members of the public generally.

08.06.2010

Serious question marks over Court removal of Channel 5 and TVi’s frequencies

The District Administrative Court in Kyiv has annulled the results of the tender for broadcasting licenses held by the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council on 27 January. The official applicants were the TV companies NTN, Enter Film, and Enter Music which are all part of the Inter Media Group, very closely connected with Valery Khoroshkovsky, Head of the Security Service [SBU] and his wife. On Monday Channel 5 issued an open letter to the President in which it accused Khoroshkovsky of trying to destroy the Channel, which – together with TVi – are effectively the only channels not owned by people close to the present regime. Before today’s ruling was announced, Khoroshkovsky had publicly denied the charges and said that it was all up to the court.

25.05.2010

Who’s the Big Bad Wolf on Ukraine’s Media Landscape?

When do you notice that something’s missing? It's not always easy, especially when media coverage, which has become bland, vapid, and lacking in discussion and analysis, was not exactly hard-hitting to begin with.

21.05.2010

Stop Pressure on Journalists, Prevent Repressive Measures

The following statement from the Civic Movement “Stop Censorship!” was agreed today, 21 May 2010, at a meeting of media representatives in Kyiv. We as journalists of Ukraine announce the beginning of a Civic Movement “Stop Censorship!”

07.05.2010

Journalists protest against censorship

Journalists have issued an open letter in which they assert that censorship is being imposed on Television Channel 1 + 1. The journalists from TSN which is the news service of the same media outlet write:

06.05.2010

Ukraine’s Enemies of the Press 2009

On 3 May 2010, to mark World Press Day, the Institute for Mass Information and the Kyiv Independent Media Trade Union published their annual anti-awards, naming those rated the worst Enemies of the Press in 2009. Top place (so to speak) is taken by the Prosecutor General, Oleksandr Medvedko with 207 points.

06.05.2010

The Managed Version of Freedom of Speech

Two press releases to mark World Press Freedom Day said it all. There remains the same question mark as to how much the words actually said and what journalists and others read into them, yet the warning signals regarding freedom of speech in Ukraine are difficult to ignore.. The first press release, in fact, said next to nothing. The President, his Press Service reported, greeted journalists with Press Freedom Day, spoke of the need for reform and stable development and promised to “facilitate freedom of speech in Ukraine in every possible way”.

01.05.2010

Have taboo subjects returned to Ukrainian television?

According to Myroslav Otkovych, a TV correspondent, Holodomor has become a taboo subject on his channel 1 + 1. In a blog article on Ukrainska Pravda he writes: “On Tuesday President Yanukovych made one more conscious step towards dividing the country. In the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europea he placed in question Holodomor 1932-1933 as an act of genocide of the Ukrainian nation. This has been recognized by the parliaments of many countries. Furthermore in Ukraine there is a law on the subject which states that “Public denial of Holodomor 1932-1933 in Ukraine shall be considered desecration of the memory of millions of victims of Holodomor, denigration of the dignity of the Ukrainian people and unlawful”.

29.04.2010

Ukraine’s National Journalist Union names the profession’s enemies

Once again as Press Freedom Day on 3 May approaches, Ukraine’s National Union of Journalist [NJUU] has published its list of those officials who have obstructed freedom of speech. The Union has not only circulated the list among media outlets in Ukraine, but also sent copies to the International Federation of Journalists, the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.

31.03.2010

On the police search of journalist Olena Bilozerska’s home

While the Head of the Public Relations Department of the Kyiv Police, Volodymyr Polishchuk says that the search of a journalist’s home on Saturday was in accordance with a court order, a lawyer stresses that the European Court of Human Rights sees such court orders as the last resort. The journalist herself says that had she been asked for the material sought, she would have handed it over.

01.03.2010

Writer threatened over opposition to morality commission?

Late in the evening of 25 February well-known artist and writer Les Podervyansky received a call on his landline from a stranger who warned him to stop his activity aimed at discrediting the National Expert Commission on the Protection of Public Morality [in Ukrainian often abbreviated as NEK - translator]. The man did not identify himself and the warning sounded like an unconcealed threat.

16.02.2010

Stepan Khmara loses civil suit against Ternopil newspaper

The Ternopil City-District Court has rejected a defamation suit brought by Stepan Khmara against the editorial board of the newspaper “Svoboda” [“Freedom”]. He had accused the newspaper of publishing untruthful and defamatory information about him, and demanded compensation for moral damages of 100 thousand UAH.

10.02.2010

Minimum Degree of Protection from Arbitrary Morality

In criticising the activities of the National Expert Commission on the Protection of Public Morality, we pay too little heed to the fact that in many democratic countries the media and public play an active role in imposing necessary limits, with no interference from State bodies at all.

18.01.2010

Morality Commission accused of imposing censorship

Ukrainian writers, cinematographers and human rights activists accuse the National Expert Commission for the Protection of Public Morality [the Commission] of attempting to impose censorship in Ukraine. An Initiative Group made up of writers Serhiy Zhadan, Les Podervyansky, Andriy Bondar and Yury Andrukhovych, presented their position at a press conference on Kyiv on Friday, and called on the public and Ukrainian artists to support their proposal to introduce public control over every decision passed by the Commission.

11.01.2010

Where the State should fear to tread

The situation was a touch too sinister to be comical, although elements of the surreal cannot be denied. In early October 2008, while the world reeled from the financial crisis, the war over South Ossetia and much more, Ukrainian television journalists were invited into parliament to discuss supposedly excessive negativity in the news. What is worse, they actually went and sat quietly, much as their predecessors had daydreamed through Communist Party pep talks. At that stage few even thought to demur, although this was to change over the next months of extraordinary activity, especially from the State-organized and financed “National Expert Commission for the Protection of Morality” (hereafter the Commission).

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