FOR THE RECORD: Statement by Ukrainian broadcast media employees (07/22/90)

FOR THE RECORD: Statement by Ukrainian broadcast media employees

On June 7, Literaturna Ukraina published an open letter from Ukrainian state television and radio employees to the Ukrainian deputies of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR. The text, translated below, reflects the growing discontent among the ranks of official journalists with the lack of democratization, pluralism of views and glasnost within the Communist Party-controlled media in Ukraine.

The letter is dated more than a month before Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's order that broadcast media be run independently of political and social organizations, thus removing radio and television from control of the Communist Party.

We work in a system which is beyond comparison. Its "uniqueness" lies primarily in the complete monopoly of television and radio within the republic and the categorical refusal to allow any alternative or competition. The State Television and Radio (Derzhteleradio) continues to autocratically retain the right of information, the shaping of artistic tastes and the forming of public opinion through television and radio broadcasts.

And, as you all know only too well, this kind of hypertrophic monopoly does not allow the truth to reach the TV screen or the airwaves. Still to this day, as if to please various supervising organs, we generously present the people with half-truths and keep silent about this or that event, which is almost tantamount to telling lies.

We are ashamed that at tragic and historically decisive moments in the life of our nation, Derzhteleradio acted as the mouthpiece for the nomenklatura, who have betrayed and deceived millions of people, showing them not what had actually happened, but what was ordered.

Suffice it to recall Chornobyl in the spring of 1986, the coverage of the May 1 demonstration under the lethal winds, the merry faces of those who were being deceived and the sour looks of those doing the deceiving, hypocritically waving their arms from the government stand to the passing columns of working people. We were instructed to cover all the stages of the Kiev peace cycle race and to show the smiling faces of the sportsmen, onlookers and children - children, whom nobody thought to evacuate as far away as possible from the nuclear epidemic.

And how many times was the screen of Ukrainian television used by Minister (Anatoliy) Romanenko for deceiving the Ukrainian people, a person whose primary duty it was to raise the alarm? How many other lying dignitaries were given TV time for similar broadcasts? The history of those years must be shown truthfully and everyone who tried to shape it to their own mold should now get what they deserve.

We are ashamed of those television and radio attacks against Rukh, the Popular Movement of Ukraine for Perebudova. Just think: state television ardently tried to rout a people's movement. Many of you deputies witnessed those "equal" possibilities of getting airtime during your election campaigns.

Ukrainian television, thoroughly ideologized and straight-jacketed by the dogmas of radio broadcasting, had virtually lost the trust of the citizens of Ukraine. Within our system they never trusted professionals and talented people, and this continues. The selection of candidates is slanted in such a way that only obedient time-servers, ideologically devoted, who lack initiative join the ranks. Our leaders believe that "exceptionally wise" people bring only trouble.

It is, therefore, surprising that all programs which are slightly bold or true are bound to suffer under the scissors of the "censors" and the "managers?" It is a fact that the main function of our managers is to act as political censors. The latest victims of this anachronism were the live television broadcast "Trust" and the radio program "Three Colors," whose authors treated the calls for glasnost and freedom "too literally." It seems they follow what the French say: "To get rid of the dandruff, resort to the guillotine." Their attitude to various informal and creative organizations is still cautious and prejudiced.

But can it be otherwise, if our management is completely dependent on the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine? Furthermore, it does not have the slightest desire to get rid of the "sweet yoke" of the ideological department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, which in fact has turned the Derzhteleradio into one of its own branches. But television and radio belong to the state and not to the party! Well, in the building on Ordzhonikidze Street they think otherwise.

No, we are not against the party as such. We are in favor of a multi-party system in our society and for television and radio to be free of party interference. We favor professionalism in the television and radio sectors, both of which should work for the people and satisfy the right for objective information, instead of being servants of the Central Committee. To succeed in this, both television and radio should be run by professionals and not by former party functionaries.

We appeal to you, esteemed deputies, with this request to give appropriate attention to the most powerful means of mass communication. What is needed is the establishment of a commission of the Supreme Soviet of Ukraine which would work out a statute or a position paper on Derzhteleradio, as well as independent television and radio. And only this commission, solely this commission would control the work of the Derzhteleradio and defend it from interference and instructions from those, who after years of inertia, are still attempting to fix, dictate and steer over the telephone, in other words, limit the truth.

It is better to trust us, journalists and professionals, and we will not fail you, we will not let ourselves be used. And then, our national television and radio will be oriented toward the needs of our compatriots and not of the apparatchiks.

With respect and hope from the employees of the Derzhteleradio: A. Derepa, V. Scherbachov, A. Tarasenko, P. Boyko, O. Deyneko, L. Karnaukhov, V. Udovychenko, D. Ponomarchuk and 77 other signatories.

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