Turning the pages back... October 6, 1999 (10/01/00)

Turning the pages back...

October 6, 1999

A year ago, our Kyiv Press Bureau chief, Roman Woronowycz, reported the disturbing results of a study of the pre-election news coverage in Ukraine. According to his news story, an investigative delegation from the Council of Europe, invited by a coalition of presidential candidates to review the pre-election process in Ukraine, had concluded that the Kuchma government was intimidating the press and not allowing for an open and fair campaign season.

"We are a bit alarmed at the situation," said Anna Severinsen, the lead rapporteur sent by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) after an official request by the Kaniv Four candidates' coalition that it monitor the election situation in Ukraine.

Mr. Woronowycz further reported:

"The Kaniv Four, which includes presidential candidates Oleksander Tkachenko, Oleksander Moroz, Yevhen Marchuk and Volodymyr Oliinyk, has criticized the Kuchma administration for not allowing it access to the state-owned Ukrainian Television network in the run-up to the presidential elections, which are now three weeks away. It also has alleged that Kuchma supporters have perpetrated a virtual media blackout on all the candidates, with the president accepted.

"A study released on October 6 by the Equal Opportunities Committee, a non-governmental organization, to a large extent supports the view held by the four candidates. It states that although the Kaniv Four closely follows Mr. Kuchma in the amount of coverage it receives in the press, those reports are more negative than those about the president.

"...The PACE rapporteurs said they had gathered much anecdotal evidence that the press is being intimidated into submission and that government officials are being used for campaign purposes. Ms. Severinsen cited the hounding of the STB television channel by government tax examiners as a good example of the violation of campaign procedures accepted in the West. STB announced at the beginning of the campaign season that it would grant all candidates equal time on its broadcasts. Since then the government has sent an army of tax police from various levels of government to examine the television station's accounts. They have frozen its bank accounts and forced it to the brink of bankruptcy. STB has not broadcast a regular news program in more than a month.

"The PACE rapporteurs found ... that the situation in the press had deteriorated since the parliamentary elections in March 1998."

"Council of Europe delegation finds intimidation of press in Ukraine" by Roman Woronowycz, The Ukrainian Weekly, October 10, 1999, Vol. LXVII, No. 41.

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