Journalists take a stand: no more censorship (10/20/02)

Journalists take a stand: no more censorship

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Responding to perceptions of increased government censorship and intimidation of the press, some 400 Ukrainian journalists have signed a manifesto criticizing state leaders and spurring the creation of a union of independent journalists and the formation of a strike committee to coordinate its actions.

They are insisting that government and state officials stop overtly and illegally attempting to influence and control information flowing from the mass media to the public, and demanding legislation to ban specific forms of censorship.

In a meeting with Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn on October 15, the strike committee, consisting of 11 leading Ukrainian journalists, received a promise from the legislative leader that a vote will be set for a special parliamentary hearing on censorship and freedom of the press in Ukraine to be held in December.

A week earlier President Leonid Kuchma had said he was ready to meet with the journalists, but the meeting never occurred.

"The pressure from the government has increased significantly since about June, after the parliamentary elections," explained Oleksander Kryvenko, a member of the strike committee, who originally published one of Ukraine's first democratic newspapers, Post-Postup, and today runs the first public radio station in the country.

He explained that attempts to control the media and censorship are nothing knew even in independent Ukraine, with many tried and true methods continuing - including denial of accreditation to political events and press conferences for journalists who criticize government and state officials.

He also noted a more subtle and widespread form of censorship practiced for several years: the purchase of major broadcast and print media outlets by pro-presidential business and political elites, referred to as "oligarchs," who then control the editorial content of the newspapers and news programs they own. This has included directing what reporters and camera crews can cover, or simply allowing coverage of events but not airing the news packages afterwards. It also includes creative editing to exclude information that could be considered critical of certain state leaders.

Mr. Kryvenko said that since June, however, a new, more direct type of media control by the state not felt earlier finally had provoked journalists to act. He explained that after major changes within the presidential administration, including the appointment of Viktor Medvedchuk as President Kuchma's chief of staff, news directors began receiving anonymous directives on how to plan the weekly news cycle.

The unsigned proposals, dubbed "temnyky," suggest specific events and topics the television stations should accent in their news coverage. Generally, they have included events that put President Kuchma and his administration in a positive light. The temnyky provide talking points and schedules for the upcoming week. They also suggest what events may not need media coverage.

"Earlier, certain influential figures simply telephoned and directed what should or should not be shown, but that required a lot of personal phone calls," explained Mr. Kryvenko. "They decided to make a standard document, which would allow a single secretary to fax the directives."

Mr. Kryvenko, who left his post as news director of Studio 1+1, one of the top three Ukrainian television networks, when the political pressure became unpalatable, underscored that direct threats for non-compliance are not made. But with beatings and deaths of journalists in Ukraine far from uncommon, it is understandable that news directors do not ignore the possible implications.

As this new form of state media control began amid timid whines of protest, several leading Ukrainian journalists, including Andrii Shevchenko, news anchor of Novyi Kanal - then still considered the most independent of the major television networks - decided they wanted no part of the process and resigned.

But the problem surfaced only after journalists from the UNIAN news agency threatened a walkout if their newly appointed news director, who they charged was censoring their material, was not removed. The news agency, founded with United States foreign aid and considered a bastion of journalistic independence until Viktor Pinchuk, President Kuchma's son-in-law, purchased it, quickly agreed to guarantee freedom of journalistic expression.

However, the ensuing storm of grievances from various other media sources - amplified during demonstrations and declarations by opponents of the Kuchma administration - was not easily calmed.

The journalists' manifesto was developed on October 3 after a roundtable with National Deputy Mykola Tomenko, recently elected from the Our Ukraine faction, who now chairs the Committee on Freedom of the Press. It declares that political censorship indeed exists in Ukraine, underscores that it is illegal and announces that Ukrainian journalists will fight the denial of their right of expression while supporting all who exercise that right.

The initial 50 or so signatories then banded together to begin work on developing a Union of Independent Ukrainian Journalists. In the interim, they have formed the strike committee, which will support Ukrainian journalists and develop ties with international human rights organizations, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and Reporters Without Borders.

Mr. Kryvenko said that, during a meeting they demanded and received with Verkhovna Rada Chairman Lytvyn, the strike committee was surprised and heartened to hear the parliamentary leader, a close confidante and prior chief of staff to President Kuchma, acknowledge that censorship exists in Ukraine.

"We were satisfied with the outcome," explained the veteran journalist.

President Kuchma had made overtures to the journalists to resolve the matter as early as October 8, when he said that he was willing to examine specific issues of political censorship, while underscoring that most media was in private hands. That meeting never took place.

Mr. Kryvenko also emphasized that the strike committee wants to keep the fight for freedom of the press outside the current political mire in Ukraine.

"Our concern is that, regardless of the sort of political opposition that currently exists, if it should attain power, it, too, could turn to censorship," explained Mr. Kryvenko. "We want to develop a system in which, regardless of which political force comes to power, it has a minimal affect on editorial processes."

He observed that in the two weeks since the formation of the strike committee and the events at UNIAN raised the political temperature over freedom of the press, the government had already loosened the screws of control.

"We have noticed that changes are brewing at even the most orthodox of television networks. There are now editorial directives on bulletin boards that remind journalists that both sides of an issue must be presented," explained Mr. Kryvenko.

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