Radio Canada International's Ukrainian program faces cuts this fall (04/04/04)

Radio Canada International's Ukrainian program faces cuts this fall

by Christopher Guly
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

OTTAWA - After October 31, the day Ukrainian citizens head to the polls to elect their next president, Montreal-based Radio Canada International's Ukrainian-language program could be broadcasting less frequently to Ukraine.

Lina Gavrilova, head of RCI's Ukrainian section, told The Weekly that Ukrainian programming is scheduled to drop from 30 minutes a day, seven days a week to a total of one hour per week.

She said RCI officials have yet to decide whether the 60 minutes of airtime will be presented in its entirety or divided into two 30-minute segments.

It's also unclear whether the Ukrainian program will continue to be heard over short-wave.

In addition to that format, the daily shows are transmitted over the Internet and via satellite, and appear on Ukraine's National Radio Company's regular schedule.

NRC's president Viktor Nabrusko is expected to meet with RCI director Jean Larin in Montreal this summer to discuss arrangements for broadcasting the Canadian Ukrainian-language program.

As well, the RCI-Ukrainian section's staff will be cut in half when the programming changes take effect this fall. Two casual employees have been dropped, leaving only Ms. Gavrilova and Luba Demko, both of whom serve as announcer-producers.

In early February, RCI, the international radio service for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC) and its French-language, publicly funded Radio-Canada counterpart, officially announced that it was "repositioning" its programming and added a new Portuguese-language program "specially tailored to Brazilian audiences" last month.

RCI was originally scheduled to reduce Ukrainian programming around that time. But an 11th-hour intervention by Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham to CBC president and chief executive officer Robert Rabinovitch kept the programming intact until after the forthcoming Ukrainian election, said Ostap Skrypnyk, executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

In an early March meeting with Mr. Graham in Winnipeg, where the UCC is headquartered, Mr. Skrypnyk reiterated the UCC's opposition to RCI's cuts to the Ukrainian program and was "pleased" when Mr. Graham informed him that he had talked with Mr. Rabinovitch about the matter.

"Mr. Graham understood that RCI is an important part of Canada's foreign policy and said it's important for Ukrainians to have information in the lead-up to the election in October," Mr. Skrypnyk said in an interview.

Last September, when RCI began reviewing its programming, the UCC began a lobby campaign to keep the Ukrainian program intact and sent the minister a letter asking him to use his "influence" to keep the status quo.

In reply, the congress was told the federal government has an "arm's length" relationship with RCI. (The Department of Canadian Heritage funds CBC-Radio Canada, which in turn funds RCI. Foreign Affairs provides an advisory role, often through its diplomatic missions.)

But while he's grateful for the reprieve, Mr. Skrypnyk is not pleased that RCI's Ukrainian program, which last year marked its 50th anniversary, has been slashed. "Some might say something is better than nothing, but when it's cut to a few minutes a week should we be happy?"

He says that ever since RCI introduced programming for post-World War II Ukrainians in the Soviet Union, it has given them information about life in Canada and how Canadians of Ukrainian descent actively and freely participate in the country. "It has told them a lot about civil society," Mr. Skrypnyk said.

And it still will, said RCI spokesman Denis Pellerin. "Those who claim that Ukrainians need to have access to Canadian values should know that we will still be broadcasting in Ukrainian," he explained, adding that a "large part of the Ukrainian population speaks Russian" and can also listen to RCI programming in that language.

"I'm not sure if the Ukrainian community really understands the changes that we are looking at and is afraid that RCI will eventually stop broadcasting in Ukrainian, which is not the case. The Ukrainian program is an important part of RCI," he continued.

Mr. Pellerin said the changes, which have yet to be completely finalized, to the Ukrainian section reflect the "normal management" of RCI's resources and programs, and will help the Canadian international radio network "invest in what we think is crucial, which is to broadcast in Portuguese for our Brazilian audience."

On March 26, RCI launched a weekly 30-minute program that covers news and information in Canada and Brazil. Through an agreement with Radio Netherlands, the show is broadcast on 300 AM and FM stations throughout Brazil, and is also aired live via short-wave on Friday afternoons, and on weekends via satellite and the Internet.

With a growing population of nearly 180 million (compared to the estimated 50 million people living in Ukraine) and home to the fifth-most spoken language in the world (Portuguese), Brazil is an "important part of the world" for RCI programming, said Mr. Pellerin.

In addition to the new Portuguese show, RCI has also redirected its English-language programming to India and sub-Saharan Africa instead of the United States, which will now have short-wave access to CBC's domestic radio programs.

Through a new agreement with German international radio broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, RCI is also now reaching major capitals in French-speaking North and sub-Saharan Africa.

Mr. Pellerin noted that the Ukrainian program is not the only one to face the ax. One of the Chinese programs will be cut as RCI looks to develop more partnerships with Chinese radio. "We are doing less news and more context of news and current events," he added.

With Portuguese, RCI now broadcasts in nine languages, including English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Mandarin, Cantonese and Ukrainian.

Those involved with the latter language take little comfort from RCI's assurances. The UCC's Mr. Skrypnyk said he is worried about the future of a shortened Ukrainian program that might not be readily available to people living in Ukraine.

"There is a need for Ukrainians to have access to unbiased information and learn about the Ukrainian community in Canada. If RCI relies on buying space on Ukrainian stations, there's a risk that bad people running them can cut off broadcasts of the Ukrainian program," he underscored. "RCI has to be on short-wave so that it's available to everybody."

The lingering uncertainty surrounding an already tough situation has left the Ukrainian program's employees "stressed," said Ms. Gavrilova, who joined the show in December 1993. "I don't know what to feel anymore - I'm sad."

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