Ukraine's media under threat in run-up to presidential elections (08/15/04)

Ukraine's media under threat in run-up to presidential elections

NEW YORK - As Ukrainian citizens prepare to vote in important national elections in October, the country's news media is under increasing assault, threatening the chances for a fair electoral contest, according to a new Freedom House report issued in July.

The report, "Under Assault: Ukraine's News Media and the 2004 Presidential Elections," was first released in October 2003 and has been updated to reflect crackdowns on the press since the beginning of 2004.

Ukraine's pivotal presidential election holds significant political, social and economic importance, offering a new beginning for Ukraine. The contest will have major implications for Europe and the transatlantic community.

The updated report is available online at: www.freedomhouse.org/research/specreports/ukmedia604.pdf. A version of the report in Ukrainian is available at: www.freedomhouse.org/research/specreports/ukmedia604UKR.pdf

"Ukraine's news media suffer under an elaborate system of control that keeps opposition political groups and other critics off the airwaves and out of print," said Freedom House Executive Director Jennifer Windsor. "The situation has only worsened as election day approaches."

Since January Ukrainian authorities have stepped up their harassment and intimidation of independent and opposition media.

According to the report, independent radio stations (i.e. those not controlled by the state) have been shut down to "remove alternative voices and political debate from the airwaves." In February Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) ceased broadcasting on Radio Dovira, a decision made by the radio station's new director, a known loyalist of President Leonid Kuchma. Authorities abruptly shut down Radio Kontynent once it picked up the RFE/RL feed.

In a disturbing incident, Heorhii Chechyk, director of the private radio and television company Yuta, died in a car crash on March 3. Several independent Ukrainian journalists have also been mysteriously murdered in recent years, including Heorhii Gongadze, a journalist who investigated high-level government corruption. Secret tape recordings made in President Kuchma's office shortly before Mr. Gongadze's disappearance in September 2000 appear to implicate the president in the journalist's abduction.

The report highlights how the Kuchma administration directly distorts news and skews coverage of political affairs. In addition to state influence and interference, the report outlines other obstacles facing the news media in Ukraine, including economic vulnerabilities, poor ethical standards and inadequate journalism training.

The presidential administration has also reportedly issued a series of decrees forbidding any reporting of negative statements about Ukraine by international organizations or governments, suggesting a "determined attempt to shield the electorate from criticism emanating from Brussels and Washington," the report said.

"According to our earlier assessment, the level of official harassment of Ukraine's independent media made unlikely an open contest of ideas and opinions ahead of October's elections," said Ms. Windsor. "Now we are seeing a stepping up of intimidation, along with the alarming death of a journalist. This raises fresh concerns not only that honest and fair coverage of the elections will be absent, but that overall press freedom conditions in Ukraine are reaching a new, perilous low."

The report warns that despite the inability of President Kuchma to seek a third term, he and his backers will attempt to determine the electoral victory of a chosen successor.

Unless the international community and Ukraine's media owners, editors, journalists and civic organizations exert substantial pressure, uniformity and bias in mass media coverage of Ukraine's political life will only intensify in the run-up to the elections, the report warns.

Among several recommendations, the report urges the Ukrainian government to:

immediately cease issuing and distributing "temnyky" (theme directives that instruct editors on news coverage), and end the intimidation of top-level editors at news media companies; and
ensure equal access of leading candidates to the airwaves on state-owned television and radio broadcasts, and guarantee that candidates criticized in state-owned media are given equal air time in the lead up to voting.

The report also urges the international community to:

urge Ukraine's government and administration to uphold freedom of speech and freedom of information rights, and in particular to legally enforce domestic laws already protecting these freedoms in Ukraine;
ensure that international election monitoring begins six months before the vote, with extensive and systematic monitoring of news media bias and equal access.

The report was prepared for Freedom House by Jeremy Druker and Dean Cox, Prague-based analysts at Transitions Online, in cooperation with the Freedom House research team.

In last year's annual global survey of press freedom, Freedom of the Press 2003, Freedom House downgraded Ukraine from "partly free" to "not free," because of "state censorship of television broadcasts, continued harassment and disruption of independent media, and the failure of the authorities to adequately investigate attacks against journalists."

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