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Hot Media Sector News
Anti-Russian Group Holds Protest at Inter TV’s Content Production Center
May 9 – Activists of the “Turn-off Russian” initiative held a protest outside the National Informational Systems office which produces news-related content for Inter TV channel. The protesters rolled out a banner saying “Turn-off Russian” and left stickers on the company’s door. Channel 5 and Kyiv TV-Radio Company reported about the protest in their evening news programs, and the “Turn-off Russian” initiative posted stories about it on Facebook.
According to “Turn-off Russian,” they were protesting Inter’s May 9 “Victory. One for All” concert program and the “No Step Back!” feature film. Among the actors appearing in the film was Hela Meskhia, who also appeared in “Donbas. The Outskirts,” a Russian film that was banned in Ukraine. Both programs promoted pro-Russian sentiments.
Dmytro Zhamaylo, co-organizer of the “Boycott Inter” campaign which started in 2016, called on Ukrainians to stop watching, cooperating with or visiting Inter TV channel and he appealed to state authorities to withdraw the channel’s license.
The “Turn-off Russian” initiative also sent a letter to the Security Service of Ukraine demanding a ban on Inter’s broadcast of content originating in Russia.
More on Detector Media in Ukrainian.
Analogue Signal Switch-Off Deadline Extended for Vulnerable Areas
May 8 – The Cabinet of Ministers, at its May 8 meeting, delayed the deadline for switching off the analog signals to December 31, 2019 for several TV channels broadcasting in territories bordering Russia and in areas adjacent to the temporarily occupied territories in Donbas. The original deadline for these channels was May 1, 2019. Those channels that do not receive licenses for digital broadcasting before the end of 2019 will also be allowed to continue their analogue broadcasts in these areas beyond that deadline. The Cabinet of Ministers resolution’s explanatory note gave as the reason for this move that it is intended to protect the national TV and radio information space and ensure full and continuous access for Ukrainians to television regardless of how they receive Ukrainian TV channels.
Note: Since September 1, 2018, 1,063 analogue transmitters have been switched off in Ukraine as the nation switches to digital spectrum; 25 more were partially switched off. Those 25 continued analog broadcasting in areas adjacent to the United Forces Operation Zone (the military conflict zone) and on the border with Russia.
More on Ukrainian National News (UNN) in Ukrainian.
President-elect Zelensky Declares De-Oligarchization of Media a Priority
May 8 – According to Channel 5, the newly elected president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, in a meeting with European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy Johannes Hahn, named his key priorities to be the de-oligarchization of media, combatting corruption, and de-monopolization of the energy sector. Zelensky also mentioned that he began a dialogue with Parliament about a new law on elections, even though Parliament cannot change the law within six months of the October parliamentary elections. The European Commissioner praised Ukraine for holding democratic elections and invited Zelensky to make his first visit as president to Brussels.
More on Detector Media in Ukrainian.
Poroshenko Makes Changes at National Council for TV and Radio Broadcasting
May 7 – President Petro Poroshenko appointed Yuriy Artemenko to be a member of the National Communications Regulatory Commission. The relevant decree was posted on the Presidential website.
Artemenko had served as the chair of the National Council for TV and Radio Broadcasting since 2014. Artemenko’s term as the chair and member of the National Council was set to expire in July 2019, but Artemenko quit on May 4. The same day, Poroshenko issued a decree that removed Artemenko as chair of the National Council and appointed Volodymyr Horkovenko, former head of the Main Directorate of Information Policy of the Presidential Administration, as the member of the National Council. The acting chair of the National Council is now Olha Herasymiuk, who used to serve as the first deputy chair of Artemenko.
More on Detector Media in Ukrainian.
Chernotytskyy Named Acting Head of UA:PBC while Alasania Awaits Court Decision
May 6 – Zurab Alasania, management board head of the Public Service Broadcasting Company (UA:PBC), began a vacation on May 6, the date that in February 2019 the UA:PBC supervisory board appointed for Alasania’s dismissal. Alasania used his legal right to go on vacation before the actual dismissal. UA:PBC is expecting the Shevchenkivsky district court of Kyiv to make a decision on the case Alasania filed into the legality of his dismissal at its hearing on June 11. UA:PBC management board member Mykola Chernotytsky was appointed, by Alasania’s order and with the support of the UA:PBC supervisory board, as acting head of the management board for the period of Alasania’s vacation.
Note: On January 31, 2019, the UA: PBC supervisory board voted to terminate the contract with Alasania. The issue of Alasania’s dismissal was brought to the board by supervisory board member Vyacheslav Kozak. On February 12, 2019, the UA: PBC supervisory board made another decision – to postpone the dismissal of Alasania to May 6, 2019, after the second round of the presidential election.
More on Detector Media.
Media Program in Ukraine Partners’ Activities
Institute of Mass Information Announces Results of the Catch a Fake! Contest
May 7 – The Institute of Mass Information (IMI) announced the nine winners of its Catch a Fake! contest. To stimulate media consumers to report fakes and to educate a wider audience on how to recognize fakes and disinformation, IMI organized the national Catch a Fake! contest for March 2019. Throughout the month of March, media consumers submitted cases of fakes they found in local media through IMI’s special Google form. Media consumers were asked to identify fakes in media products that were published between September 1, 2018 and March 31, 2019. The nine winners in three categories were selected by an independent commission and will receive cash prizes in May 2019.
Among the winning submissions were media reports that used photos from one event with a story about another event entirely. Submissions also exposed misinformation in the statements of politicians in media stories and misleading information about state bank services.
The criteria for the contest included the quality of argumentation (how the entrant concluded a story was fake), importance of the topic, and originality (use of different sources or methods of verification). IMI received 111 reports about fakes from all regions of Ukraine; 65 regarded news reports, 17 submissions were photos and videos, and 29 were the statements of politicians. The majority of entries came from Ternopil, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, and Kherson regions. Kherson participants won three of the nine prizes.
“Issues of National Security” Program Discusses Language Law and Putin’s Decision to Offer Russian Passports to Ukrainians in Donbas
May 7 - The Center for Journalist Investigations of the Information and Press Center (IPC) broadcast the 17th episode of its “Issues of National Security” TV series. The first guest in studio was Serhiy Kostynsky, member of the National Council for TV and Radio Broadcasting. Kostynsky commented on the recently adopted Law On Functioning Ukrainian State Language (#5670-D). He said that “great work has been done by TV channels and radio stations for the past three years to increase the Ukrainian language content; 80% of content was produced in Ukrainian language in regional and local media, which is 20% more than required by law, and up to 95% of content was in Ukrainian in the national media.” He added that “as for the new language law, it is almost certain that the quotas will take into account not only the speaking language of anchors, but of studio guests as well.”
Oleksandr Pavlichenko, executive director of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, was the second studio guest, via video Skype. Pavlichenko analysed the potential legal consequences of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s recent resolution issuing Russian passports to Ukrainian citizens residing in the occupied areas of Donbas. “Occupation is happening through providing citizenship to people. This is an assertive fact of these areas’ occupation by Russia,” Pavlichenko said. “Up to date, the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine has been recognized as both an international and internal conflict, which was stated in the International Criminal Court’s documents in 2017. From now, there are the grounds to clearly consider it as the international conflict and a new phase of confrontation between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in particular. This [the offer of Russian passports] aggravates the situation and it is definitely regarded as an attack by the Russian Federation on Ukraine,” Pavlichenko added.
The series of 34 programs is airing within an eight-month period. So far, 17 one-hour TV programs in the “Issues of National Security” series have been broadcast on IPC’s YouTube channel, on Facebook and on Chornomorska TV.
Training on the Ethics of Information Journalism in Ternopil
May 6-7 – The Ternopil Press Club (TPC) held a training for 25 regional TV journalists in Ternopil titled "Practical Aspects of Standards and Ethics of Information Journalism." The event provided the participants with an opportunity to learn how to use news video archives and information from internet and anonymous sources. Mastering storytelling was also on the agenda.
Practical training exercises included simulations of journalist work covering protests and the actions journalists can take when protesters refuse to speak to them while they are covering a protest.
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