[Media-watch] Dispatches - MediaGuardian - 29 November 2004.

[Barry White]

Dispatches - MediaGuardian - 29 November 2004.

Ukraine media
Signs of the times
David Crouch in Kiev

The first to hear about it were the deaf. The 11 o'clock news bulletin on
UT-1, Ukraine's mini-equivalent of the BBC, went out with translation into
sign language. But instead of following the newsreader, the signaller told
the programme's 100,000 deaf viewers: "The election results have been
falsified. Don't believe them. Our president is Yushchenko. I'm sorry I've
had to translate lies up to now, but I'm not doing it any more."

It was a signal that Thursday November 25 was to be a big day for the
Ukrainian media. Journalists' protests against state censorship had bubbled
up a month before, and now they were coming to a head.

For four years the media, especially television, have been strictly
censored. The first "temniki" - instructions on how to report events -
appeared in 2002 after Viktor Medvedchuk became head of president Kuchma's
administration. Several journalists were sacked for not toeing the line, or
simply walked off in disgust.

This year's elections have seen temniki used with a vengeance in support of
Yanukovich, the pro-Russian candidate.

The structure of media ownership makes it difficult to combat censorship.
The big national newspapers and TV channels have owners who hide the real
bosses behind a web of franchises and offshore companies. Who do you
complain to if you don't know who is pulling the strings?

It's like nailing jelly to the wall. Unofficially, the owner of three
central TV channels - Novyi, STB and ICTV - is Viktor Pinchuk, Kuchma's
son-in-law. He is in charge, he behaves like the owner, but proving it is
impossible.

Inter TV is the plaything of Igor Puzhnikov, a figure close to Medvedchuk.
But officially it belongs to shareholders.

This hidden, oligarchical ownership extends to Channel 5, the only national
TV station with a reputation for telling the truth. Everyone knows the owner
is Pyotr Poroshenko, who improbably combines a confectionery empire with
building ships. But when an MP tried to sue the channel's owner for libel
last month, Poroshenko was in the clear.

The same considerations apply to the press. There are far more newspapers
than TV channels, however, so the temniki lack the same force. In the
regions, few people read the national press. Independent local papers have
far larger readerships than the nationals.

On November 25, the censor's regime was breached. A small strike by 14 news
journalists on UT-1 became a mass action by 300 staff. At 9pm many
Ukrainians saw their first news bulletin produced according to professional
principles. They actually saw footage of the crowds in Kiev.

The revolt swept through the television networks, with Inter and 1+1
producing news bulletins the like of which had not been seen for years. A
hated lickspittle, Vyacheslav Pikhovshek, was stripped of his job as
presenter.

As she set off for the central square in Kiev, Olga Kashpor, a reporter on
UT-1, said: "We are proud of what we've done. We want to tell the people
that we won't be lying any more."

We can only hope her sentiments prove correct.

ends

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