Marathon coverage of the political circus puts an opposition-friendly channel on top
Over the last few days, independent Channel 5 has come to represent thenew revolution almost as much as opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko and the color orange.
Beginning Nov. 21, in many Ukrainian households and offices Channel 5 has been on practically non-stop.
“Lately the television is switched to Channel 5 from morning till night,” said Dmytro Kuperman, a Kyiv student. “Whoever is at home watches it constantly.”
The channel itself has been doing non-stop news coverage 24 hours a day, in so-called “marathon mode,” broadcasting news, interviews with guests, short features and live, “without comment” feeds of events in the city center. The first week after the elections was focused on electorial violations, the second week on the actions of protesters.
Its program “News Hour” has set a new Ukrainian record of 21 broadcasts per day.
Big jump
According to surveys conducted by Gfk-USM during October, Channel 5 held 13th place among all Ukrainian channels, with a total market share of 1.26 percent. By Nov. 21, the channel’s numbers had actually sunk, to 15th place with a 1.96 percent share. However, for the week of Nov. 22-28, the channel’s share swelled to 14.28 percent, or third place, after Inter and national broadcaster 1+1. Channel 5’s ratings even surpassed those of state-controlled UT-1, which ranked sixth among all Ukrainian channels in the survey.
The survey was conducted in 77 cities and 1,200 households across all regions of Ukraine.
The channel was created in September 2003, with the motto “The channel with honest news.” Its reputation grew, and journalists from other channels started approaching management looking for work despite lower salaries. It has only 10 journalists and 10 cameramen, while national broadcasters typically employ five times as many people.
“Journalists are sick and tired of having to work under censorship,” said Channel 5 general producer Yuriy Stets. According to him, between January and September 2004, the channel’s ratings grew about five-fold. He added that some surveys suggest that last week there were times when every TV set taking part in the survey was tuned into the channel.
“Before, we had no competition, because other channels worked in a completely different format. Now, luckily, competition has appeared,” said Stets referring to the decisions of 1+1, Inter, UT-1 and several other channels to report honestly.
“Until Nov. 26 it was the only channel that was reporting news,” said Kuperman. “I won’t say ‘objectively’ because a pro-Yushchenko bias is evident, but at least without temnyky [official government news directives], not in line with the ruling power.”
“What other channels were showing before was a farce that was disgusting to watch,” said Kyiv pensioner and social activist Halyna Kryukova.
Star status
Part of Channel 5’s ratings boost can be attributed to the nearly 200 guests per day who have appeared on the channel in question and answer format. The guests have included politicians Oleksandr Moroz, Stepan Havrysh and Yevhen Marchuk; and economists, diplomats and celebrities such as Oleh Skrypka, Oksana Bilozir, Natalia Mogylevskaya and Olha Sumska. The “5th Element” program is a lively opinion program.
Today, Kryukova and Kouperman agree that some interesting news programs and guests have begun to appear on Inter, Novy Kanal, TRK-Kyiv and UT-1.
According to Channel 5’s chief editor Andriy Shevchenko, the only problem was obtaining comments from pro-Yanukovych figures.
“A balance of opinions is extremely important for us, and the [Yanukovych] side was and still is very reluctant to respond,” Shevchenko told the Post.
One of the biggest hurdles Channel 5 has faced is overcoming attempts to block the station’s signal.
Attempts to shut down Channel 5 were renewed after the second-round elections. In one of his speeches, President Leonid Kuchma accused the channel of “preparing the grounds for a coup d’etat.”
On Nov. 27 the channel was shut off in the Luhansk, Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, as well as in the extreme western city of Uzhgorod.
“Officially the explanations were anything from technical problems to the channel’s low ratings,” Stets said. “In personal conversations with the [cable TV companies], they were saying they were being pressured by the heads of regional state administrations or by tax officials.”
Also on Nov. 27, cable TV providers renewed broadcasts of the channel where it had been previously blocked.
“We had good training in October dealing with the government,” joked Stets, referring to the government’s attempts to shut down Channel 5 a little more than a month ago.
As of Dec. 1, in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, the channel remained blocked.
On-air fatigue
The main trial for Channel 5 journalists through this marathon has been a physical one. “People have been working beyond their physical capacity, about 200-300 percent of normal,” said Shevchenko, also one of the channel’s most popular anchors. “What has kept us going is the knowledge that something of extraordinary importance is taking place.”
A few times when there was no one else to do the work, Stets has gone on the air to report from the city by telephone or worked as a cameraman.
Stets came to work on Nov. 19 and went home for the first time on Nov. 26. “I stayed in the studio till 2 or 3 a.m., and then went out to Maidan,” he said. “The truly awful thing is the enormous flow of information,” Stets said. Once, after a two-hour nap, Stets woke up to find his cell phone switched off: he had 80 missed calls; it simply overloaded.
