Even this far into the 21st century, fierce battles over freedom of the press are still taking place in Ukraine. Many of those arguments rage behind the scenes, but some break out into the open.
A typical example: A politician, oligarch or powerful public official objects to an unflattering story or investigation and then vents anger at the owner with the expectation that the publisher will instruct the editor to soften the newspaper’s coverage.
The more powerful the aggrieved person, the more dangerous the consequences — ranging from lawsuits to criminal investigations and even violence.
The official assumes that owners of all media outlets in Ukraine tell journalists what to cover and will bow to pressure. It’s a safe assumption in the oligarch playground that is Ukraine, but not when it comes to the Kyiv Post. The newspaper has a 26-year tradition of editorial independence that is now enforced by Adnan Kivan, the newspaper’s third publisher since 1995. Kivan’s main businesses are construction and agriculture, not media, but the Syrian native has explained his ownership of Channel 7 in Odesa and the Kyiv Post as his contributions to strengthening freedom of speech, a pillar of any democracy.
Another form of pressure is more subtle but also sinister. It happens when advertisers try to dictate coverage or, far more commonly, try to get their promotional material disguised as “news” — a practice that is forbidden by the Kyiv Post because it is tantamount to lying to our readers. Unfortunately, some of our brethren have resorted to unclear labeling that leaves readers confused about whether they’re reading news or paid advertising.
We recently encountered the more overt advertising pressure for today’s planned special section “World in Ukraine: Azerbaijan.” After years of trying, our sales staff finally persuaded SOCAR — the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic — to sponsor an in-depth look at Ukraine-Azerbaijan relations, as we have done with dozens of countries for at least 15 years.
We had never done special coverage of Azerbaijan and we were excited about the story possibilities involving another former Soviet republic.
But it was not to be.
After weeks of free promotion by the Kyiv Post with the SOCAR logo, the company pulled out on Oct. 8 — citing our online publication of a link to an Oct. 4 piece from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty headlined “Pandora papers expose secret wealth, dealings of Aliyev, Zelensky, Putin.”
I am excerpting the parts of the article relevant to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, the second-generation dictator who is the son of late Heydar Aliyev and former KGB agent who ran the nation of 10 million people before his death in 2003: “The investigation found that the family of Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and their close associates have secretly been involved in property deals in Britain, almost entirely in London, worth nearly $700 million, using offshore companies, according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, which is part of the ICIJ consortium. Most of these properties were purchased in cash. The files show how the Aliyevs, long accused of corruption in the South Caucasus country, bought a total of 17 properties, the BBC reported.
“Aliyev’s son, Heydar, owned four buildings in London’s Mayfair district when he was just 11 years old. A $44.7 million block was bought by a front company owned by a family friend of the president in 2009 and was transferred one month later to Heydar. Aliyev’s administration did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations, nor did members of his family.”
Those investigative findings do nothing to dispel the opinion that Aliyev is a world-class kleptocrat.
SOCAR is free to spend its advertising budget how it wants. But supporting independent news outlets — which are virtually unheard of in today’s Azerbaijan — is a bad fit for a company that answers to Aliyev. But if SOCAR officials thought that their cancellation would prompt us to scrap the special coverage this week, they were mistaken.
So, despite the absence of a sponsor, we proudly write about the bilateral relationship during this holiday-shortened (Oct. 14 Day of Defenders) week, to the best of our
abilities.
Also worth noting: The ambassador of Azerbaijan in Ukraine refused our request for an interview.
Brian Bonner is the executive director and chief editor of the Kyiv Post.
