The language bill that threatens the survival of non-Ukrainian-language media, which was given preliminary approval by parliament on Oct. 4, comes amid an intensifying battle over the media environment in the run-up to the 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections.
As the elections approach, politicians, oligarchs and other influential businesspeople are vying for control of television, radio and print media.
Two major television channels — NewsOne and 112 Ukraine — have reportedly been acquired by pro-Kremlin politician Viktor Medvedchuk. Both channels now offer lavish coverage of Medvedchuk, who was responsible for sending the presidential administration’s orders (temniki) to journalists about coverage guidelines while serving as chief of staff under Leonid Kuchma, Ukraine’s authoritarian president from 1994–2005.
Taras Kozak, a close associate of Medvedchuk, bought NewsOne on Oct. 5. An investigation by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty revealed in August that the channel may have been de facto taken over by Medvedchuk, although he denies this.
The sale of NewsOne was preceded by the Verkhovna Rada’s Oct. 4 decision to ask the National Security and Defense Council to impose sanctions on NewsOne and 112 Ukraine for their pro-Kremlin coverage, including the possible cancellation of their licenses.
Critics believe that authorities are cracking down on pro-Kremlin coverage as part of a broader drive to eliminate all criticism of President Petro Poroshenko and the government ahead of the presidential election in March.
Their reasoning is that NewsOne and 112, besides bringing pro-Kremlin voices to the airwaves, have also hosted pro-Ukrainian opposition politicians who have effectively been banned from the major oligarch-owned TV channels.
Channel 112 has noticeably toned down its criticism of the authorities over the past year, and ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Poroshenko’s main competitor in the presidential race, has accused the president of partnering with Medvedchuk to take over the editorial policy of Channel 112 and NewsOne.
Poroshenko denies the accusations.
The ZIK television channel has also been under pressure and has reduced its negative coverage of the authorities over the past year.
In December, ZIK said that lawmaker Glib Zagory, a member of the president’s dominant 135-member faction in the 422-seat parliament, had tried to get the rights to run the channel on behalf of the Presidential Administration, which denied the allegation.
Medvedchuk has also been accused of taking over ZIK, although the channel denies this. However, in January, ZIK journalist Roxana Runo said she had quit the channel because she didn’t want to comply with the management’s requests to provide positive coverage of Medvedchuk.
Meanwhile, in March, ZIK’s general producer Natalia Vlashchenko said the 83-member People’s Front party led by former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Interior Minister Arsen Avakov had put pressure on the channel. ZIK also said in March that the Presidential Administration was planning to use radical nationalist groups to take over the channel, which the Presidential Administration denied.
Another media outlet in trouble is UA.Pershy, a public broadcaster that airs the Schemes investigative journalism show. In September its broadcasts were terminated, with the official reason being it was in debt to the government. UA.Pershy CEO Zurab Alasania accused the authorities of sabotaging his channel because they want only positive coverage of the government.
Meanwhile, in July, Tetiana Terekhova’s “Good Morning, Country” show on UA.Pershy was closed after she interviewed Tymoshenko. Terekhova accused the channel of censorship, while UA.Pershy claimed she had violated journalistic ethics.
Concerns over a sharp crackdown on free speech were also triggered in August when the courts allowed prosecutors to access the cell phone data of two investigative journalists, Natalie Sedletska and Kristina Berdynskykh.
The move prompted strong criticism by Ukrainian civic activists, journalists and Western officials.
