Ukraine’s National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council on March 3 decided not to renew the broadcasting license for Radio Vesti in Kyiv.
The decision was made unanimously by all the council members present.
The basis for this decision was the warning issued by the broadcasting regulator because of “offensive language during a live broadcast.” As of Feb. 16, Dyvosvit LLC – the company that works under Radio Vesti brand – has been “warned” four times because of it.
All the warnings are “still valid and have not been cancelled by judicial means.”
“There were rude and derogatory remarks addressed to the heroes of the Revolution of Dignity during radio program ‘People Say’,” the council said in a statement on March 3. “The TV host did not respond to these offensive swearwords, and thus violated journalistic standards.”
The deputy chairman of the National Council Ulyana Feshchuk agreed, saying during the hearings on March 3 that there had been “calls for separatism in the direct speech of the Russian-backed forces in Donetsk.”
Radio Vesti could not be reached for comment. The station has tried to contest all of the warnings in the courts.
After the decision, around 2,000 people gathered near the Presidential Administration to protest the council’s decision, according to Radio Vesti’s Facebook page.
Apart from Kyiv, Radio Vesti used to broadcast in Kharkiv and Dnipro. But on Feb. 24, the National Council has cancelled the radio’s license for broadcasting in Kharkiv.
Radio Vesti started broadcasting in March 2014. Most shows of the station were in Russian. The owner of the station is “Media Invest Group”.
The station’s coverage has been relatively neutral, compared to the more pro-Russian Vesti newspaper.
Ukrainian journalist Pavel Sheremet, who was killed on July 20 as a result of a car explosion in Kyiv, was the host of a morning show at the radio station.
The authorities have recently made a series of controversial decisions on media, often justifying them with efforts to restrict Russian propaganda. However, their opponents dismiss this as an excuse to crack down on criticism of Ukrainian authorities.
In February President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree allowing the government to block sites that pose a danger to national security.
In January the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council banned Dozhd, a Russian opposition television channel with moderately pro-Ukrainian coverage.
The council also initially refused to extend the license of Ihor Kolomoisky’s channel 1+1 in December, though subsequently it renewed the license. The channel interpreted the council’s actions as political pressure.
Publications deemed to support ex-President Viktor Yanukovych’s regime or Russia have also faced pressure by law enforcement agencies, threats and calls for shutting them down. These include the Inter television channel, the Vesti newspaper and strana.ua.
The developments also come amid Poroshenko’s alleged attempts to assert control of the media. In January Dmytro Nosikov, an associate of Poroshenko’s grey cardinal Igor Kononenko, became the CEO of the opposition NewsOne television channel.
