Freedom of speech in Ukraine is being tested by war

Ukraine is fighting against Russian tyranny, but the young democracy is facing internal threats. First and foremost, we are talking about corruption and freedom of speech, as more and more signals indicate problems in these areas. Recently, the U.S. State Department in its report on human rights around the world noted that the Ukrainian media is only “partially free.”

According to the report, the freedom of speech and press guaranteed by the Constitution was restricted by the decision of the Ukrainian authorities after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Since then, the authorities have been blocking publications that they consider to be a threat to national security. But the list also includes opposition TV channels that have been operating in Ukraine for many years. The State Department also considers the investigation of attacks on Ukrainian journalists to be insufficient.

The American government believes that the so-called “United News” TV marathon, which started on leading Ukrainian channels last spring, could tighten the government’s control over broadcasting. Similar opinions have been voiced throughout the year by some politicians and experts. Opposition TV channels 5 Channel, Pryamyy and Espreso were deprived of the right to participate in the joint marathon. The authorities introduced a rule that allowed them to remove a network from national digital terrestrial frequencies if a broadcaster refused to reduce the broadcast of its own content to less than 12 hours. This is a kind of censorship, and the aforementioned channels were punished – now they operate only on the Internet.

The Public Broadcaster is also under pressure, as the authorities require it to coordinate and support government policy. “Local branches of the public broadcaster alleged that high-ranking representatives of the Office of the President and other government agencies lobbied the broadcaster’s supervisory board to support selected candidates for key leadership positions,” the State Department report says.

The United Marathon bears not only signs of censorship but also corruption, the Ukrainian opposition claims. Last fall, investigators from the independent publication Bihus.Info found out that the news block for the telethon was produced by the Kinokit company, which is affiliated with the deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Kyrylo Tymoshenko.

This is a direct interference by the authorities in the editorial policy of the media.

There are many questions about where the taxpayers’ money that the government allocates to finance state media goes. In March, the government allocated the equivalent of 5 million pounds to the TV channels of Ukrainian oligarchs Ihor Kolomoisky, Viktor Pinchuk, and Dmytro Firtash to produce content for the state-owned Russian-language TV channel FreeDom.

A total of £9 million has already been allocated to the channel, which has very limited broadcasting and capacity to convey the position of the Ukrainian state, since the start of the war. “Why does the state spend such a large amount of money on an unpopular channel during the war?” asks MP Geo Leros. He criticises the content of the United Marathon and notes that its creators have become disconnected from the realities of the war.

These remarks are fair, as scandals regularly erupt in Ukrainian social media over the fun and inappropriate statements during the marathon. “From morning to evening, the marathon is trash, it’s impossible to watch. Ukraine is turning into a kind of degraded communist country… For example, billions of hryvnias were allocated to the state TV channel Rada just to manipulate public opinion,” says Geo Leros. He suggests that all Ukrainian officials should be required to spend at least a month at the front to bring them back to reality.

The Ukrainian government is also trying to take control of all information related to the combat operations. The legendary battalion commander with the call sign “Kupol” was demoted for an interview with The Washington Post. There he spoke about the situation on the frontlines without embellishment. The command of the Ukrainian Air Force has threatened criminal liability to the owners of popular social media outlets who report anything other than official information about missile attacks on Ukraine.

Recently, a broadcasting license was issued to a TV channel of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, which will be called Army TV. The Russian Ministry of Defense has a similar channel, Zvezda, and it is known only for outright propaganda and praise of the Russian military machine. According to the creators of Army TV, the new channel is supposed to “dispel the fog of war.” However, Geo Leros cites another reason for its creation: “The authorities want a media outlet that will have the exclusive right to cover the war, where they can invite only those heroes who will praise it, so that there is complete censorship.”

Ukraine is seeking to join the European Union under a shortened procedure. The EU pays great attention to the state of affairs with democracy and freedom of speech. Ukraine has to show, not with words, but with deeds, that it stands firmly on democratic principles, and even war cannot be an excuse for authoritarian manifestations.

https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/ukraine/