Reporters Without Borders: Again in Ukraine

Secretary general of Reporters Without Borders, Jean-Francois Julliard and European head of international human rights organization Reporters Without Borders Elsa Vidal arrived with an official visit to Kyiv at July 19. The first meeting in Ukraine they held with journalists - representatives of the "Stop Censorship!"movement.

Head of the Security Service, according to Secretary-General of Reporters Without Borders, Jean-Francois Julliard, could not be the owner of the largest media holding company. He presented his views on air at 5th Channel July 20, adding that "indeed, this is a real conflict of interest”.

"It seems impossible to me that the head of intelligence is simultaneously head of media holding company. And, as we were told, he is the head of many channels and this is totally unacceptable, "- said Julliard.

According to the press release of 5th Channel, a representative of Reporters Without Borders said that he met with the leaders of 5th Channel and TVi, discussed issues of the last competition for frequencies, and concluded that "that this case seems to suffer from some political pressure”.

In his opinion, judicial power is under the pressure as well, in order to make stop it being independent and not biased. "If nothing changes, you can find yourself in a situation where the leading channels are closed. There is some risk that they will lose their audience, and this is unacceptable. And if Channel 5 and TVi are disrupted from making their programs and broadcasting, this would be real concern for us and this would be seen as an assault on media freedom in Ukraine. We hope that political power will do their job correctly and judiciary will defend the press appropriately "- said Julliard.

Also, Jean-Francois Julliard noted that the administration of President has not yet identified the date of his meeting with Reporters Without Borders. "Unfortunately, we were explained in the Administration of President that Viktor Yanukovych cannot meet us until August. And we expect August to meet with him. You know, Kyiv and Paris are really close. And once we have the meeting date, we’ll meet with Mr Yanukovich, "- he said.

Julliard said that in order to improve the situation with freedom of speech in the country there must be certain political will. "We're not changing things that exist in countries. There are certain actors who have to change the situation. This is the power, this is the President Yanukovych. If he has no genuine desire to protect freedom of speech, it is hard to achieve results. We will inform the President, if we will have the opportunity to meet him, that he as head of state should be the first defender of freedom of speech"- he said. Julliard believes that Yanukovych "has put an end to conflict of interests between political and media power" and ensure "absolute independence" of the media.

According to Reporters Without Borders, editorial independence of broadcasters was key to media freedom in Ukraine, "because the public usually gets news from television and radio”. Creation of public broadcasting that is free from state control is considered essential for media pluralism.

Reporters Without Borders also formed preliminary recommendations for further actions of the government regarding the freedom of speech:

1. Treat egregious violations of media freedom and journalists’ rights with all the necessary rigor and diligence. In particular, ensure punishment of all perpetrators of physical attacks on journalists;

2. Ensure that representatives of law enforcement agencies carry out all laws relating to press freedom, and in particular Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine;

3. Ensure transparency of the allocation of frequencies for television and radio, and in case of TVi and Channel 5, make the next meeting in an open court;

4. Guarantee the independence of media regulatory bodies, pay special attention to their composition, how their members are appointed;

5. Guarantee free and easy access to public information, for journalists and ordinary citizens;

6. Guarantee transparent investigation into the murder of Georgy Gongadze, and guarantee the next meeting in an open court.