(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is greatly troubled by President Leonid Kuchma’s government’s recent suspension of all broadcasts by four independent television stations on the Crimean peninsula. **Updates IFEX alert of 28 July 1999** On 26 July 1999, President Kuchma’s government’s frequency inspection agency ordered the state-run Crimean Radio and Television Broadcasting Center (CRTBC) to halt transmissions […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is greatly troubled by President Leonid Kuchma’s
government’s recent suspension of all broadcasts by four independent
television stations on the Crimean peninsula.
**Updates IFEX alert of 28 July 1999**
On 26 July 1999, President Kuchma’s government’s frequency inspection agency
ordered the state-run Crimean Radio and Television Broadcasting Center
(CRTBC) to halt transmissions by Chornomorska TV, the largest private
broadcaster in the region. The order also applied to three other Crimean TV
stations: in Simferopol, Dzhankoy and Kerch. The agency claimed that because
CRTBC had allocated frequencies within Crimea without approval from Kyiv
(Kiev) authorities, the stations were operating without proper licenses.
Yet while these four stations have been shut down, other regional and local
government-run stations continue to broadcast with purportedly illegal
licenses. The timing of the frequency inspection agency’s order is also
suspicious. After all, Chornomorska TV had been broadcasting daily news and
feature programs under its current license for eight years.
CPJ believes the move was a politically-motivated effort by President
Kuchma’s administration to control the airwaves in the months preceding the
31 October presidential election. Previous attempts by Crimean officials to
cut off the station’s
broadcasts before national parliamentary elections in March 1998 failed only
after public and international groups protested.
This latest action follows a series of attempts this year by President
Kuchma’s administration to muzzle independent and opposition television
stations in Ukraine. In June, his government alleged “technical violations”
to justify ordering the private, Kyiv-based STB television channel to halt
satellite broadcasts to its affiliates around the country. Station managers
believe that the real motive for the suspension was retaliation for a series
of investigative reports about top officials allegedly involved in corrupt
business practices. STB defied the order and continued broadcasting after
its protests received broad domestic and international media attention (see
IFEX alert of 9 June 1999).
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
Dzhankoy, and Kerch TV stations in Crimea
work
violates all his government’s international commitments to guarantee media
freedom
four stations may resume broadcasting
their profession without fear of reprisal
Appeals To
His Excellency Leonid Kuchma
President of Ukraine
vul. Bankivska 11
Kyiv, Ukraine
Fax: +380 44 293 7364 / 291 6161 / 293 1001
E-mail: postmaster@ribbon.kiev.ua
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
