(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the sharp increase in press freedom violations during Ukraine’s presidential elections that it said were “incompatible with free elections and democratic debate.” “Censorship, physical assaults, harassment, unfair dismissals, [and the] blocking of distribution or access to news [are] among the methods deployed in a bid to stifle proper election coverage,” […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the sharp increase in press freedom violations during Ukraine’s presidential elections that it said were “incompatible with free elections and democratic debate.”
“Censorship, physical assaults, harassment, unfair dismissals, [and the] blocking of distribution or access to news [are] among the methods deployed in a bid to stifle proper election coverage,” said the organisation.
RSF noted that attacks on press freedom have been stepped up considerably during the campaign, which has produced totally biased coverage. Obstacles to press coverage continued on polling day, while journalists, particularly in the broadcast sector, were still under pressure since the contested announcement of victory for current Prime Minister Victor Yanukovych.
On the eve of the first round of elections on 31 October 2004, several hundred journalists signed a petition protesting censorship and biased coverage in favour of the government candidate, Yanukovych. “Overriding the norms of professional journalism, the government, and television station owners under pressure, are attempting to gag journalists or ensure that events are covered in a biased fashion,” the petition read.
The 28 October petition was circulated by journalists who work for national television stations, including Novy Kanal, ICTV, Inter, TNT and 1+1. It called on reporters to “provide news on every important event, to present all important points of view and to check and give the sources of news that is broadcast.”
Seven journalists from the private station 1+1, run by the head of the President’s Office, Viktor Medvedchuk, resigned on 29 October. “We refuse to take part in a news war that the government has declared on its own people,” they said.
The journalists said they had chosen to leave the station after failing to persuade management to stop censoring news and to ignore the “temnyks” – instructions from the President’s Office to editorial offices on how certain subjects should be handled.
Journalists came under even greater pressure ahead of the second round run-off, and many condemned the systematic use of “temnyks” by the authorities.
On 15 November, the evening of a televised debate between the candidates, about 30 journalists working for leading television stations demonstrated outside the studios of public station UT-1 and private station 1+1, protesting government obstacles to the media’s work. Some of the demonstrators tied their hands together with paper chains made out of “temnyks”.
On 9 November, television news host Volodymyr Holosnyak, of UT-1 TV, was sacked for refusing to read a “temnyk” ahead of a televised debate in which Yanukovych was taking part. The journalist insisted that he should also read a statement on the conditions sought by opposition candidate Victor Yushchenko to take part in the debate.
Opposition supporters and journalists have also come under frequent attack. On 31 October, on the eve of the first round of elections, Serghiy Skorobohatko, a journalist from the main opposition television station Kanal 5, was beaten up at a polling station by assailants who also snatched his camera.
On 3 November, Enver Musayev, of the weekly “Holos Kryma” was physically assaulted and threatened in Simferopol, the regional capital of Crimea.
On 18 November, Alexander Danutsa, head of news and a host on TV-Stymul, was brutally attacked in Kirovgrad, central Ukraine. His assailants told him to stop reporting on the election campaign. He was taken to hospital with a concussion and severe bruising.
Finally, state-owned businesses have prevented the distribution of certain independent or opposition newspapers. The 17 November issue of opposition daily “Silski Visti”, which carried an interview with Yushchenko, could not be sent to its subscribers because the copies were stuck at the depot owned by the distributor, Pressa Ukrayiny, a subsidiary of the public post office.
In another example, on 12 November, the public post office in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, refused to deliver the independent weekly “Svoboda” to several thousand subscribers in the Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, Luhansk, Kharkov and Crimea areas.
On 21 November, the second round run-off saw frequent obstructions to press coverage countrywide. Several journalists were assaulted or arrested and many were kept out of polling stations.
Around 15 youths assaulted Tatiana Ratushnyak, of the weekly “Trybuna”, and Andrei Zelenko, of the weekly “Stary Zamok”, in Mukachevo, western Ukraine. Zelenko, who was attacked in the village of Klyachanovo, also had his camera snatched. The same assailants snatched a press card from Ratushnyak at polling station No. 12, in the same constituency, ripping it into pieces in front of several witnesses. Security forces did not intervene in either case. Both journalists filed official complaints.
Anatoliy Sokorynski, Yushchenko’s representative in Dniepropetrovsk, eastern Ukraine, said that three thugs beat up Volodymyr Piddubny, a freelance journalist for the daily “Vechernie Visti”, when he arrived to film voting irregularities in the village of Dmytriyevka. They also tried to snatch his camera but were stopped after a police officer intervened.
Taisia Hladchenko, of the weekly “Tochka Zoru”, was beaten and her camera was destroyed as she took photographs of an incident in front of polling station No. 67, in the Donetsk region’s 42nd constituency. Dmytro Vorobiov, of the same newspaper, was also assaulted in Romny, Sumy region.
The news agency Ukrainian News also reported that nine journalists were arrested at polling station No. 72, in the 40th constituency in Borysovka, Dniepropetrovsk region. They were first refused entry to the polling station then taken to a police post in Nikopolskiy. They were later released after having their accreditation seized.
Outright censorship has also been much in evidence, especially on television. Several journalists from 1+1 television refused to present news bulletins on 21 and 22 November, because of the use of “temnyks”. On polling day, Oles Tereshchenko and Andrei Tychyna refused to present the news for this reason, as did Alla Masur and Ludmila Dobrovolska on 22 November.
Sports journalists Maria Padalko and Serhiy Polkhovskiy refused to host their programmes, in solidarity with their news colleagues.
