European Commission expects Ukraine to restore broadcasters instead of the United News telethon

The European Commission voiced their first clear public criticism of the United News telethon and said that Ukraine should work on restoring a pluralistic media landscape, reports European Pravda, citing the European Commission's Enlargement Package report on the progress of the candidate states, including Ukraine.

One of the critical remarks from Brussels concerns the funding of the United News telethon from the state budget. The report also raises doubts about the telethon's objectiveness.

"In 2023, the Ukrainian government invested public funds into the TV marathon project. It should be reassessed whether this is the best platform for enabling a free exchange of views among Ukrainians," reads the report.

The Commission also criticised the Rada TV channel, saying that "the main objective of Parliament’s media channel should be to share information on parliamentary business, including the work of representatives of the parliamentary opposition. Rada TV has been criticized for insufficient representation of the opposition and for not resuming the livestreams of parliamentary sessions, which were cancelled in 2022.

The document is part of the European Commission's annual report on all candidate states, including Ukraine. It contains analysis of the states' adherence to the fundamental EU values, including respect for freedom of speech and freedom of expression.

The European Commission also outlines the tasks for the candidate states for the near future.

The EU expects Ukraine to "continue its efforts to maintain and gradually restore a transparent, pluralistic and independent media landscape," gradually lifting the restrictions; this expectation is not contingent on the end of martial law.

The official and international opinions on the telethon

On November 16, 2023, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the telethon "United News" is one a key stage in the history of Ukraine's resilience.

In December 2023, the Freedom of Speech Committee chairman Yaroslav Yurchyshyn said that the quality of the telethon should be improved. However, he added that the telethon "resolved the issue of false reporting on the war and the combat." He also believes that the low quality of the "United News" telethon pushes people to look for alternative sources of information, so they often end up on anonymous Telegram channels that easily manipulate data.

In February 2024, the international human rights watchdog "Reporters Without Borders" called on Ukraine's authorities to abandon the national telethon United News and return to competition so as to boost pluralism in the media.

On April 15, 2024, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, said that in his opinion there is no need to reallocate the funds meant for the United News telethon and the TV channel FreeDom to fund the purchase of unmanned aerial vehicles and pickup trucks for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

In April 2024, the US State Department included the national telethon "United News" in its report on human rights violations in Ukraine in 2023.

On September 5, 2024, the Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications, Mykola Tochytskyi, said that the national telethon United News would continue, but a format that sparks public interest must be found.

The Ukrainians' trust in the telethon continues to drop: as of early February 2024, the share of those who trusts the telethon has decreased to 36%, according to the national public opinion poll carried out by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) during February 5–10, 2024.

According to a KIIS survey, the trust in "United News" dropped in May 2022 – October 2023. In December 2023, KIIS also recorded a drop in confidence in the telethon. The share of survey participants reporting confidence in the telethon was 69% in May 2022, and dropped to 48% in October 2023. In December 2023, this indicator dropped to 43%.