Photo credit: Ukrayinska Pravda
The government can reduce quotas for Ukrainian-language content on radio and television, as deputy head of the Office of the Resident (OPU) Yury Kostyuk told interviewed by
Hromadske.ua.
"I think it is possible, in fact, to revise the figures that are established (90% of quotas are
Mind )," Yuriy Kostyuk said.
Yuriy Kostyuk noted that raising quotas has really increased the number of Ukrainian-language songs on the radio. However, he noted that he personally would not want thanks to this mechanism Russian pop music on the radio to be replaced with Ukrainian one, rogue songs in Russian to be replaced with Ukrainian one.
“So what is the necessity? Market, economic feasibility of reviewing quotas? If the quotas are reviewed, what should it resolve? ”he said.
He believes that the low popularity of radio stations in the east of the country is caused by the rejection of the Ukrainian language and, basically, everything which is Ukrainian.
“People do not really listen to the radio to hear the news. People listen to the radio because of music. They listen to the radio where they play songs they like, that they understand. And between the blocks of songs there is news, for example, where they tell how the residents of the "LPR" can more easily get a Russian passport, "- Kostyuk said.
He also commented on the situation with filmmaking. “We understand that these provisions of the Law on the Ukrainian Language will, in most cases, get effect in a few years - from 2023 to 2024, I mean, much later. There is much thought as to how the Ukrainian film market can respond. From the point of view of content producers, if they can also sell this content in Belarus, Kazakhstan or the Baltic States… If they do in Russian, they will be able to, ” the deputy head of OPU said.
According to Kostyuk, Ukraine cannot only defend itself in the information war. Russian-speaking Ukrainian content, as to him, would provide an opportunity to get out to new playing fields and to be heard there.
"Why can't we exemplify certain democratic changes and processes for most post-Soviet countries, but communicate certain messages in a language that is understandable to Kazakhstan, Belarus, or Russia. We come out for the Ukrainian language, we will support it, defend it and promote it. And we want really Ukrainian to be fashionable. We understand that this requires to modify a little bit the tools that had been used earlier, ”Kostyuk said.
Kostyuk also said that the best option to stimulate the development of a Ukrainian-language product is financial support, such as tax cuts or tax exemption in general for a certain time, especially for a top-rated production.
