Malynski Novyny newspaper claims about pressure of local government

Co-founders of the newspaper are the local district council and the labor collective of Malynski Novyny. According to the edition, it gave an opportunity to submit relevant and objective materials and to criticize the local government.

However, the Malynskiy District Council decided to unilaterally change the newspaper’s statute, without the consent of the other co-founder of the newspaper – the collective. The Malynskiy District Council plans to adopt the changes at its session on February 20, 2013.

In the draft decision, the Board proposed to change the name "Editorial office of Malynski Novyny newspaper” to “Communal enterprise “Malynski Novyny” of the Malynska district council, and to approve a new statute.

"The essence of the statute is to turn the independent newspaper into a handheld megaphone of the local government, since it states that all actions and all publications should be agreed with the District Council. Thus, the newspaper will have to write about achievements of the government, but not about how people really live in villages, while local landlords continue to distribute the real estate, hunting grounds, etc.., "- reads the newspaper’s statement.

In addition, in line with the new version of the statute, the newspaper will be totally dependant financially on its co-founder – the district council.

Tetyana Kotyuzhynska, media-lawyer of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, believes that such intentions of the District Council are not legitimate. After all, in her opinion, co-founders are equal in their rights, especially given the fact that their shares are not defined.