Media Movement calls to cease pressure on Suspilne and let it keep the evening primetime slots
The Media Movement members call to cease pressure on Suspilne Broadcasting and to let the company keep the evening primestime slots in the telethon.
The media workers issued an according address to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk, Chairman of the parliamentary faction "Servant of the People" David Arakhamia, Chairman of the VRU Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy Mykyta Poturayev, Chairman of the VRU Committee on Freedom of Speech Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, and embassies of Ukraine's partner states.
The media representatives noted that there has been a series of public informational and institutional attacks on Suspilne over the last week, such as statements by deputy Maryana Bezuhla and the idea of removing Suspilne from the evening primetime slots being promoted.
The authors of the statement believe that "it is no accident that these events coincided" and express "their strong support for Suspilne Broadcasting, which showcases one of the most successful reforms implemented after the Revolution of Dignity."
"We, Ukrainian journalists, media outlets and media organizations, members of the Media Movement, call for an end to the pressure on Suspilne Broadcasting, to let the company keep the evening primetime slots in the telethon, to respond to the false statements of deputy Bezuhla, and to allocate a sufficient amount of budget money to the broadcaster for 2025," the statement reads.
The Media Movement calls:
- on the President of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada Apparatus, the VRU Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, and the VRU Committee on Freedom of Speech: to take action to ensure that Suspilne Broadcasting keeps the evening primetime slots in the United News telethon;
- on the faction "Servant of the People": to respond to the false claims by deputy Maryana Bezuhla;
- on the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine: to comply with the prescribed amount of funding allocated to Suspilne Broadcasting, and, if ensuring 100% funding is impossible, to consult with the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine to determine the expenditures for 2025 which would enable Suspilne to sustain their operations;
- on embassies of Ukraine's partner states: to increase the attention to preserving freedom of speech in Ukraine as a pillar of democracy and to preserving the public broadcaster as a flagship of Ukraine's media reforms.
The full statement by the Media Movement:
To President Volodymyr Zelensky
To Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk
To Chairman of the parliamentary faction "Servant of the People", David Arakhamia
To Chairman of the VRU Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, Mykyta Poturayev
To Chairman of the VRU Committee on Freedom of Speech, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn
To Embassies of Ukraine's partner states
ADDRESS
regarding the pressure on Suspilne Broadcasting
We, Ukrainian journalists, media outlets and media organizations, members of the Media Movement, call for an end to the pressure on Suspilne Broadcasting, to let the company keep the evening primetime slots in the telethon, to respond to the false statements of deputy Bezuhla, and to allocate a sufficient amount of budget money to the broadcaster for 2025.
Over the last week, there has been a series of public informational and institutional attacks on Suspilne Broadcasting:
- Deputy and faction member of the "Servant of the People", Maryana Bezuhla, was spreading false claims regarding the broadcaster's status and its budget on social media, alleging that the members of the company's supervisory board are receiving "remuneration", even though in reality they have been working for free since the creation of JSC "PBCU".
- The ida of removing Suspilne Broadcasting from the evening primetime slots, which have the largest audience outreach, has been promoted among the channels producing the United News telethon. As of today, the evening prime slots are being produced by each telethon-producing broadcaster on a rotation basis.
- The Ministry of Finance provided Suspilne Broadcasting with funding for 2025 in the amount of UAH 1.5 billion. This sum is UAH 350 million less than the broadcaster's 2024 budget and more than 75% less than what the law guarantees, which puts the broadcaster on the verge of survival.
We believe that it is no accident that these events coincided and express our strong support for Suspilne Broadcasting, which showcases one of the most successful reforms implemented after the Revolution of Dignity. This is confirmed by multiple monitorings and testimonies by both Ukrainian and international organizations and noted by the broadcaster's audience itself, as its trust has risen from 60.5% in 2020 to 86% in 2023.
Under martial law, the monitoring of the United News telethon's adherence to journalism standards also shows that among all the broadcasters, Suspilne is the most balanced in giving voice to representatives of various factions in the Verkhovna Rada. Thus, Suspilne Broadcasting fulfills its role of informing the public on matters of public interest in wartime adequately.
We draw your attention to the fact that the broadcaster is working in conditions of severe underfunding while the state spares money to create new TV channels and radio stations. Contraty to the law, no funds have been allocated to Suspilne Broadcaster since its establishment in 2017 that would amount to the legally guaranteed funding – 0.2% of the total state budget expenditures.
The standards of Suspilne's institutional mechanisms are determined by the Council of Europe and include independence in the staffing and editorial policies and guarantees for sufficient funding. As per Part 2 of Art. 3 of the Law of Ukraine "On Public Media", interference by state bodies or local self-government bodies, their officials, as well as non-governmental organizations, in the work of the PBCU for the purpose of censorship, pre-production control or unlawful influence on the information disseminated by Ukraine's Suspilne Media is prohibited.
The Media Movement points out to deputies, government officials, and representatives of commercial media and production companies that any pressure on the broadcaster is unacceptable. This includes pressure on its editorial policy, financial pressure, and the spread of unverified or misleading information.
The Media Movement calls:
- on the President of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada Apparatus, the VRU Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, and the VRU Committee on Freedom of Speech: to take action to ensure that Suspilne Broadcasting keeps the evening primetime slots in the United News telethon;
- on the faction "Servant of the People": to respond to the false claims by deputy Maryana Bezuhla;
- on the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine: to comply with the prescribed amount of funding allocated to Suspilne Broadcasting, and, if ensuring 100% funding is impossible, to consult with the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine to determine the expenditures for 2025 which would enable Suspilne to sustain their operations;
- on Embassies of Ukraine's partner states: to increase the attention to preserving freedom of speech in Ukraine as a pillar of democracy and to preserving the public broadcaster as a flagship of Ukraine's media reforms.
For reference. The Media Movement is a community that has united journalists from leading Ukrainian media, investigative journalists and experts from independent media organizations. Media movement was launched on February 5, 2019.
The Media Movement Memorandum was first signed by Suspilne, Ukrainian Radio, Hromadske Radio, Ukrinform, Interfax-Ukraine, Liga.net, ZN.ua, NV, Censor.net, Ukrayinska Pravda, and many others leading Ukrainian media. The movement also includes leading Ukrainian media NGOs, such as the IMI, Detector Media, Independent Media Council, Internews Ukraine, National Media Association, Center for Democracy and the Rule of Law, Suspilnist Foundation, Donetsk Institute of Information, Pylyp Orlyk Institute of Democracy, Zmina Center for Human Rights. Other organizations and journalsits joined later – over 70 members in total.
On November 16, 2021, top media outlets called on journalists to unite within the professional community "Media Movement" to resist political and commercial pressure on freedom of speech. The statement was initiated by 29 journalists and experts whose names are available here.
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