Media Movement claimed about unlawful withdrawal of parliament accreditation of 19 media outlets

We, members of the Media Movement, journalists and representatives of mass media organizations, are outraged at the decisions of the administrative office of theVerkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the parliamenary Committee on Freedom of Speech, which, contrary to the law, have deprived 19 Ukrainian mass media of accreditation. In particular, these were Slidstvo.Info, Donbass Hromadske Television, NikVesti and a number of other media editions which accreditation has been suspended.

Accreditation of the editorial offices was terminated as such that failed to meet the objective: "for a comprehensive, objective and balanced coverage by journalists, technical staff of mass media of the activities of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine."

We have to draw attention that the government body assessing "comprehensiveness, objectivity and balance" of coverage of its activities in the journalistic piece has a conflict of interest, and suspension of accreditation for the content of such pieces has signs of illegitimate interference with the content of disseminated information. Besides that, the legislation of Ukraine does not make the issue of accreditation of a journalist or mass media dependent on the amount of pieces that a journalist produces on this entity of power, nor does it require the journalists to report on stories published about the authority which issued such accreditation.

Another outright violation of Ukrainian law is that the entire editorial offices, not some individual journalists, have been deprived of accreditation.

We consider there are signs of direct censorship in the decision of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech and in the actions of the Verkhovna Rada's press service, which led to the denial of accreditation to newsrooms.

We demand from the leadership of the parliament to bring to disciplinary responsibility the employees of the press service of the Verkhovna Rada, who initiated and documented such a decision on accreditation.

We demand from law enforcement agencies to initiate criminal proceedings under Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine regarding the adoption of such a decision on accreditation, as this is interfering with the lawful professional activity of journalists.

We demand from the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech to immediately hold the meeting and to cancel the shameful and unlawful decision on mass suspension of accreditation of Ukrainian media outlets.

We call on fellow journalists who share the outrage at the obstruction of mass media and their ability to convey important information to the public to join the public protest.

The appeal was signed by:

Media movement 

Institute of Mass Information

Detector Media

ZMINA Human Rights Center

Regional Press Development Institute

Tetyana Troshchynska, Editor-in-Chief of Hromadske Radio 

Svitlana Yeremenko, Executive Director of the Institute of Democracy named after Philip Orlik

Gaigisiz Geldiyev, senior partner at Jnomics media

Alyona Romaniuk, editor of  “Po toy bik novyn” (On the other side of the news)

The appeal is open for signing. To do this, please contact the coordinator Vadim Misky: [email protected].

Media Movement "Media for Conscious Choice" was launched on February 5, 2019. The first signatories of the Media Movement memorandum were UA: Pershiy, Ukrayinske Radio, Hromadske Radio, IA Ukrinform, IA Interfax-Ukraine, Liga.net, “Dzerkalo Tyzhnia. Ukraine”, NV,“ Censor.Net ”, Channel 5,“ Ukrainsky Tyzhden”, Opinion, a number of regional media, Independent Media Council, NGOs “Detector Media”, The“Institute of Mass Information”,“ Internews Ukraine ”,“ Center for Democracy and the Rule of Law ”,“ Suspilnist” Foundation ”,“ National Media Association ”,“ Donetsk Institute of Information ”,“ Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy ”,“ Zmina Human Rights Center ”and other organizations, individual journalists - more than 70 participants in total.

You can join the Media Movement or support it by contacting the coordinator Vadym Misky: [email protected].