Oksana Romaniuk: PO must ensure a transparent competition for the post of the Ukrinform director

IMI director Oksana Romaniuk. Photo by Serhiy Stetsenko / Radio Liberty

The director of the Institute of Mass Information, Oksana Romaniuk, believes that in order to solve the censorship crisis at Ukrinform, the President's Office should ensure a transparent competition for the post of the media outlet's director.

She discussed this on Facebook following "Ukrainian Pravda's" material about the government introducing censorship at Ukrinform under Oleksiy Matsuka.

"To solve the censorship crisis at Ukrinform, the PO must now ensure a transparent competition for the position of the Ukrinform director. And it would be good to develop rules of appointing managers of such media outlets. Perhaps lawyers and media experts could tell them what possible options there are," Romaniuk wrote.

She noted that she respects the army, but sees "a direct conflict of interest in appointing a military officer director of Ukrinform."

"Soldiers are not expected to be reporters, and their tasks and duties differ significantly from the media standards. For example, while the media may criticize the military command, an officer must adhere to the hierarchical structure and follow their orders," the IMI director said.

She added that right now action is needed to restore trust in the (state) media.

Previously

On May 24, 2024, Oleksiy Matsuka announced that he had resigned as the Ukrinform director general.

It was reported on May 23 that the spokesman of the UAF Eastern Group, Colonel Serhiy Cherevaty, has been appointed director general of the national news agency Ukrinform.

As IMI reported, on May 23, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree ordering that the director general of the Ukrainian National News Agency Ukrinform be an army serviceperson.

Institute of Mass Information director Oksana Romaniuk has said that an army officer running the news agency Ukrinform may face a direct conflict of interest.

At his first meeting with the Ukrinform team, Serhiy Cherevaty said that no major staff changes were planned and that he would take healthy ideas from the team into account while organizing Ukrinform's work.