Podolyak commented on accusation of pressure on UA:Pershiy
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the Office of the President, rejected accusations of pressure and ultimatums from the Office of the President on UA:Pershiy TV channel, which Myroslava Barchuk, host of the talk show "Countdown", made public today. Mykhaylo Podoliak said this in a comment to Radio Svoboda .
According to him, government officials were regularly appearing in the programs of Public broadcaster, including the "Countdown" program.
"That is, to talk about any special attitude of the authorities to the Public Broadcaster, this is definitely incorrect and unfounded. Moreover, the independent editorial policy of any media is a key feature of a healthy society and a modern state," Podoliak said.
On the other hand, he added, "society wants to get unbiased moderation from the media on the air, when all parties to the dialogue have equal opportunities and journalists do not abuse their political opinions."
"But if one or another representative of the government sees in the air programs of a project a consistent and stubborn imbalance of positions, constant and obvious involvement of presenters and editors, you can understand the very little desire people have to come to the studio of this very project. But there were representatives of the mono-majority present in the most of the air programs of this project too, the head of “Servant of the People” too”, Podolyak said.
As for the need to coordinate the speakers on the air with him, what Barchuk was speaking on, according to the adviser to the head of the OP, it is important for the President's Office, "that the representation of the government in the programs of TV channels was simply meaningful."
"That is, not the air program for the sake of the air program, but the air program for the sake of explaining certain initiatives of the government. This is the meaningfulness of the stance which is that as to which the deputies of the faction or other representatives of the wide team of the government can be advised in the framework of fully rational approach toward an agreed unic informational stance”. said Podoliak.
As IMI reported, on October 19, yroslava Barchuk, the host of the talk show "Countdown" (Zvorotniy Vidlik) on the UA: Pershiy TV channel, stated that the staff of the President's Office was making pressure on the program.
She said it on October 19 on Facebook.
According to the presenter, subordinates to the head of the Office of President Andriy Yermak accused the talk show of not meeting professional standards (lack of the balance of opinions in the program aired on October 18) and set their conditions for the presence of deputies from the "Servant of the People" in the studio.
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