Rayon council in Odesa region plans introducing accreditation for journalists

Rozdilnianska rayon council in Odeska oblast plans to introduce accreditation for mass media representatives. A draft resolution “On approval of Provision on procedure of accreditation for mass media in Seventh Rozdilnianska rayon council for the period of covering its session activities” is included into the agenda of the scheduled council session to be held on March 29 and published at the council's website.

The document provides for possibility of inspection of journalists’ recording equipment and stipulates that recording can be allowed only from certain spots in the room. In addition, a journalist who is late or who left his or her seat during the session, can be removed from the room, according to this document.

As a reminder, the lawyers of IMI advise that bodies of local self-government do not have a right to ban journalists from their sessions, and accreditation should be a procedure for simplified access for journalists, not a restriction. Nonetheless, newly formed city councils all around Ukraine started imposing restrictions on access of journalists to their sessions. In particular, cases such restrictions were registered in the city councils of Mariupol, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhya, and Lutsk in December of 2015.