Rivne TSC video: NCTRB to initiate a discussion with journalists and security experts

The National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting is initiating a discussion among media experts, journalists, editors, and security experts following a video clip allegedly filmed in the office of the Rivne TSC manager and first posted on the Telegram channel run by the sanctioned blogger and treason suspect Anatoliy Shariy, the NCTRB says in their statement.

The NCTRB believes that such "active and thoughtless video distribution" exposed several problems.

"Unfortunately, no one who shared this video made the preliminary effort to assess whether it was filmed legally, is credible or a matter of public interest and, most importantly, to consider the balance between public interest and a citizen's right to privacy. Accordingly, no one made an effort to make the persons featured in it anonymous or less identifiable. Some did it due to a lack of experience or expertise, some did it deliberately, if we remember that the probable first 'entry point' was Shariy's hostile channel," the NCTRB noted.

The regulator stressed that sharing the filmed person's family photos is illegal at least.

"And inhumane at most, and padding the event by dragging new participants into it (especially if they are children) is contributing to actions that already exceed the scope of high-quality journalism," the NCTRB said in their statement.

They reminded that every person is entitled to exercise their right to privacy regardless of their gender, political views, property ownership, social, linguistic or other characteristics, as well as their status as an official, state or public figure who plays a certain role in the political, economic, social, cultural or other sphere of the state and public life.

"This is not only a question of journalistic ethics, it concerns social ethics in general. And it is in view of this that the social significance of the information in question should be assessed. The media should be moderators, not amplifiers in such cases. Societal polarization is recognized as a primary threat today, the media must take this into account every time. Irresponsible dissemination of information without appropriate verification carries the threat that the media might become not sources of information, but a tool for the enemy to attack us and split our society and a channel for propaganda," the NCTRB said.

The media regulator noted that the date of the discussion will be announced soon.

On March 28, the Telegram channel run by Anatoliy Shariy, a sanctioned blogger suspected of treason, posted a video in which a man in a military uniform kisses three different women in separate clips. Shariy claimed that the man in the video was the head of the Rivne TSC, Colonel Oleksandr Yarmoshevych.

The media and Telegram channels shared this video and added details from Yarmoshevych's personal life to their reports, trying to identify the women in the video.

The Ground Forces said they would investigate the video.