Shepetivka mayor says ZHAR.INFO "sowed negativity" with their investigation

Khmelnytsky media outlet ZHAR.INFO reports that Shepetivka Mayor Vitaliy Buzyl responded to the journalists' attempt to get a comment from him on July 5 by accusing them of "sowing negativity" in their last year's article. The official used this to justify himself and his subordinates ignoring the journalists' requests to comment on the new material for almost two months, the team reported on July 23, 2024 while covering the work of Khmelnytsky oblast city councils, in particular the Shepetivka City Council.

As the media outlet writes, in a conversation on July 5, the Mayor brought up the 2023 investigation into Shepetivka street furniture which was installed without proper paperwork.

In their report, the editors describe the entire dialogue in detail, first with Olha Petrova, the Mayor's advisor on communications and public relations, which begain in mid-May 2024.

The latter claimed that she had no obligation to reply to media representatives in a private communication channel, even though, according to the article, the advisor and the journalists had agreed on this format over the phone.

"I have no obligation to text you anything in a private communication channel. I have job duties, a job description, and work communication channels with NGO representatives. This is a request for public information. You sent me questions. OK. I said I would look into them. I have," said Olha Petrova.

After receiving such a reply from the advisor, the journalists decided to contact the Mayor, Vitaliy Buzyl. At first, the media outlet writes, the official was responsive, agreed to be sent the same questions in WhatsApp and promised to talk to his advisor about the situation.

However, the media outlet writes, at the end of the conversation, he started reminding the journalists of their investigation from the previous year, saying that the report only served to sow negativity.

"That information of yours, the requests, then revealing information on deputies, including those in the Verkhovna Rada. I don't remember the headline of the report on the street furniture installed by Polonne entrepreneurs. There was a lot of information that was completely wrong. Look, that information only served to sow negativity," said Vitaliy Buzyl.

The official also told the journalists that their investigation only escalated the situation further. "In this way, in general, we are not creating positivity, but some kind of negativity in the country," said Vitaliy Buzyl.

The Mayor also noted that over 90% of residents in the location where the street furniture was installed were happy to have such an object open near them.

"The dormitory's residents are, I won't go as far as to say 100%, but probably over 90% of them are satisfied that such an object will be introduced... will open near them. It's made very nicely there," Buzyl added.

After this, the Mayor said that he had an appointment with citizens (despite having asked the journalists earlier to call him in a couple of minutes, when he would be in the car) and hung up, the media outlet reports.

Immediately after the conversation, the editors contacted the official in WhatsApp as agreed and copied the list of questions they previously had previously attempted to get answers to in a comment. The official did not read these messages for several days, so they decided to contact the Shepetivka City Council in writing.

As of the time of the article's release, neither the Mayor nor the Shepetivka City Council have replied, and the WhatsApp messages to the official remain unread.

As reported earlier, the Mykolayiv City Council believes that NikVesti creates "social tension" with their critical material. This is how the City Council's housing and communal services department responded to the media outlet's report on the incomplete repair of the roof of the multi-story building at 36 Admiralska Street, which had been damaged by shelling in April 2023.