Tkachenko on the suspension of hosts: Looks like a whipping campaign, even though I would not like to defend some of my colleagues

Photo credit: Oleksander Tkachenko's Facebook page

Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko called for "civilized unpacking of every case" about the hosts whose exclusion from telethons the media community demands. He admits that he would not stand up for some of the journalists whose exclusion is being demanded.

He said this on the air of the national telethon, Detector Media reports.

"If I were still the head of a media structure, I would not hire some of those mentioned by part of the media community. As for this situation in general… Look, this initiative arose in the third month of the war. During the first month, when we had to keep order, everyone understood that it was important for us to represent a single position, at least in the telethon.

"As far as I can remember, very few of those mentioned by our colleagues are now taking part in the telethon. Others continue their professional activities on Internet websites. Therefore, in order to be civilized, there is a Commission on Journalistic Ethics, there are other institutions that could professionally unpack each case and express their position.

"And so, in my opinion, it all looks like a whipping campaign. Although I would not like to defend some of my colleagues. I was on the Verkhovna Rada's commission of inquiry into the case of Medvedchuk's channels. I think what we did in that commission helped to some extent, the channels were shut down. And in principle, I did not turn to those journalists while they worked there," Tkachenko said.

Asked by host Vadym Karpyak whether the participation of former pro-russian hosts undermines trust in the telethon, the minister said that he had talked to the heads of the channels where these media workers are employed, and they "also made their position known." Karpyak noted that the published stances contain no apologies for the previous activities, which also to some extent led to a full-scale war. Tkachenko reiterated that such decisions should be made by according commissions.

"I did not look at who said what, who apologized or put on sackcloth and ashes for having worked for Medvedchuk's channels. As far as I understand, most of them got into these channels (their current jobs after Medvedchuk's channels – Ed.) long before the war. Therefore, let's develop civilized mechanisms for dealing with such situations. Appropriate commissions, not the crowd attack method: 'Let's be sure to crucify them,' but in a more or less civilized European way.

"If they themselves do not understand and are not ready to take this or that side, then the decision will be made by the channel management, by the community, which will tell them all this in a civilized way. And only then we should decide on some specific things with regards to this or that person depending on where they work," the minister added.

As IMI reported, on May 17, a petition to exclude the hosts who used to support kremlin propaganda from any telethons was registered on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers.