Ukrainian media community asks the European Commission and Euronews to suspend Russian propaganda in the broadcaster's Russian language version
The Ukrainian media community calls on the European Commission and the Euronews management to respond to the war-related manipulations on the air of the Russian language version of the Euronews TV channel.
An according open letter has been submitted to the Euronews head office in Lyon, investment company Alpac Capital, which had recently bought the controlling stake in the Euronews television company and declared the need to strengthen the Euronews' "European identity," and to the European Commission, which subsidizes the broadcaster, reports Detector Media.
Ukraine's leading media groups – 1+1 media and StarLight Media, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting, the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine, the Media Movement, NGO Detector Media, the Institute of Mass Information, other organizations and media – have joined forces and request:
- to pay attention to the content of the Russian language version of Euronews, to involve propaganda and disinformation experts in the analysis of this content, and to make appropriate operational, staff and strategic decisions. Namely, the open letter refers to the analysis of the content published on the Russian-language Euronews in five days (Monday–Friday, 15.08–19.08). The signatories have concluded that the channel engages in massive daily media manipulation on the topic of war. This manipulation is being carried out not through outright fakes, but through targeted yet systematic, and therefore effective, influence on the audience. The pro-Russian understanding of the cause-and-effect relationships of what is happening in Ukraine, of Russia's role in these processes, the parties' responsibility in the war, etc is being subliminally imposed on the viewers. The content with manipulative elements is on the air every day and is "scattered" among more or less "unbiased and equidistant" materials;
- Euronews TV channel has a wide coverage of 400 million households in 160 countries of the world, 68% of those households being concentrated in Europe; Euronews' monthly outreach exceeds 145 million people. Accordingly, it is unacceptable that a key European news broadcaster, or even a version of it in one language, presents facts in a dubious way, especially when it comes to the war in Ukraine. This is a responsibility that costs thousands of Ukrainians their lives.
"Now is the time for as many people as possible in the world to learn more about Ukraine, its history, its European identity, its shared values and role in the modern world. We count on your support and believe in the bright future of Ukraine, on which the future of the whole world directly depends," the open letter says.
At the same time, the authors of the letter call on all concerned journalists, public organization representatives, and the media community from around the world to join the signatories of the open letter. You can do so by sending a request to [email protected].
The full text of the address in Ukrainian and English is available here.
The evidence base is available here.
The open letter was supported by:
Olha Herasymiuk, Head of National Television and Radio broadcasting Council of Ukraine
Oleksandr Tkachenko, Minister of Culture and Information Policy
Yaroslav Pakholchuk, CEO of 1+1 Media
Oleksandr Bohutskyi, CEO of Starlight Media
Mykola Chernotytsky, Head of the Managing Board of Suspilne Ukraine
Vadym Perenchuk, Head of the TV channel "Rada"
MediaMovement
Natalia Lygachova, Detector Media
Oksana Romaniuk, Institute of Mass Information
Tetyana Troshchynska, Editor-in-Chief, Hromadske Radio
Kostiantyn Kvurt, NGO “Internews-Ukraine”
Andrii Ianitskyi, Centre for Journalism at the Kyiv School of Economics
Dmytro Tuzov, host on “Radio NV”
Yevhen Spirin, «Babel»
Taras Petriv, SOUSPILNIST FOUNDATION
It will be recalled that in July 2022, the Portuguese investment fund Alpac Capital completed the buyout of the controlling stake in the Euronews television company, having received the French government's approval of the deal.
On June 15, the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting appealed to the Euronews management with a request to reconsider their stance on Russia's aggression against Ukraine. The NCTRB noted that the content of the Russian language edition of the broadcaster "contains deviations from journalistic standards and promotes Kremlin narratives."
Help us be even more cool!
