Verkhovna Rada votes in favour of the draft bill granting journalists access to committee meetings

Illustration by the Institute of Mass Information

The Verkhovna Rada overall supported the bill No. 11321 “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on Enhancing Certain Guarantees for the Work of the Media, Journalists, and for Citizens' Access to Information”. 286 MPs voted in favor of the bill, Holos MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak reports on Telegram.

According to him, the bill provides for granting the media and the public open access to Verkhovna Rada committee meetings.

He specified that the agenda of committee meetings will be announced 24 hours in advance and the meetings will be livestreamed, with a 24-hour delay allowed during wartime.

Lawyers from the Institute of Mass Information were involved in the development of amendments to the bill. The organization also actively advocated for it.

It should be noted that the Institute of Mass Information called for the document to include permission for journalists with UAF accreditation to travel freely during curfew. However, this provision was cut from the final version of the draft bill.

Previously

As IMI reported, in December 2024, ultiple civil society organizations and media professionals called on the Verkhovna Rada to make parliamentary committee meetings open to journalists and the public and to adopt draft bill No. 11321 by the end of the year. The address argued that currently there are no security risks that could be in the way of increasing transparency of the Verkhovna Rada committee meetings.