Yaroslav Yurchyshyn: The telethon has served its purpose

Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, joins the IMI's public discussion on February 21 via video call. Photo by Hanna Chabarai

The United News telethon has lost its effectiveness and is no longer producing the desired results, said Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, at the public discussion “Three Years of Resistance: Freedom of Speech in the Face of a Full-Scale Russian Invasion” in Kyiv on February 21.

The authorities continue to fund the telethon at taxpayers’ expense without making any efforts to improve its effectiveness or the quality of its content, he added.

“We definitely need to step up the discussion on the United News. My position is known to everyone. I believe that it has served its purpose and is not producing the desired results. It is a shame that the government is still trying to keep it going, using our tax money to do it, without increasing its effectiveness or improving its quality. We are in too difficult a situation to waste those small resources,” Yaroslav Yurchyshyn said during the discussion.

He emphasized that in times of war, Ukraine has proportionally fewer resources for information security than Russia, so these resources must be used as efficiently as possible.

Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, joins the IMI's public discussion on February 21 via video call. Photo by Hanna Chabarai

The number of Ukrainians watching the United News telethon dropped to 47% in 2024 compared to 54% in 2023, according to the InMind study supported by USAID and Internews.

The IMI discussion's agenda:

• Russia has killed 97 media workers in Ukraine in the three years since the start of the full-scale invasion.
• At least 30 civilian Ukrainian media workers are illegally held in Russian custody.
• The Institute of Mass Information recorded at least 127 cases of death threats and intimidation of journalists and the media in the three years of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

Russia is also responsible for at least 100 cyber attacks on Ukrainian news websites.