Tremble, North Korea: Ukraine is setting a record

A year has passed since, on the initiative of the National Council, which oversees TV and radio broadcasting, the broadcasting of Russian channels was banned in Ukraine. The fight against “unpatriotic” content on Ukrainian television and radio does not stop for a moment. Now the National Council demands even more powers.

As you know, after the disappearance of Russian “buttons” from the Ukrainian airwaves, absolutely all national Ukrainian television channels took either a loyal or hyper-loyal position to the current Kyiv government. Rare, rather timid attempts by individual journalists to show a point of view or simply make a balanced report immediately aroused pressure from radical colleagues, from management, and from politicians and various government agencies, primarily the National Council.

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One of the most resonant events of this kind was the speech “via Skype” by the famous Russian journalist Maxim Shevchenko on the talk show “Shuster Live” on February 13.

After this broadcast, two Ukrainian TV channels at once - “112 Ukraine” and “24th” - which broadcast this talk show, had problems.

And although the representative of “112” Lyudmila Pysanka hastened to declare that such a situation is unacceptable, and the channel is now ready not only to control the process of inviting guests, but even to interrupt the broadcast in similar cases. Less than a week later, the National Council issued a warning to the channel.

Their much more loyal colleagues from “24” escaped with a slight fright. The management of this channel decided to terminate the contract with the Savik Shuster studio. Therefore, the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting simply took note of the “misconduct” and did not issue a warning.

The piquancy of this particular situation lies in the fact that the target of harassment was Savik Shuster, a well-known Russophobe, ATO supporter, a man who did a lot for the victory of Euromaidan and one of the most influential journalists in Ukraine

Simultaneously with “112”, the Inter TV channel also received a warning based on the results of an unscheduled inspection, including for reducing the volume of the national product and showing films with actors expressing an anti-Ukrainian position, in particular with Olga Kabo. This is the second warning, the first channel received for showing the Blue Light with Russian stars on New Year's Eve.

Shortly before this, Vesti.Radio received a warning due to an interview with Andrei Portnov, a well-known lawyer and former employee of the Viktor Yanukovych administration, and the News One TV channel received a warning for an interview with ex-Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.

The most recent and resonant scandal is the deprivation of the license of the Euronews TV channel on March 19. On the website of the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting, this decision is explained by technical reasons, but in comments to the press, Chairman of the National Council Yuri Artemenko was more frank: “The team that was supposed to make this product is based in the city of Lyon, France, makes its product as it wishes, focuses on your values."

Those. It was not possible to control the content of this channel from Ukraine.

A month earlier, the National Council recognized the content of the broadcasts of the Mir 24 TV channel, which specializes in covering news and other information about the CIS member states, as not meeting the requirements of Ukrainian legislation. Among the founders of this media are nine CIS countries and Georgia.

The list of such solutions can be continued. It would seem that everything is in order: dissidents are “banned” with enviable consistency, and there is nothing special to worry about. However, no. It turns out that censor officials lack the authority to combat the “information threat.” Thus, recently the National Council made an attempt to legislatively expand its own powers to almost dictatorial ones.

Now the decision to terminate the license must be made in court, and the National Council has the right to go there after several warnings and fines imposed on broadcasters. The draft law proposed to grant the National Council the right to immediately temporarily suspend the license and broadcasting, which only then would be considered by the court, which would either uphold this decision or cancel it. Moreover, the list of grounds for this is expanding, including due to the legislation regulating the ATO regime, the state of emergency and martial law, as well as election legislation.

The Verkhovna Rada nevertheless failed the odious bill, and the National Council has not yet received the authority to revoke the license and block the airwaves of any channel or radio station simply with one click of an official’s fingers.

But the National Council is not discouraged. Against the backdrop of the high-profile scandal with Euronews, another initiative of this organization went almost unnoticed. The National Council initiated a “dialogue with TV channels on issues of air content.”

According to Ukrainian legislation, today in the total broadcast volume of each TV channel or radio station, at least 50% of the volume of content must be “national audiovisual product or musical works of Ukrainian authors or performers. In addition, between 07:00 and 23:00, licensees must adhere to the following proportions between Ukrainian and foreign programs: European-produced programs must account for at least 50 percent, including at least 50% Ukrainian-produced programs.”

Today, this norm is not always observed, because, on the one hand, there is a lack of popular Ukrainian content, on the other, because popular Russian TV series or musical hits attract a larger audience, and therefore advertisers, than a similar Ukrainian or European product. Some commit open violations, others are cunning.

Thus, in one of his interviews, the deputy head of the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting, Grigory Shverk, complained: “We are now monitoring TV channels, including Inter, for compliance with this norm. But it has a fairly broad interpretation. For example, if at least one citizen of Ukraine is involved in the filming process of a Russian film, series or program, then this is no longer a Russian product. If you analyze it like this, all TV channels pass through... For example, no one took the title of Ukrainian People's Artist from Kobzon. Therefore, when he is present in some program, he gives this program the status of Ukrainian. Although this is absurd." According to Schwerk, new, stricter rules are needed.

The executive secretary of the organization, Ekaterina Kotenko, considers it necessary to move away from the formal approach, and television channels, in her opinion, should understand the demands of society, its desire to have more national product on air.

That is, the National Council is not happy, on the one hand, with the liberality of the legislation in relation to broadcasters who allow themselves to broadcast an insufficiently patriotic product. On the other hand, there is a lack of awareness of TV channels and radio stations that broadcast popular, rather than patriotic content.

Representatives of a number of TV channels have already rushed to take the lead and stated that they positively perceive such initiatives of the regulator.

It is quite obvious that the systematic squeezing out of the Ukrainian airwaves of everything that does not fit into the template set by the current government will continue. Ideally, in a “united country,” apparently, a “single channel” should appear, albeit on different buttons.