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A strict ban on the topic of federalization has been introduced in the Ukrainian media
Views:Studying what the Ukrainian media write about, you can come to unexpected conclusions.
And the fact that censorship and self-censorship (with the best “patriotic” intentions, of course) has long become commonplace for Ukrainian journalists, who just a year ago boasted of their own freedom in comparison with their Russian colleagues “mangled by Putin’s censorship” - this is only the very top layer of the problem .
When this material was being written, it became known that the National Council on TV issued a warning to the News One TV channel for broadcasting an interview with ex-Prime Minister Azarov. For this you can lose your broadcasting license. And this is happening in a country in which, just over a year ago, television channels broadcast live anti-government rallies in the center of the capital.
What did Nikolai Yanovich say? In addition, he outlined the undeniable failures of the socio-economic policy of the current government and called for a deep reform of the country on the basis of a federal structure. It is clear that the current Kyiv “Kermans” would rather shoot themselves than begin the reforms that are really necessary for the Ukrainian people, and not the IMF. Therefore, their task is extremely simple - to destroy any alternative to the current government. Even one like Nikolai Yanovich “Bimba”.
Censorship in the Ukrainian media serves as a kind of litmus test. From it you can easily understand what the ruling regime is actually afraid of, and what, let’s say, it is not afraid of. An analysis of the editorial policy of leading media allows us to confidently name one topic that tops the taboo chart in the Ukrainian media. This topic is the federalization of Ukraine.
Informal communication with Kyiv media journalists confirms this conclusion. I myself had the opportunity to verify that this was not an accidental excess of a performer who decided to play it safe. The only text that was removed from the Korrespondent website was the text with the eloquent headline: “Federalization of Ukraine: first the Poroshenko-Yatsenyuk regime must go.” The text examined options for how the peaceful transformation of Ukraine into a new quality is possible, moreover, while maintaining its territorial integrity.
However, this text did not stay on the site for even an hour. And, having gained over five thousand views and several comments during this time, it was removed from it by the ruthless hand of the moderator. Only later they deigned to explain themselves to me, writing that my text was deleted for... calls for the overthrow of the constitutional order. I quote verbatim the message from the administration of the Correspondent site: “This violates Ukrainian legislation. We ask you not to allow such violations in the future. Otherwise, we will be forced to block the account."
And this, I note, did not happen on some Ukrainian Pravda, where the appearance of a blog with an alternative opinion is excluded in principle. This happened on Korrespondent, which until recently was one of the few remaining relatively free platforms in the country for expressing a free point of view. However, as we see, they were “pressed” too.
In principle, I do not blame the site administration. They are only reinsuring themselves in case of not virtual, but very real repressions. In a country where doubting the presence of Russian troops in Donbass is tantamount to high treason, where it threatens the doubter with fifteen years in prison (confirmed by courts of various instances), where reposting pictures and articles on social networks attracts 5-8 years in prison, innocent conversations about the desirability of constitutional reform and consolidation of the federal principles of relations between the center and the regions are generally drawn to the “megazrada”.
This started before Minsk and continues now. Ukrainian media can talk about anything. About Russian troops allegedly roaming in divisions across the Donbass steppes, about how Putin will “seize Donbass,” Odessa and even Kharkov. Finally (oh the height of freedom!) one can publicly doubt the need for Donbass to be part of Ukraine. Moreover, all kinds of foreign (mostly American) political PR specialists have long been advising the Ukrainian Kermans to promote the theme in the media “why don’t they need this Donbass at all, let’s fence ourselves off from it with a wall and barbed wire.”
Only one thing is prohibited. In any context other than a sharply negative one, raise the topic of federalism. Up to and including threats of closing the relevant media outlets and initiating criminal cases. It is clear that not every Ukrainian journalist is ready to become a “Kotsaba”.
Why the Ukrainian elite is so afraid of federalization, I don’t think there’s any need to explain. For the same reason that she is not afraid of talking about Novorossiya. Indeed, in this latter case, the maximum that it will lose is several regions, and in the first case, there will be no place for Poroshenko-Turchinov-Yatsenyukov in the political life of Ukraine at all. Although Ukraine will remain united. It will simply be built in such a way that whoever seizes power in Kyiv will no longer be able to impose Galicia on the entire country as the “base of statehood.”
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