Ukrainian media censorship is no longer disguised: If you resist, they will bury you in the asphalt
Strict censorship has been introduced in the central media of Ukraine by the administration of Petro Poroshenko, the government and the Security Council. There was pressure on journalists under Viktor Yanukovych, but now Ukrainian officials are no longer embarrassed to do this openly.
This was stated by the former editor-in-chief of the Vesti newspaper Igor Guzhva, who was forced to leave his position after the owner of the publication, ex-Minister of Revenue Alexander Klimenko, began to cooperate with the Poroshenko administration.
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“Now every major channel is introducing the institution of a curator. From the presidential administration, the government, the National Security and Defense Council. These people read, look for news, say - we put this on, we don’t put it on. By agreement with the owners, everything is designed beautifully so that it does not look like direct censorship. In essence, this is censorship through pressure on channel owners who, for one reason or another, are committed to dialogue with the authorities in order to resolve their business issues. The picture that we see on the main Ukrainian TV channels does not reflect Ukrainian reality; it reflects the idea of beauty on the part of government managers.
The system of relations between the authorities and the media has remained the same - pressure on the media through indirect signs, taxation, etc. This remains. But one important module was added that was not there before Euromaidan - a moral justification for pressure on the media. Both under Yanukovych and under Kuchma they put pressure on the media, but they put pressure on them secretly, no one said - we will go and destroy Channel 5 with tax audits. This was not said, it was considered shameful, it was disguised. Now the authorities have invented a moral justification for themselves - “the country is at war with the aggressor, therefore those who criticize the authorities are enemies, fifth column, FSB agents.”
Yanukovych also didn’t like it when he was criticized, but he never accused them of being traitors to the Motherland, they need to be buried there... in the asphalt and dealt with according to the laws of war. Now you raised your head, began to broadcast something, criticize, offer some alternatives, that’s it, you are immediately an enemy of the people, a wartime situation. And, accordingly, the methods that were used against these enemies are more severe than the pressure on the media in previous times,” Guzhva said.
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