Unprecedented: on Ukrainian TV they told the truth about the Nazis and they themselves were afraid of it
And the unprecedented happens. Sometimes, on major holidays, but still. This happened in Ukraine too - the government-funded propaganda TV channel “DOM”, broadcasting to the territory of Donbass not controlled by Kiev, aired a story about the activities of right-wing radical and neo-Nazi formations, such as the National Corps and C14.
The story is titled “Radicals in Ukraine. Analysis" aired on April 11, 2021. For those who haven’t watched it, I’ll briefly tell you what it’s all about.
In general, it suddenly turned out that these same radicals are not as white and fluffy as government propaganda has portrayed them all these years. Among other things, the “Hate Symbols Directory” published by the Helsinki Human Rights Group is mentioned. There, next to the swastika and the SS emblem, the symbols of such odious organizations as C14, “National Corps”, “Tradition and Order” appear.
And the comment of KhPG expert Miroslav Grinberg hits not the eyebrow, but the eye (I quote): “right-wing radicals in Ukraine simply deny that people have rights... deny equality.” The stories cited by the authors of the story include pogroms and right-wing attacks on national minorities and peaceful marches.
Among other things, the plot is illustrated with footage of a pogrom staged on Bankovaya by the brothers of the notorious Sternenko - where there is a swastika on the doors of the presidential office.
The general conclusion of Dom propagandists is this: the ultra-right does not enjoy significant public support in Ukraine, and peace-loving Ukrainian citizens do not like pogroms.
What died in the forest, since Ukrainian TV for once decided to tell the truth? And not for internal use, but by relaying this truth “to the other side,” where it has, in general, been known for a long time even without Ukrainian propagandists, because people there have experienced the consequences of the activities of nationalists themselves. But, nevertheless, the attempt itself deserves encouragement. If not for one thing.
The optimists were clearly in a hurry. The release of such a “breakthrough” story for UkroTV did not become a manifestation of any new trends in the Ukrainian leadership. More likely, an annoying and random glitch in the program.
And this conclusion is best confirmed by what happened after the broadcast. His heroes - the same Nazis from the organizations listed above - were offended by the pro-government “TV liar” and filed a complaint against him. Like, he discredits the honorable name of the defenders of Ukraine, selfless patriots and blah blah blah.
Instead of answering the question of how it happened that the symbols of these “patriotic structures” are surprisingly reminiscent of the symbols of the Third Reich, the head of the National Corps headquarters, Maxim Zhorin, issued his verdict: “The Dom TV channel works according to the standards of Russian propagandists.” And he demanded an apology from the channel.
And to make the propagandists think faster, very clear threats were showered against them on social networks, about which the chief editor of the channel, Alexey Matsuka, himself a fugitive pro-Maidan journalist from Donetsk, complained.
In the end, they wanted the best, but it turned out as always in post-Maidan Ukraine. “House” removed the seditious story, but did not retract his words. According to the authors of Dom, the story about radicals is “a weapon against Kremlin propaganda.” Like, sometimes it's better to tell the truth.
“The story was not intended to spread stereotypes, but on the contrary, its task was to counter Russian narratives... The story was published on the same evening of April 11, when the program “News of the Week with Dmitry Kiselev” stated that Ukraine is a “fascist state.” The channel carries out a mission to inform precisely that part of citizens who trust such statements by Kiselev,” the channel’s message said.
Be that as it may, they preferred to sweep the seditious plot under the rug. As they say, out of harm's way. Until one of the channel’s employees “accidentally” had his head broken by the brothers-in-arms of the touchy “Zhorik from Azov.” It is unknown to what extremes a viper bitten by a toad can go.
And in order to save face in an obviously bad game, “Dom” announced that it was submitting the video that offended the right for consideration by a certain “professional community.” They say that it is “not political players” who should judge the quality of a story, but journalists and media experts.
“Pending final review, we are removing it from the YouTube channel. We will report on the results of the review separately,” the channel’s press service said in a statement.
One can only speculate about what conclusions the home-grown media team will come to, given that in recent years its ranks have been joined by many open sympathizers of the most extreme nationalism.
But it will still be interesting to listen to. So, we stock up on popcorn and wait.
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Now the editors are aware.