European Forum

Two Ukrainian TV channels stripped of broadcast frequencies

On June 8th a Ukrainian court stripped two TV channels – Channel 5 and TVi – of their broadcast frequencies, in annulling the January results of a tender by the country’s National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting that had allocated the frequencies. The two channels are considered among the few Ukrainian TV channels that provide independent news coverage.

Open Letter

On June 7th the management of Channel 5 sent an open letter to President Victor Yanukovich asking him to interfere. In the letter, the Channel is asking for a meeting with the President and claims that behind his back ‘there are attempts on behalf of the current head of the Security Service of Ukraine, member of the High Justice Council and well-known businessman Valery Khoroshkovsky, who is connected with channels of the Inter TV Group, to destroy Channel 5’. The letter continues: ‘In our opinion, you’re the only person who can help Mr. Khoroshkovsky to set a boundary between his personal business interests and those of the state. We don’t want our actions to be regarded as pressure on the judiciary, and that’s why we cannot see any other way out but to address you with an open letter.’

Rivalry

Valery Khoroshkovky, owner of the rival media holding Inter Media Group, which has asked for a new tender for frequencies, has strongly denied exerting pressure on Channel 5 and demanded proof of the allegations. Roman Skypin, a journalist who heads TVi's information service, stated: "What kind of direct proof can one have, other than the fact that Khoroshkovsky is one of the owners of Inter Media Group? He is the chief of the security service, a member of the Higher Council of Justice. His wife is the manager of Inter Media Group. Here you have double standards."

In the meantime, one of Inter Media Group’s TV channels, Enter Music, accused Channel 5 of seeking to exert pressure on the Ukrainian justice system with its open letter. An Enter Music representative stated: ‘when they speak of protecting “press freedom,” what they mean is their own interests and the aims of their owners’. The National Council on TV and Radio Broadcasting also issued a statement, calling for questions of press freedom, development of media business, and adherence to the law to be treated separately. It noted that its composition has been changed since its controversial January ruling, and its previous decision to grant new frequencies to Channel 5 and TVi was adopted without a quorum and contrary to court rulings.

Opposition

Main opposition leader and leader of Bloc Yulia Timoshenko (ByuT), Yulia Timoshenko, also commented on the situation, saying the petitioners never stood a chance because of political interference: ‘now to count on the letter of journalists having an impact would be utopian since it was Yanukovych who gave such orders,’ Tymoshenko said, ‘because today [the courts] function not according to the law and the constitution, but under orders from one person, from Yanukovych.’ Timoshenko has said her party is initiating the creation of a temporary parliamentary commission to investigate the issue of the license withdrawal, and that it will call for the consideration of that issue by the parliamentary committee for media freedom. ByuT will also inform the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) about the case.

Sources: Radio Free Europe/Radio Libery; Kyiv Post

Source photo: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty