On February 25, an expert discussion was held on Zoom – ”Public Broadcasting: How to continue effective reform?”
The event was organized by Souspilnist Foundation with the support of Internews Ukraine, Detector Media and the Independent Media Council.
The event aimed to provide expert analysis of the challenges and threats to the public broadcasting system in 2021, discuss possible ways to continue reforming the Public Broadcaster, maintain the dynamics of transformation, build effective collaboration between the new Supervisory Board and UA:PBC leadership, and ensure the Public Broadcaster’s sustainable independence in Ukraine.
The event was attended by Svitlana Ostapa, chairman of the supervisory board of UA:PBC, Zurab Alasaniya, chairman of the management board of UA:PBC, Vadym Minskyi, member of the supervisory board of UA:PBC, Taras Shevchenko, deputy minister of culture and information policy, Dmytro Khorkin, general producer at Ukrainian Radio, Iryna Slavinska, producer at the Culture radio, Oleksiy Kharchenko, member of the supervisory board of UA:PBC, Ihor Rozkladai, deputy director at the Center for Democracy and Rule of Law and expert on media law, Nataliia Lyhachova, editor-in-chief at Detector Media, Mykyta Poturayev, chairman of parliamentary Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy.
Experts called unstable funding, budget cuts for UA:PBC, and competition on the part of oligarchic media a constant threat to continuing public broadcasting reform. Among the current risks is possible outside meddling in the election of chairman of the board of the Public Broadcaster, scheduled to take place this spring.
“I still have an inner conviction that most UA:PBC Supervisory Board members are firm; they understand what this reform (of public broadcasting, – ed.) is about, what it means for Ukraine, and that without public broadcasting and in a situation of oligarchic broadcasting in Ukraine, we won’t build a democratic country,” – said Svitlana Ostapa.
Among the steps to continue effective implementation of the reform, the experts mentioned training the UA:PBC Supervisory Board members, including in corporate governance, conducting instruction aimed at ensuring government non-interference in UA:PBC management, sticking to the defined development strategy, digitization and defining new indicators to measure the Public Broadcaster’s ratings.
“Today, the main thing is the ratings, and we can talk about non-competitiveness. Our big task, the task of the reform’s supporters, is to come up with another discussion on how we create a system of measuring success for the Public Broadcaster (besides the ratings). This is both about the level of trust of the audience and of conveying to people different political preferences, the quality of the narrative,” said Nataliia Humeniuk.
“There’s a question of how to grow the audience. I’d bring up for discussion the topic of how we see our audience – not which audience we want to reach, and what is the Public Broadcaster’s role in education and outreach activities. But it’s also necessary to proceed from the standpoint of figures,” – said Oleksiy Kharchenko.
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