We call for an end to encroachments on editorial independence through the dissemination of unreliable and untrue information about the activities of Suspilne. Putting the country’s European integration process at risk is unwarranted. This is the essence of the statement by the Souspilnist Foundation and partner organizations.
“We, civil society organizations in the media sector, call on representatives of the state authorities to cease undermining Ukraine’s European integration and attacks on Suspilne.
At the end of April, MP Maryana Bezuhla began exerting overt pressure on Suspilne on her Facebook page by disseminating unreliable information about the nature of the Public Broadcaster, the level of funding, and the remuneration of the supervisory board, which has been working on a voluntary basis since the establishment of the JSC National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine.
This MP’s activity, as mentioned above, coincided with information about the intention to exclude Suspilne’s First Channel from the United News telethon, as well as plans to finance Suspilne in 2025 for UAH 1.5 billion. It is worth noting that this amount is UAH 300 million less than the planned expenses in 2024 and more than 75% less than guaranteed by law. Year after year, Suspilne faces underfunding, which is necessary both to overcome the consequences of decades of “efficient management” by state broadcasters, based on which the National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine was established, and for qualitative promotion and significantly more powerful work on digital platforms.
Such a policy of juggling numbers and ratings against the backdrop of systemic underfunding reflects the political establishment’s immaturity and attitude towards genuine journalism and responsibility to society.
In 2024, the company already faces significant difficulties with wages, which are increasingly lower compared to salaries in the market for journalists, editors, and operators. Additionally, in the first half of the year, the transmission of the television signal was underfunded, creating a risk of ceasing broadcasting altogether. Content production largely relies on donor funds, as since 2017, the state has failed to fulfill its obligations regarding adequate funding for Suspilne even once. This is reflected in the acquisition of rights to events of significant public interest, such as international sports competitions and the Olympics, as such rights are purchased several years before the events take place.
We want to remind you that establishing public broadcasting has been Ukraine’s obligation to the Council of Europe since 2005, and this obligation was only de jure fulfilled in 2017.
Published on April 17, 2024, the European Media Freedom Act, which Ukraine will be obliged to implement alongside other EU acts, explicitly emphasizes the special role of public media providers in the internal media service market. This includes ensuring the fundamental right to freedom of expression and information, enabling people to seek and receive diverse information, and promoting the values of democracy, cultural diversity, and social cohesion.
Therefore, Article 5 of the Act states the obligation of states to ensure that public media providers are editorially and functionally independent and impartially provide diverse information and opinions to their audience per their obligations to provide public services. Additionally, funding procedures must guarantee that public media providers have adequate, sustainable, and predictable financial resources corresponding to their commitments and capacity to develop within those responsibilities. These financial resources must be such as to ensure the editorial independence of public media providers.
We believe that an attack on Suspilne can be perceived as a signal of Ukraine’s lack of commitment to the values of pluralism of opinions, the support of which is an essential condition for accession to the European Union and may also affect support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
Therefore, we call for:
- Ceasing encroachments on editorial independence by spreading unreliable and false information about the activities of Suspilne;
- Ensuring Suspilne’s financial stability for its proper functioning as a source of credible and impartial information about current events and the Russian-Ukrainian war;
- Implementing measures to apply crisis protocols of quality public communication as a tool to counter Russian disinformation, particularly regarding the activities of public institutions and sensitive societal issues.”
Center for Democracy and Rule of Law; Souspilnist Foundation; Ukrainian Media and Communication Institute; Institute of Mass Information (ІМІ); Human Rights Platform; Digital Security Lab; Regional Press Development Institute (RPDI); Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy; Detector Media; Internews Ukraine
