UKRAINE. A year after the Russian attack: the safety of journalists, the new media law and the decline of television influence

Lviv (Ukraine), 20 February 2023.

• Working as a journalist in Ukraine has become safer, but more difficult  

43 media workers were killed by Russian occupiers in Ukraine in 2022 according to the Institute of Mass Information (IMI). At least 8 of them died while performing journalistic activities (according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, there are 14 such deaths), and 35 died as participants in hostilities or became victims of shelling, not while performing journalistic duties.

Despite these terrible figures, the security situation for journalists has improved markedly during the year. This was facilitated by such factors: the localization of hostilities in the south and east of Ukraine, the tightening of the military accreditation system, and the growth of the professionalism of journalists. Finally, humanitarian organizations provided personal protective equipment (body armor and helmets, first aid kits) for the media and train hundreds of journalists in first aid.

The journalistic community is divided into those who regularly cover the war, and those who have returned to the usual peaceful topics: economics, culture, and sports news.

However, the work of journalists on the frontline has become more difficult due to tighter military restrictions. We have noted several cases in which the military has withdrawn military accreditation from journalists under dubious pretexts. The most scandalous case was connected with the liberation of Kherson by Ukrainian troops from Russian invaders – a southern city on the right bank of the Dnipro River. The military revoked the accreditation of all journalists who arrived in Kherson before the official press tour. After a scandal in the professional environment, all journalists had their permissions restored.

• Controversial media law passed

Ukraine’s new media law was one of seven conditions laid down by Brussels for fast-track EU-candidate status. The Parliament of Ukraine approved it at the end of 2022, despite the protests of journalistic organizations.

Ukrainian journalists and the international media community criticized the law. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) argued that the draft amounted to “forced regulation” by the authorities. Ukraine’s journalists’ union also agreed that the law would limit freedom of speech.

The real impact of the new law is not yet clear, because it will come into force only in April. The law increases the government’s regulatory power over TV, radio, and news websites. However, the law was significantly softened after almost 1,000 revisions before the final vote.

Journalists fear that the new law will be used not only to limit Russian propaganda, but also to limit critics of the Ukrainian government. Their fears are based on the fact that in 2022 three pro-Ukrainian TV channels were taken off the air, allegedly due to links with former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, an opponent of Volodymyr Zelensky. These TV channels continue tbroadcast via satellite, the Internet, and cable networks, but their audience has declined markedly. Almost all other sociopolitical TV channels have been united by the Ukrainian authorities into a United News Channel, which is de facto controlled by the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine.

• The interest of Ukrainians in television continues to fall

The interest of Ukrainians in television is steadily declining year by year. In the latest survey by the research company Gradus Research over 60% of Ukrainians get news on social networks and online media, while a little less than half of the country’s residents watch the news on TV.

Another USAID-supported survey showed an even higher level of influence of social networks – over 70% of Ukrainians get news from there. It is worrying that of all social networks, Telegram, created by a Russian, occupies the primacy, and the most popular feeds on it are anonymous gossip, rumors and unverified news.

The reasons for the decline in interest in linear television may be not only technical progress. As we wrote above, the authorities removed part of the TV channels from the air, and the other part was merged into United News. As a result, the choice for TV viewers has been reduced, and TV critics talk about the low quality of United News content.

• Problems with access to information, in particular to registries

The work of journalists is complicated by the lack of full access to government datasets that were open before the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022. For greater cybersecurity, the Ukrainian authorities have closed or restricted access to government registries, ranging from military procurement data to business enterprise registries. The access of journalists to meetings of local governments and central authorities is still limited. All this increases the risk of corruption.

• Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine are turning into news deserts

The work of independent journalists in the territories occupied by Russia is impossible. The media receive information from anonymous informants via messengers or from people who managed to leave the occupation. At the same time, Russian propagandists (the so-called war correspondents) work in the occupied territories and report on the successes of the Russian army. Often these messages turn out to be fake.

Immediately after seizing new territories, the Russians begin to persecute independent journalists and seize the editorial offices of independent media. This was the case in Crimea, Donetsk, and Lugansk in 2014, and the same thing happened in 2022. For example, in Kherson, the Russians smashed the office of the public television Suspilne.Kherson. Now, after the liberation of Kherson by Ukrainian troops, the non-governmental organization Lviv Media Forum is collecting donations to restore the work of the local Kherson media. Thus, journalists from the very west of the country, near the border with the European Union, help their colleagues from the south, who find themselves in a difficult situation.

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Andrii Ianitsky is a journalist now based in Lviv and PEC Representative in Ukraine ([email protected])

His first report was published on 19 March 2022, the second on 28 March 2022, the third on 5 April 2022, fourth on 11 April, fifth on 22 April, sixth on 10 May, seventh on 27 June, eighth on 6 November