A threat to freedom of speech or a step on the way to European integration – Voice of America

After years of heated discussions, the Ukrainian authorities adopted the Law On Media, which was signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the eve of the New Year.

The law approves the new rules of the media market in Ukraine and will come into force in April 2023. The approval of the law is linked to the fulfillment of the criteria necessary for the start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU. However, the reaction of the media community and international organizations that protect the rights of mass media turned out to be ambiguous.

Critics point to the threat of restrictions on freedom of speech in Ukraine, the authors insist on the compliance of the law with EU requirements on the way to European integration. This is written by the Voice of America, which the official portal of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) refers to in its material.

International criticism of the law:

Even after the adoption of the first wording of the bill in the summer, the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York made several statements, urging the Ukrainian authorities to abandon the idea of the bill, which, in their opinion, threatens to limit media freedom.

"The Ukrainian bill On Media seriously threatens the freedom of the press in the country, strengthening state control over information at a time when citizens need it the most," the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement in September.

The legislators took into account the criticism of the journalist community and international media organizations after the adoption of the first reading of the bill. However, the position of the Committee to Protect Journalists remained unchanged.

"Our position has remained unchanged since the summer, because we have the same reservations as six months ago, when we published the first statement about this, and in September - when we made the second statement," says coordinator of Committee to Protect Journalists' programs in Europe and Central Asia Gulnoza Said in the Voice of America commentary.

According to the organization, the bill, which became law after it was signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is an attempt to establish tighter government control over the free dissemination of information.

"Because we believe that we have seen many attempts to do this since the time of the full-scale war. And we called on the Ukrainian authorities not to try to control the free flow of information and not to limit the freedom of the media," added Gulnoza Said.

National Council and blocking of online media:

The main criticism of the law concerns the broad powers of the state regulator, the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council. The regulator received the right to cancel the registration of the media or temporarily block it for significant violations. The European Federation of Journalists criticizes the law both for this and for the procedure of electing members of the National Council by the Ukrainian Parliament and the President.

"We can see two main problems from the point of view of European legislation on media freedom. The first is the independence of national regulators. We do not think that the structure proposed by this law is the structure of a fully independent political regulator. The second one is how the law expands the spectrum of extrajudicial sanctions against the media," notes the director of the European Federation of Journalists, Ricardo Guterres.

According to him, submission to an independent media regulator and court decisions, and not to the decisions of politicians from the government, should be guaranteed for the media.

The arguments of the NUJU are similar to the criticism of the European Federation of Journalists. The head of the union emphasizes the politicization of the procedure for selecting members of the National Council, although he emphasizes that the final version of the law is much softer and takes into account discussions with journalists and media organizations.

"The key aspects that can be disturbing and that are basic for media legislation are the political independence of the national media regulator. Rights should be a basic value and, equally with democratic developed societies, they should be protected. Therefore, we want the regulator to be politically independent," says NUJU President Sergiy Tomilenko.

Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Taras Shevchenko explained to Voice of America why, in his opinion, strengthening the role and powers of the media regulator is important.

"The Ukrainian regulator was completely toothless for most of the years of its existence. This can be seen in the example of pro-Russian TV channels, with which nothing could be done. The powers of the regulator were very limited. Strengthening the powers of the regulator is a necessary step to ensure and guarantee independence," the official said.

Going through 1,000 pages of corrections

Maksym Dvorovyi, a member of the working group on writing the law on media, emphasizes that in order to avoid excessive political influence of the regulator on the media market, the working group added appropriate safeguards to the law.

"The two authorities that nominate candidates to the National Council represent one political force. In the text of the law, we tried to lay as many safeguards as possible so that political influence was leveled. In particular, competitions for the appointment of members of the National Council will take place at the National Council, as well as at the President," says Maksym Dvorovyi.

The Committee to Protect Journalists notes the lack of transparency of the adoption of the law and the introduction of amendments to the bill that preceded it. The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy rejects the accusations.

"I believe that the work was very open. There was a working group that worked out changes, but especially after the adoption in the first reading, meetings and discussions took place with all subjects, including the NUJU," says Deputy Minister of Culture and Information politician Taras Shevchenko.

When deputies of the Verkhovna Rada voted for the second reading of the bill on December 13, the specialized committee on humanitarian and information policy published almost a thousand pages of amendments. According to Shevchenko, the public organization Detector Media or the Institute of Mass Information, which at the first stages had critical stance, after its adoption said that the final law was a compromise version that was significantly improved after the first reading. This opinion is confirmed by the head of Detector Media Nataliya Lyhachova. Although she emphasizes that the National Council, most likely, will remain pro-presidential, Lyhachova emphasizes that there are more positives than negatives in the new media law, and most of the burning questions to the law were removed in its final version.

According to Lyhachova, the latest version of the bill removed many issues.

"There are some left, but we hope that during the implementation of the provisions of the law we will be able to decide. Then (in previous bills), any blogger who simply blogs, posts something on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok could fall under the regulation of the bill. Now it has been removed and this is important. It is also important that the National Council can only take measures against unregistered online media without a court," emphasizes the head of Detector Media.

Reaction of European partners

On the way to the adoption of the law, numerous amendments were made to the bill, including the norm that was criticized the most - regarding extrajudicial blocking of online media. Now, the National Council will be able to block registered online publications only by a court decision, and unregistered ones only after many violations and only for two weeks. However, even such a norm was criticized by international media organizations.

"Our position is less radical than in July, but, in our opinion, this law is still not sufficient to guarantee media freedom in the country," says director of the European Federation of Journalists Ricardo Guterres.

According to Guterres, the European Federation of Journalists expressed its concern to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, several months ago. He emphasizes that the European Federation of Journalists received a response from the Office of the President of the European Commission that Ursula von der Leyen is closely following this issue and has asked the EU delegation in Ukraine to help the Ukrainian government or parliament in the process.

"In general, the law follows the main standards, but there are certain questions. I think that if Portugal or Spain decided to adopt similar laws, there would be a strong reaction from the European Commission. They would say to these countries: 'No, this does not meet our standards,' says the director of the European Federation of Journalists.

According to the deputy minister of culture and information policy, all the reservations of the European Commission were taken into account in the final wording of the law. The head of Mediakritika emphasizes that the reaction of European partners will most likely be positive. The Ukrainian and international media community, as well as media organizations, expressed different positions regarding the new media law. However, everyone with whom Voice of America spoke agrees that the implementation of new rules of the game will depend on civil society and the dialogue of the authorities with its representatives to ensure a safe and reliable media environment.