Rada Adopts Scandalous Bill On Media In First Reading

At its meeting on August 30, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the scandalous bill on media in the first reading.

233 MPs voted for the adoption of bill 2693-d as a basis, with the minimum required 226, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

According to the report of the MP from the Holos faction, Yaroslav Zhelezniak, the deadline for submitting amendments and proposals to the bill has also been extended by half – by 21 days.

The bill was registered in the parliament on December 27, 2019. On May 19, 2020, the parliament sent it for a repeated first reading, and on August 25, 2022, a new version of the bill was submitted.

The edition submitted and adopted today as a basis proposes to introduce regulation of online mass media, bloggers and various web platforms. A co-regulation mechanism is also foreseen. Also, a separate section of the bill is dedicated to community broadcasting - the third sector of broadcasting that exists in Europe in parallel with public and commercial broadcasting.

The document also provides for the expansion of the powers of the regulator - the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting.

According to the explanatory note, the bill regulates relations related to the dissemination of mass information, defines the legal basis for the activities of subjects in the media sphere in Ukraine, as well as the principles of state management, regulation and supervision (control) in this field. The Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, as part of the preparation of the bill on media for the repeated first reading, considered and summarized a huge array of comments and suggestions received as a result of the public examination, developed a new version of the bill of Ukraine on media, which takes into account most of the valid comments and suggestions.

However, not all media people are satisfied with the proposed version of the document.

So, the bill on media is not supported by the vast majority of print media editors.

Some media experts believe that the bill in its current form is an attempt to introduce censorship.

In addition, 34 MPs from five factions and non-faction parliamentarians recently appealed to Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk to withdraw this bill from consideration at the next plenary session, so that the humanitarian committee would once again consider it and eliminate all dangers of "demining the cultural border with Russia."

According to the parliamentarians, the bill cancels the ban on the broadcasting of phonograms and music videos of Russian singers, eliminates the list of persons who pose a threat to national security, reduces the level of control over Ukrainian-language films, allows practically impunity to violate the 10% quota for Ukrainian songs on the radio, makes the norms, which prohibit positive coverage of the authorities of the aggressor state, invalid.

Bringing our media legislation into line with European audiovisual legislation is one of the EU's requirements on the way to opening negotiations on Ukraine's membership.

Zhelezniak reported that 179 MPs of the Servant of the People faction, 0 - European Solidarity, 6 - Batkivschyna, 12 - Platforms for Life and Peace, 7 - For the Future voted for the adoption of the bill as a basis, 0 - Holos, 12 - Dovira, 12 - Restoration of Ukraine, 5 - non-factional.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, only 10% of the bill "On Media" concerns direct European obligations.

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