After The Day carried the discussion, "Will the Press
Endure Government Pressure? (Nos. 39-42), the Editors received many letters
from journalists and readers to whom the freedom of the press is no abstract
notion but one which affects their personal right to receive information,
speak their mind, and be heard. This time we publish the first batch of
letters and articles about the means to which the authorities resort lest
there remain any periodicals capable of offering unbiased information,
and about the journalist's personal responsibilities. Other letters are
about regional periodicals and the audience's specificity in digesting
what they are fed - often biased, obviously "custom-made" information,
far from reality. Our readers pose straight questions and expect straight
answers, though not by way of "direct action," of course. By combining
efforts in shaping public opinion, we can expect positive changes, and
we thus would like to thank all those who have responded and eagerly await
further public comment.
I think that the round table's quintessence is determined by conflicts
expert Volodymyr Salamatov who maintains that our media does not have a
basic working concept. It does not, and neither does our state.
I fully agree with Mr. Salamatov who says that "...when we studied how
much officials at various levels were aware of the national interests,
most had a hard time defining them and basically attributed them to issues
that had to be resolved there and then..." I can only say woe be unto Ukraine!
I agree that the media should be the watchdog of democracy. But you
won't get a watchdog by putting a pug on a chain. Also, we have for decades
been inundated by mush, and a sponge bath won't do, we need a good hot
and cold shower. Thus, do not be afraid to show bias and defend someone's
interests.
As for the state pressuring the press, what sort of state do we have?
None whatever. What kind of pressure can a nonexistent power exert? Perhaps
we ordinary people just do not notice that pressure the way Mr. Rodniansky
does, because save for Alla Mazur his TSN is also mush, unlike Inter's
"Details."
Since your round table took place in view of the coming elections, I
will use this opportunity to express several ideas as another ordinary
reader.
European social democracy is known to have a long history, reputable
present, and I hope that it will have a fine future in Ukraine. But to
have it a lot of hard work must be done, especially among the rank-and-file
citizenry. And this work must be begun immediately.
Declarations and expensive advertisements are not for us, they only
get on our nerves.
In this sense, The Day has great potential. It is a solid newspaper,
its staff of authors is quite impressive and reputed political analysts
willingly cooperate with it. You should start propagandizing social democratic
ideas forthwith.
Finally, a couple of words about myself.
I have always lived in Kharkiv and am on pension now. I used to be a
Soviet Army career officer and was discharged when Nikita Khrushchev ordered
personnel reductions in 1960. Whatever I did, I had to start from scratch.
I worked as mechanic enrolled in night classes at the Polytechnic Institute,
then worked as a senior engineer at a research institute, and then retired
in 1990.
I have closely followed politics for a number of years, but never thought
of taking it up professionally. I had different views and my surname (horse
blinders) does not sound good for a professional politician. In the army
I was a Komsomol activist in an Air Force regiment and attended Stalin's
funeral. Then there was the Twentieth Party Congress which turned everything
upside down, all my Communist persuasions went down the drain and I never
joined the party.
Respectfully,
Volodymyr S. SHOR, Kharkiv
I am a historian and take active part in public life. I closely follow
all political developments and I feel that our media has of late become
very much the way it was under Brezhnev, and this is particularly true
of television. Our channels offer no comprehensive analytical programs
and are getting increasingly like one big intellect-free show. "Pisliamova"
(Afterword) has disappeared, and "7 Days" is blatantly tendentious; any
objectivity is out of the question here. In fact, most of the news is about
the President, events in Palestine, and calamities. Is our world that small?
At the same time I absolutely agree with that part of the round table which
reads that whole walks of life are completely ignored. Almost no attention
is paid to economic, social-legal, and other acute topics that affect most
our people. For example, the Lviv oblast media tries to skirt social conflicts,
attempting to create an idyll about a "prospering people," constantly highlighting
the doings of those in power, saying almost nothing about how ordinary
people really live. Somehow no one seems interested in what ordinary people
think, what problems they have and what they want.
I agree with Larysa Ivshyna that the government-run media live on taxpayer's
money and should serve the people, not the bureaucrats. However, our ranking
officials are programmed with a completely distorted notion of their role;
these public servants believe that the public are there to serve them,
not vice versa, and this despite the fact that they are elected by the
people to express that people's will, and that they live at that people's
expense. So they regard the government-controlled media as their property
and the people as something they can use and throw away.
If asked whether we have anyone capable of telling society the truth,
I would say that we do, but very few. The sad fact is that most politicians
and many journalists are immersed in self-aggrandizement, corruption, slavishness,
and tactlessness. This makes it impossible to be independent, have and
express ones views, and defend the interests of one's own people. This
is the tragedy of our times and our generation. It is very good that we
have the independent newspaper The Day and others like it. It means
we still have a chance.
Yevhen MAYIK,
Zhovkva, Lviv oblast






