Tkachenko Still Wants to Sue National TV

As earlier announced by Interfax Ukraine and some television channels, Speaker Tkachenko declared that he reserves the right to sue the National Television Company for not playing the tape of his Independence Day address.

Mr. Tkachenko stated that he had asked UT-1 to play the tape and that 4 to 19 minutes on the air would be fine. The video cassette had been prepared by the Television Programs Directorate of the Verkhovna Rada Secretariat. He further stated that no one at the head of UT-1 would dare act that way unless okayed by the President or someone from his entourage.

Unofficial sources provided The Day with a copy of the reply signed by the National Company's President Vadym Dolhanov, addressed to L. H. Horiovy, Verkhovna Rada chief of staff. This letter should be quoted in full, because it speaks for itself and requires no comment, except for certain aspects that would be hard to understand by those of our readers who have managed to stay away from politics.

First, Mr. Dolhanov's letter does not explain why UT-1 was unable to play Mr. Tkachenko's tape as part of its UTN news program that went on the air at 9 p.m. in lieu of UTN-Panorama. Why not play it before or after the military parade? UT-1 found the time on August 24 to replay Leonid Kuchma's Aug. 23 speech at the Ukraine Palace (which, incidentally, did not figure in the What's On column, unlike UTN-Panorama)?

Second, why should the company president advertise his utter lack of professionalism, stating that he did not know why Mr. Tkachenko was absent from the parade, considering that all the channels and news agencies not under the President's direct control informed that same day, August 24, that four major candidates — Yevhen Marchuk, Oleksandr Moroz, Volodymyr Oliynyk, and Oleksandr Tkachenko — were meeting in Kaniv, adopting a message to the nation which, among other things, condemns such pompous and costly festivities in the capital? Is this not ample evidence that the National Television Company has completely discredited itself professionally, unless the whole thing was yet another political maneuver by the powers that be?

Incidentally, the Speaker's Press Secretary Mykola Kanishevsky says that Mr. Tkachenko spoke on the phone to Vadym Dolhanov and said the latter's explanations were «child's babble» and confirmed his intention to sue the company.