Viktor PONEDILKO: “Corporative and bureaucratic interests force press and television work for Kuchma”

Running for President in 1994, Leonid Kuchma complained in Parliament much of the media was taken up by his opponents and that the national channels were dominated by Leonid Kravchuk. The Day asked People's Deputy Viktor Ponedilko, who was at the time chairman of the parliamentary committee on the freedom of expression, to refresh that situation in the reader's memory. He said the following:

Verkhovna Rada resolved to have the matter investigated by my committee and report our findings. We did and the situation turned out rather curious. Indeed, Leonid Kravchuk dominated the national channels, but all told Leonid Kuchma had 2.4 times more airtime, using regional TV companies — and the latter were then far more independent than now. Our report in Parliament sounded somewhat scandalous and this has since affected my relationships with Mr. Kuchma, for he wanted to pose as persecuted and his rights violated, but the committee findings turned out differently.

Leonid Kuchma and his team must have done a lot of homework on where presidents are actually “made” and how to stage campaigns. In any case, over the past six months they have made every effort to strangle the local press, print and electronic alike, so that the incumbent President's (former candidate's) opponents stand no chance. What they are doing now is downright usurpation of the national channels and annihilation of regional ones. Under the circumstances trying to promote any other candidate appears futile. That very man who complained of not having sufficient airtime is now barring access to all the other candidates.

Mildly speaking, I do not quite understand people who allow themselves to act in a way they would have never tolerated if tried by anyone else. That's your double-standard mentality and egotism: I can act the way I please and others can't.

The Day: Is there anything Verkhovna Rada can do about it?

V. P. : The trouble is that our whole society isn't doing anything about it. We have our election, radio, and television laws; they are adequate to prevent such abuses if duly observed. But I think that the incumbent President has forced loyalty, using political commitments rather than blackmail, on all those that have no right to be in politics under the law. These people are public servants and members of the administration at all levels, including the Internal Affairs Ministry and Tax Service. All these bureaucrats, including those at the top, have found themselves in an extremely embarrassing situation. What they are doing in the course of the campaign can only be qualified as abuse of power with the express purpose of usurping authority. The Criminal Code reads that this criminal offense has no statutes of limitations. They know it and it makes them stick together to form a pack ready to lash out at whomever tries to hurt their current corporative bureaucratic interests. All this has led to the current situation in Ukraine's information theater of operations.