Will Creation of Chetverta Vlada Split Ukrainian Journalists?

According to its charter, the All-Ukrainian Chetverta Vlada Association is a nonprofit public organization designed to promote the freedom of expression, the development of democratic processes in Ukraine, and to safeguard journalists' rights. The meeting produced a statement envisioning the participation of association members in the elaboration of a national information policy and support for positive steps by the current regime aimed at the democratization of society. Two steering committees were established at the meeting: one will deal with setting up a trade union for mass media workers, and the other with creating a political party based on the Chetverta Vlada Association. As Academician Moskalenko said, the association is not alternative to or splitting from the Union of Ukrainian Journalists.

However, the Union's chairperson Ihor Lubchenko told The Day that the creation of such an organization will lead precisely to a split among journalists, because its tasks are in no way different from those of the existing Union. "If I had sat quietly, not advocating the freedom of expression and press in Ukraine or putting forward the idea of opposition by the press to any regime, this organization would probably not have come into being," said Mr. Lubchenko.