Mykola HUTSULIAK: “Don’t shoot the peacekeepers in the back”
“How do the officers feel about Ukraine’s defense reform? Do they understand that changes are needed?”
“I recall the early nineties. Even then there were supporters and opponents of reforms. For example, some said that they were swearing allegiance to a three— room apartment. But reform was imminent. Today there are mixed feelings about the reform. Many officers are worried about the possible consequences of the defense reform law. Without doubt, we want only the best officers to remain in Ukraine’s Armed Forces. We are yet to decide what selection criteria should be used, be it the officer’s age, number of posts changed, Afghan War or Chornobyl veteran status. Solving these difficult problems rests with the military leadership, who should ensure that the best personnel remain after the screening.”
“Are there possibilities or mechanisms whereby the best officers would remain?”
“This is the toughest problem. We organized a hotline with the commander of the Armed Forces, with mothers and wives of the officers calling in. We learned, for example, that one officer was dismissed for showing up late for a staff meeting. The commander insisted that this was no cause for dismissal. The most painful thing is that many have interpreted the reform as an excuse to fire young officers for the smallest of offences.”
“Speaking of the army and journalism, where does the independence of a military journalist show itself, if it exists?”
“The independence of a military journalist comes from within. It is possible, but much depends on the editor and on the degree of his freedom or bias. The editor is like a mirror: his emotions show on the pages of the newspaper. Sometimes a military newspaper can dedicate a short piece to a major military feat and a whole page to a quartermaster who has salted away many barrels of pickles. Very often the journalist himself must determine this limit. There are such military journalists, but I wish they were a majority. I wish they would not follow the old principles of criticizing only when allowed to. Although even in the Soviet period there were cases worth mentioning. I recall as I, then a lieutenant, joined the Central Asian Command newspaper called Boyevoye Znamia [Military Banner] with a pressrun of 100,000. It ran a feature quite critical of a political department chief in one division. I recall the tongue-lashing this journalist received then. But the publication of this material was occasioned by two things — the journalist’s inner freedom and that of the editor. There are plenty of such examples. There also were many accidental people, who would blow any trifle out of proportion. I believe in military journalism and know young people who write and are willing to write independently. But then they are edited by some fearful editors.”
“How do you picture the role of the press in the defense reform?”
“I feel sorry for military periodicals, when civilian publications prove more courageous and willingly publish materials by military correspondents. This is a matter of honor for a military newspaper. In search of so- called freedom, many understand journalistic freedom as an absence of control from above and freedom to do as one pleases. This has caused a dissociation in a sense that there is no single center to direct — in the best sense of this word — military journalists. Without wise leadership military journalists find it hard to understand their role in this critical and difficult time. For example, the coverage of military exercises is as a rule laudatory. Meanwhile, there are so many problems, mistakes, errors, and conflicts of interest that are never mentioned.
“Recently, I and Mykola Petruk, commander of the Western Operative Command, visited the parents of Ruslan Androshchuk, who perished in Iraq. No sooner had I returned to my office than Kyiv journalists began calling me to ask for directions on how to get there. My belief is that Ukrainian journalism is not yet mature enough in some respects to understand the limits that one cannot cross. Somebody simply wants to show off with a microphone in front of this miserable hut, where the mother is crying. We must think about how and what we are telling and showing. Ukrainian television was not ready to report the Sknyliv tragedy. There were people who blatantly cashed in on this tragedy without understanding what had happened, while the journalists saw the tragedy but couldn’t comprehend it. Perhaps the task of military journalism is to be highly professional and sincere in reporting everything that is happening. The same applies to the recent tragedy. The death of Ruslan Androshchuk is a tragedy, but it is unacceptable for civilian journalists to cash in on it. I think it is up to military journalists who have deep understanding of tragedies to report them in a wise manner.”
“Is tact a professional duty, when the journalist is telling about the tragic aspects of the military profession?”
“Absolutely. When soldiers are trained for parades, they are told to turn their heads until the neck crunches, figuratively. Every journalist should experience a similar crunch in his soul and emotions, when he begins to report tragic incidents. Instead, while we mourned our first military casualty in Iraq, one of the nation’s main channels showed some bearded man in Al-Qut, brandishing his machine gun and threatening to shoot Ukrainians. Why he was shown is beyond me. For the Ukrainian military it was like being shot in the back, a dance on the coffin of the dead soldier. I want to ask Ukrainian politicians and journalists not to shoot our peacekeepers in the back.”
“Is patriotism among the journalist’s professional qualities? After all, there is a very thin line between patriotism and bias, where the state and public opinions often clash.”
“Perhaps journalism should be on this line. I would say that there is something un-Ukrainian about the latter example. It’s like playing for the enemy, when a television channel that has a plus in its name gives the whole nation a minus. I understand that I might receive complaints from this channel. But I experience this situation first hand: I went to the home of our slain soldier. It is there that you actually begin to understand the truth and falsehood, journalism, and patriotism. I still cannot recover from the shock from the way the media covered the recent escalation of the Iraqi crisis. It has been an explosion of information aimed at the Ukrainian army. I sincerely hope that journalism matures enough to be called patriotic. Journalists who have such a big audience should carefully consider their every move and word, even if such a move promises big fees and popularity, say, we were the first to show this turbaned and bearded man toting a machine gun and promising to kill us all. This is an insane error, for which some explanationis due. We must finally understand that now that we are in Iraq we have found ourselves in the battlefield of an information war. Both military and civilian journalists should feel this tremendous responsibility.”
“Understandably, with the escalation of the Iraqi crisis Ukraine will come under increased information pressure, with major information sources involved. For example, recently Al-Jazeera showed three Japanese hostages, whom the terrorists threatened to burn alive unless Tokyo withdraws its contingent from Iraq. Are Ukraine and its army ready to face similar information attacks? What should be done to effectively respond to such things? Since, given the state of public opinion in Ukraine and the level of cooperation from the journalists, one gets the impression that Ukraine is an easy target.”
“Call me naive, but I pin some hopes on the attempts by the Defense Ministry officials to create an information policy department. This department should not prohibit anything. It must be prepared to face the information war. Consider the two terrorist acts that have changed the world. I mean the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US and March 11 explosions in Spain. They occurred in the morning and were designed to cause panic. All the world’s media endlessly showed the consequences of these terrorist acts as if in a frenzy. The terrorists achieved tremendous success as far as the spread of information is concerned.”
“In the early days of the Iraqi campaign, American television channels were forbidden to show either killed or captured American soldiers. Many European media outlets interpreted this as an encroachment on the freedom of speech. Do you see any logic in this?”
“I think that yes, there should be some limitations. There is such a thing as a military secret. Perhaps we should understand that limitations also apply to information from the battlefield, especially considering that our journalism is still not mature enough.”
