Conflict Concerning Radio Continent Shows Problems of Nonprofit Mass Media

A situation which has resulted in yet another trouble spot in Ukraine’s information space, earlier seemed to be without conflict. At least, this was the message of Friday’s press conference of National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting top officials. According to them, Radio Continent’s license, which had been issued in 1995, expired on October 25, 2000. In line with the law on broadcasting, the station’s frequency was put up for a tender in late December. A tender committee will take into account Radio Continent’s preemptive rights as a station which had earlier broadcast on the frequency. National Council Chairman Kholod said that the concern which has publicly voiced by the BBC World Service, the Reporters Without Borders, the Ukrainian Mass Media Institute, as well as by the station’s director and chairman of Ukraine’s Independent Association of Broadcasters Serhiy Sholokh could be interpreted as “interference with the national council’s activities.”

“The granting of licenses will be done [by the Council] in a most transparent way,” those speaking at the press conference promised.

Mr. Kholod also said that Radio Continent management had failed to specify the exact frequency for which it applied, putting it within the 88-108 FM range. Consequently, its license application did not relate to the tender announced to license broadcasting at 100.9 FM, Kholod explained to Sholokh at the press conference. In addition, the form of the application submitted by the station did not correspond to the new licensing rules made public on December 1.

“Radio Continent can take part in a tender for the license to broadcast if its application to the National Council meets all the requirements specified in the regulations,” Kholod stressed in reply to Sholokh’s question on whether the National Council will file the documents if submitted by the station.

According to the opposing view expressed by Serhiy Sholokh, the whole situation risks a possible explosion. In his interview with The Day, the Radio Continent director said that he still believes the tender to lease the 100.9 FM frequency constitutes “political pressure” because RC, first, is “a politically independent as well as financially and technically sustainable outlet with its own telecommunications equipment.” Second, Sholokh argued, “Our newscasts can hardly be described as loyal to the authorities.., the news service was run for a long time by abducted journalist Heorhy Gongadze,” and RC has been broadcasting well-known foreign radio stations.

Mr. Sholokh reaffirmed that RC’s five year license issued in 1995 had expired in December 2000. In 1995 the station applied to the National Council requesting its license be extended and broadcast time increased to 24 hours. In 1997 the National Council made a positive decision on this request, he emphasized.

The copy of the National Council decision which Sholokh showed The Dayspecifies that RC will get more broadcast time and will be assigned the tariff coefficient of Five. There is nothing in the document on license extension. Close study of the document reveals, however, that, next to the signature and the approval notation by N. Slobodian (one of several council members who signed the document), there is a postscript, which runs “coefficient Two, term of license as requested.” Such a postscript typically indicates the separate opinion of a council member and cannot be viewed as the council’s decision. This, incidentally, explains why the council members are so confident that they have a strong case.

According to the National Council First Deputy Mykyta Poturayev, Radio Continent would have had no major problems in having its license extended for ten years, had it paid the UAH 10,000 due for having its broadcasting time increased by the National Council in 1997. “We believed at the time that, after getting its license, RC would be able to settle the debt in some way or another. We did not impose any sanctions,” Mykola Poturayev emphasized.

The elevated mood of the National Council members was eye-catching — after all, the enemy was defeated on his own turf with the council doing everything according to the statute books. In a sense, the National Council might have unwillingly demonstrated a new and civilized, if you will, way of dealing with non-commercial mass media outlets such that outlets can be denied licenses for a very simple reason — due to their financial insolvency or technical failure, etc. (“It makes no difference whether we consider [an application from] an opposition mass media outlet or not. All we analyze is the content of the documents submitted,” Kholod declared, describing the council’s policy.)

There are some questionable things, however. It is common knowledge that the mass media cannot exist under current conditions without large donations from sponsors. On the other hand, advertising revenues cannot keep the Ukrainian mass media outlets in the black because, first, the country’s advertising market has shrunk considerably in recent times and, second, this market is also susceptible to pressure such that those placing ads with non-commercial media outlets can easily be penalized as can the outlets themselves. From this perspective, the Radio Continent director’s cry for help seems completely relevant, even smelling slightly of blackmail. Independent mass media outlets have no option but to make waves in order to stay afloat. Incidentally, RC produces out far from financially rewarding programs like independent news along jazz and classical music. Given the inadequacy of Ukrainian legislation, the only option Ukraine’s mass media outlets seem to have is the discretion of the National Council members and their awareness of the public need for having the kind of broadcasting currently offered by RC (including its de jure illegal, i.e. not specified by the license, relaying of the BBC, Voice of America and Deutsche Welle programs). At any rate, in a last Sunday interview with the BBC, National Council Member Mykola Kniazhytsky stated, “The National Council’s policy is based on the priority for Ukraine to join the European Union, something President Kuchma declared in his inauguration address, as well as on Foreign Minister Anatoly Zlenko’s recent statement defining the country’s foreign policy as unequivocally Western oriented. Hence, the council’s attitude toward relaying broadcasts of Western radio stations is absolutely transparent. We are inviting them to work in Ukraine. We are interested in sharing the European experience in building a civilized society for our people. Moreover, the Western media provide a good model of impartial coverage for their Ukrainian counterparts.”