Fewer violations of journalists’ rights in 2005

The Institute of Mass Information (IMI) and the international organization Article 19 have recorded a significant reduction in the number of violations of journalists’ rights in Ukraine in 2005 as compared to previous years. IMI expert Serhiy Taran and Article 19 representative Frederica Prina made this announcement at a recent news conference. During their 11-month monitoring of violations of free speech and journalists’ rights the experts did not record a single case of a missing or killed journalist. According to IMI expert Victoria Siumar, although no murders or kidnappings were recorded last year, the situation in 2004 was affected by the publicity generated by the cases of the murdered journalists Heorhiy Gongadze and Ihor Aleksandrov. There were four such cases in 2003 and three in 2002. In 2004 there was only one case of a journalist who was arrested. However, according to the IMI, this was one of a series of arrests of Volodymyr Lutyev, editor of the newspaper Yevpatoriiskaia nedelia. He was arrested following a court ruling in a case that was opened in 2003. Meanwhile, eight journalists were arrested or detained in 2005. This year saw 21 cases of mass media representatives being beaten, assaulted, or intimidated. Siumar says that although this statistic is quite high, it is an improvement over 2004, when 47 such cases were recorded. In 2003 there were 34 cases. Siumar says that this is proof that Ukrainian society is not yet prepared to treat the journalistic profession by the book. After all, most of these cases involve economic investigations and personal motives. This year saw 14 cases where journalists faced obstruction or censorship versus 60 cases in 2004, 30 in 2003, and 46 in 2002. According to Siumar, this reflects fundamental changes in the government’s policy toward the mass media. In 2005 there were fewer cases of economic, political, or indirect pressure on journalists. Fifteen cases were recorded this year as compared to 52 cases in 2004, 37 in 2003, and 30 in 2002. The number of lawsuits against media outlets and journalists totaled 13, down from 19 in 2004 and 15 in 2003. An IMI study shows that the percentage of lawsuits filed by government officials has also declined. Moreover, most violations were recorded in the nation’s regions, especially Rivne, Zakarpattia, Odesa, Kherson, and Mykolayiv oblasts. IMI experts believe that a positive sign is the case of the Odesa-based television and radio company Art. The police colonel heading the group of policemen that broke into the company’s office was demoted and removed from the case. Siumar says that the IMI never recorded a case when the uniformed services were punished for their transgressions.

Speaking of other problems of the mass media, Taran pointed out that the government has yet to learn how to respond to criticism from the mass media. “There were many high-profile investigations this year, but none of them resulted in the dismissal of any official,” Taran says. He believes that there are still problems with journalistic standards, according to which the mass media must present opposing viewpoints in a single news report, draw a clear line between commentaries and facts, attribute sources, etc. Also, the government has not taken decisive steps to bring the highly publicized cases of Heorhiy Gongadze, Ihor Aleksandrov, and Taras Protsiuk to their logical conclusion. “Because the positive changes in the Ukrainian media space are not supported at the legislative level, there is no guarantee that these positive changes are irreversible,” Taran said.