Freedom of Speech: Still a Pipe Dream

No fundamental shifts for the better in the situation with freedom of speech in Ukraine have been registered over the past four years, believes Oleksandr Ivanko, OSCE delegation senior adviser on mass media. He told this a September 24 round table addressing the issues of bringing Ukrainian mass media legislation into compliance with international and European standards. “Ukrainian laws may be up to the mark, but the point at issue is how these laws are enforced,” Interfax Ukraine quotes Mr. Ivanko as saying. “When one of the branches of power thinks it necessary to tell mass media how to cover the main political events in the country, when leading politicians are gagged, it is a cause for much concern,” the OSCE representative said. “Out of the 55 OSCE member states two or three countries at the most resort to such practices. We would not like to see Ukraine on that list,” he underscored. Mr. Ivanko also called attention to the fact that “there are still more questions than answers in the Gongadze case” and “little progress has been made since February 2001” when OSCE released a report on the results of its investigation into the case. He also stressed that when discussing Ukraine’s mass media legislation one should bear in mind “how this legislation will be enforced and used and how it will help Ukrainian citizens gain access to uncensored and unbiased information on what is happening in the country.”