Will Media Boycott Vitrenko?

Chairman of the Ukrainian Union of Journalist Ihor Lubchenko has called upon “all print and audiovisual mass media and all journalists of Ukraine to reject their partisan and professional interests, rally together in the struggle for the freedom of speech, and declare an information boycott to Natalia Vitrenko, without writing anything about her, her activities, and her election headquarters” and also called on Speaker Oleksandr Tkachenko to ban “carrying out any press conferences in the parliamentary press center if access by journalists is limited.”

It will be recalled that parliamentary correspondents of the newspapers The Day, Vechirny Kyiv, Khreshchatyk, and Ukrayina i svit, as well as Inter Television Company, and Radio Liberty, were not allowed to attend a press conference the presidential candidate Ms. Vitrenko held at a Verkhovna Rada building immediately after the abortive attempt on her life, only because Ms. Vitrenko's election headquarters claimed they wrote things the lady did not like.

“This brazenness can only be interpreted as violation of the freedom of expression, journalists' right to get information, and the laws of our state. If Ms. Vitrenko, while still a candidate for the highest office, is treating journalists so outrageously, it is clear what is in store for the media should she come to power,” Mr. Lubchenko predicts.