AZERBAIJAN
“Now I am no longer afraid of competition,” says
[the head of the Azerbaijani News Service, ANS, independent television
and radio company] Vahid Mustafayev, six years after the registration of
ANS. Not many people consider a sixth anniversary to be a significant
and remarkable date. However, at ANS people are of a different view.
This is understandable: too much energy, imagination and labour has been
put into what today bears the name of an independent corporation with the
unassuming name of ANS.
What is ANS today, six years on? This was
the first question we put to ANS president Vahid Mustafayev in a short
interview.
[Mustafayev] ANS comprises 250 professional staff of the television,
radio, ANS-press, ANS-Petroleum and ANS-Finance. ANS is a factory
of “stars,” because [ANS commentators and correspondents] Mais Mammadov,
Mir-Shahin, Khayal Tagiyev, Gyulshan Aliyeva, Big Seva [Hasanova] and others
well-known to Baku inhabitants work here.
[Q] Is ANS popular?
[A] I can only suppose that we are popular but I will not affirm this.
We have no survey indicating the popularity of broadcasting companies.
We only can suppose that our potential listeners and viewers are the 3.8m
citizens of Azerbaijan.
[Q] What are the main principles of the company’s work?
[A] Honesty, accuracy and lack of bias. It must be said, nobody
is insured against mistakes. There is no censorship at ANS and this
complicates our work. But the main thing is to find out about one’s
mistakes. A special commission has been working on listeners’ complaints
since January. I think we shall make fewer mistakes.
[Q] Is it easy to maintain independent status?
[A] We do not swim with the current nor against it, but swim freely
on our own. This, I think, is more difficult. It is much easier
to have one “master.” At ANS, any decision depends not only on the
board of founders, but also on the board of producers, editors, directors,
the company, the management, the creative staff. . . . [ellipsis as published]
[Q] Are you afraid of competition?
[A] Not any more. I am glad that there is a television industry
in Azerbaijan and that it is continuing to develop. We are the one
of the few companies withstanding the competition in an honest fight.
We have a little more experience and we have existed in the “market” a
little longer. On the other hand, the appearance of new studios does
not allow us to relax.
[Q] And the ANS of your dreams?
[A] I will only speak about the near future. We plan to increase
the number of news programmes, to improve the external appearance of our
broadcasts and make them more like television should be, not just artistic
like now. We shall expand our broadcasting range. Now inhabitants
of Baku and the Apsheron peninsula can receive ANS, but we plan to “reach
out” to Gyandzha and neighbouring districts. And in conjunction with
a number of major publications, we plan to issue a daily newspaper with
the latest news.
‘Zerkalo,’ Baku, March 7, 1998
II. Cable TV joint venture steps up activity.
The US-Azerbaijani joint venture Baku & Boston
TV Communication, which is providing cable TV services in the capital,
and the Azercell cellular communication joint venture signed an agreement
on cooperation on 23rd February. The agreement allows Azercell’s
subscribers to get a 25 per cent discount when connecting to B&B television.
In turn, Azercell is to advertise the activities of the cable television
company.
[On 6th March] B&B TV is the only cable broadcasting
company in Azerbaijan, set up by the Boston-based company and the Azerbaijani
Ministry of Communications, which rebroadcasts the programmes of 24 foreign
TV companies around the clock. They include a total of 10 encrypted
channels, in particular, TV Land, MTV, VH-1, Discovery, The Movie Channel,
Cine-5 and so on. The right to rebroadcast encrypted programmes belongs
to the American party. Rebroadcasting of the other seven foreign
and local private television channels is to be organized within the next
two months.
In addition, B&B TV is conducting negotiations
for the rebroadcasting of all the television channels of the Russian company
NTV Plus (Mir Kino, Nashe Kino [The World of Cinema, Our Cinema], NTV-Sport
and so on). The general manager of the joint venture, Valeriy Kikot,
said that the company is currently carrying out tests of the most up-to-date
decoders, which will be installed for all subscribers in order to protect
the joint venture’s activity from piracy.
It cost between 70 and 150 dollars to connect to
B&B and the monthly subscription fee, since last January, has been
set at 30 dollars. A 20 per cent discount is given on pre-payment
and a 10 per cent discount for half-yearly payments. Both the company
itself and dealer outlets offer help to get connected.
“B&B TV and Azercell joint venture have concluded an agreement on cooperation,” ‘Yezhednevnyye Novosti’ newspaper, Baku, March 6, 1998
Following the abolition of advertising on ETV [state-owned
Estonian Television] and the advertising law [which came into effect on
1st January] the volume of advertising on privately owned television channels
increased in January. Kanal 2’s advertising turnover amounted to
nearly 4m kroons, TV3’s to over 3m and TV1’s to 1m kroons.
Rait Killandi, ETV’s former advertising chief, who
has recently become TV1’s managing director, told ‘Postimees’ that sales
volumes in January exceeded the TV station owners’ expectation. . . .
Antero Laanela, the managing director of the Airtime
joint-stock company, which sells advertising time on TV3, said that there
was a noticeable increase in the volume of advertising from year to year.
“Compared with January of last year, the increase
is threefold,” Laanela said. “It is impossible to figure out to what
extent this is due to an increasing market and to what extent to ETV giving
up advertising. The advertising market is increasing to a large extent
too as advertising of medicines and alcohol is now allowed. . . .”
“Advertising boost to private channels,” ‘Sonumileht,’ Tallinn, February 28, 1998
II. Media watchdog head unhappy with transmission costs.
Paul-Eerik Rummo, the Broadcasting Council chairman,
who is a member of the Reform Party, is accusing the Broadcast Transmissions
Centre of excessive transmission charges and unwillingness to ensure that
programmes are transmitted across Estonia. Rummo finds that the Broadcast
Transmissions Centre, a joint-stock company owned 100 per cent by the state,
has failed so far to comply with the task it has been set by law, which
is to ensure high-quality reception of public service radio and television
broadcasts across the whole of Estonia.
This is exacerbated by painfully high transmission
charges and highly dubious methodology used to calculate the tariffs.
This makes programme makers cut their costs by giving up some broadcasts.
According to Rummo, there are problems with Estonian-language
information transmissions in East Virumaa District [northeastern Estonia].
Radio 2, one of Estonian Radio’s programmes, cannot be heard east of Sinimaed
[near Kohtla-Jarve]. Reception of Vikerraadio [another Estonian Radio
programme] in the area is variable.
Rummo has asked Raivo Vare, the roads and communications
minister, what the state has done in its capacity as owner to call the
transmissions centre’s management to order and what is being planned to
improve the work of the transmissions centre.
Estonian Radio, Tallinn, February 19, 1998
Here is a decree by the president of the Kyrgyz
Republic to set up a State Television and Radio Broadcasting Corporation
of the Kyrgyz Republic.
With a view to improving the management system over
television and radio in the Kyrgyz Republic, I decree that:
1. A State Television and Radio Broadcasting Corporation of the Kyrgyz
Republic should be set up on the basis of the [present] State National
Television and Radio Broadcasting Company of the Kyrgyz Republic.
2. A clause below on the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Corporation
of the Kyrgyz Republic should be approved.
3. Amanbek Karypkulovich Karypkulov [president of the Kyrgyz State
National Television and Radio Broadcasting Company] should be appointed
the president of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Corporation
of the Kyrgyz Republic.
4. Decree No 88 of the president of the Kyrgyz Republic of 19th March
1993 to set up a National State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company
of the Kyrgyz Republic should be deemed invalid.
5. The government of the Kyrgyz Republic should bring its normative
documents in line with this decree.
This decree enters into force upon publication.
[Signed] President of the Kyrgyz Republic Askar
Akayev.
Kyrgyz Radio first programme, Bishkek, March 17, 1998
II. Wired radio system in financial difficulties.
The Bishkek radio rebroadcasting centre, which
provides programmes over a cable network, is in serious financial difficulties,
the Kyrgyz newspaper ‘Vecherniy Bishkek’ reported on 11th March.
Equipment costs have gone up substantially, because all spare parts have
to be imported, and according to the head of the service, the monthly subscription
needs to be almost doubled in order to provide money for essential repairs.
The head of the service would like to see it privatized, and believes that
the BBC and Radio Free Europe might be willing to buy rebroadcasting time
on the cable network. Following are excerpts from an interview with
the head of Bishkek radio rebroadcasting centre, N. Daniyarov, by ‘Vecherniy
Bishkek’; subheading added editorially:
[Question] To all appearances, citizens of [the Kyrgyz capital] Bishkek
will not be able to receive [Russian] “Mayak” broadcasts on mediumwave
in the near future, because a residential house is being built for sale
in an antenna field which is opposite the Dastan corporation (former physical
equipment plant) from where rebroadcasts have been made. Owners of
three-band receivers, however, are grumbling that the quality of broadcasts
has worsened since January [1998].
[Daniyarov] Yes, we have been rebroadcasting signals of this radio
station [Mayak] since 28th January [1998]. They were rebroadcast
via cable before and the quality of rebroadcasts were quite satisfactory,
the director of the Bishkek radio rebroadcasting centre, N. Daniyarov,
says. We know that our cable rebroadcasts are more reasonable for
people because of its cheapness. The payment for using a wired-radio
outlet service is three soms in total [per month]. However, revenues
from customers’ payments do not cover all the expenditures. Our workers’
average wages are very low amongst the telecommunications workers in Bishkek.
[Q] Usually such arguments are followed by a suggestion to rise the
prices of services. It is a well-known scheme.
[A] So what should we do then? Equipment, assembly parts and
materials have gone up in price hundreds and thousands fold. Moreover,
we have to import almost everything. Judge for yourself, one metre
of a wire was 23 kopecks before, and now it costs 1.5 soms. We have
to pay 1,500 soms for a GM-100 amplifying tube. It was 65 roubles
before. . . .
[Q] So does that mean that cable radio broadcasting has no future .
. . ?
[A] I would not describe the future so pessimistically. Recently
we have studied our financial and economic situation, the condition of
equipment and problems arising from that and possible ways to solve them.
I believe there is a way out of this situation.
[Q] Does it still seem to you that this way out is to increase the
price of your services?
[A] Without this we can’t do it. Calculations show that five
soms from one “outlet” a month will be enough for us. . . . We know,
on the other hand, that a sudden increase in the price would reduce the
number of subscribers sharply. We have already had to cut off the
hostels of higher educational establishments, hospitals, some [state] budget-funded
organizations, idle enterprises and the departmental living accommodations,
because of their failure to pay bills.
[Q] Well, be careful, you will be left with no-one. By the way,
how many subscribers does your centre have?
[A] Once there used to be 120,000 subscribers in Bishkek, now we have
only some of them. Nevertheless, the main way forward does not seem
to be a price increase, although we cannot do without it either.
It is different. Now cable broadcasting services are in the state
sector. However, the state has not got money to develop our system.
Over the last seven years, we were allocated practically nothing from the
state budget. This brought the development of major construction
works to a halt and what we have is becoming dilapidated and collapsing.
Today almost 70 per cent of the networks in the republic are ruined.
Telegraph poles have been cut down for firewood and wires have been sold
to scrap-metal dealers. Our equipment is becoming outdated.
What can we do?
We believe that denationalization of
the rebroadcasting centre is the way out of this situation. This
will allow us to attract investments to reequip the radio centre.
Foreign investors do not invest their capital into state enterprises.
[Q] Do you believe that you can find someone who is burning with desire
to invest his money into a business, whose prospects are hazy?
BBC, Radio Free Europe
[A] Yes, I believe that the BBC and Radio [Free] Europe radio broadcasting
stations might respond to our offer. They are interested in broadcasting
their programmes through cable broadcast networks on definite days and
at definite hours, and we will provide this opportunity for them.
In addition to this, as a joint-stock company we
will have the right to lease radio channels, including the channels of
the [Kyrgyz] State Television and Radio broadcasting company. In
fact, now we are broadcasting its programmes gratis.
We have an plan to set up a local radio broadcasting
studio similar to that in the capital cities of other CIS states.
So you will hear “Bishkekten suyloybuz” [“This is Bishkek”—identification
of Kyrgyz radio in Kyrgyz] in the morning. We can broadcast programmes
of cable television stations and draw a profit from sound recording studios.
All this needs money.
[Q] How does the Kyrgyztelekom [Kyrgyz telecommunications] joint-stock
company regard the idea of your economic “separatism.”
[A] The stance of the management of the Kyrgyztelekom joint-stock company
is unclear. They do not like to help us to take over one of their
subdivisions, because they consider that investing money in a less profitable
business, in their view, is not expedient. We have proposed, however,
an optimum solution. By the way, the Kyrgyztelekom joint-stock company
can be our shareholder.
[Q] Whom does the decision depend on?
[A] We have prepared necessary materials and sent them to the State
Property Fund. We hope that they will understand us correctly there.
‘Vecherniy Bishkek,’ Bishkek, March 11, 1998
III. Kyrgyz people will soon watch Russian TV.
A Russian-Kyrgyz inter-governmental agreement “On
the procedure and conditions of transmission of programmes of the Russian
television and radio broadcasting organizations on the territory of Kyrgyzstan”
had already been signed in March 1996. According to this document
and the general state of affairs, all the issues, including the financial
ones, still have to be settled. By the way, the local television
companies, retransmitting the [Russian] channels 2x2, NTV and TV-6, are
completely in agreement with this document.
The Russian leadership has repeatedly stated that
it would provide the Russian Public Television [ORT] signal. I should
emphasize that it [the transmission] is free of charge. The signal
is being received, and I do not see any problem. The Russian embassy
expresses the hope that the confusion around the financial claim will be
settled soon, so that people in the [Kyrgyz] republic can watch the complete
output of Channel 1 [ORT].
[signed] Igor Demko, information adviser of the
Russian embassy in the Kyrgyz Republic.
‘Vecherniy Bishkek,’ Bishkek, March 2, 1998
‘Nezavissimaya Moldova,’ a governmental Russian-language
daily paper, stood up against opening a Pro-TV studio in Chisinau—a subsidiary
of Romania’s most popular channel.
In [the] article headlined “A storm warning to Moldovan
television market” [published on 11th March] the paper wrote that Pro-TV
is backed by a television empire, the [Bermuda-based] Central European
Media Enterprises (CME) owned by Mr Ronald Lauder, the heir of the Ester
Lauder Cosmetics perfumery and cosmetic company.
‘Nezavissimaya’ cites publications in the Western
press which claim that CME is facing serious problems in those Central
and Eastern European countries where it opened its television channels.
“The TV tycoon, longing for the Moldovan television
market, is producing a strange impression. On the one hand, he is
widely promising fortunes and generous investments. On the other,
his company is sued in courts and is suffering severe fines, alongside
with tens of million dollars of annual losses in business,” the newspaper
writes, and draws a conclusion: “During the years of independence and sovereignty,
the Moldovan land has been visited by lots of serious businessmen, and
by a no smaller number of adventure-seekers. We believe the Moldovan
authorities need not multiply the number of the latter.”
Infotag news agency, Kishinev, March 11, 1998
II. Politicians fight to control the media.
A report in the Russian newspaper ‘Russkiy Telegraf’
has argued that media in Moldova are at the centre of a power struggle
aimed at controlling them. Some parties are interfering with programmes,
using the privatization of the TV-Telekom company and appointments in media
outlets to further their goals, the newspaper says. The following
is the text of this report headlined “Moldovan viewers prefer ORT, so do
politicians”; subheadings added editorially:
The approaching parliamentary elections in
Moldova (that will take place on 22nd March) have aggravated the situation
concerning the mass information media and reserved debates about the use
of public television channels have turned into a shouting contest.
This problem has already been reviewed twice at plenary sessions of parliament
since the start of the year. But discussion of it ended with the
adoption of a decree which produced merely a smile from the “losing” side:
the document is clearly too weak to change the situation.
TV-Telekom privatization used to control broadcasts
The first demands to “deal” with the privatization
of the TV-Telekom company, which holds the exclusive right to relay ORT
[Russian Public Television] programmes to Moldova and set up commercials
on the channel (ORT remains the most popular television channel here) were
heard late last year. This occurred after a commercial by one of
Moldova’s political movements, the “Muravey” Civil Alliance for Reforms
(the president of the TV-Telekom company is among the first on the alliance’s
slate), appeared on the screen during the broadcast of a Russian television
programme. Starting in February, TV-Telekom began to alternate ORT
programmes with its own broadcasts in which representatives of the Civil
Alliance participated. Naturally, other parties did not like this;
access to the most popular channel was closed to them. The Civil
Alliance’s actions were called “seizure of a public channel,” and the privatization
of TV-Telekom was labelled “seizure of state property.”
TV-Telekom granted exclusive rights to relay ORT
The AO [joint stock company] TV-Telekom, with charter
capital of 20,000 lei (roughly 4,500 dollars), was created in March 1995.
Its founders were the state company Teleradio-Moldova (49 per cent of the
stock), the Republic Centre for Broadcasting Communications Media (2 per
cent), and the AO Telekom (49 per cent). In October 1995, Vice Premier
Ion Gutsu (who is also among the first on the Civil Alliance’ s slate)
informed the ORT leadership that the government had authorized TV-Telekom
to conclude an exclusive contract to relay ORT programmes. The contract,
which was concluded for five years, granted the company the right to include
its own commercials in Russian television programmes. In August 1997,
the Television and Radio Coordinating Council issued the relay licence
to TV-Telekom.
At that same time, the parliament removed Ardian
Usatyy from the post of chairman of Teleradio-Moldova for providing “propaganda”
for Petru Lucinschi on National Television during the presidential election.
Today Usatyy is head of the Civil Alliance. The state company’s new
leadership was appointed only in November. By that time, Teleradio-Moldova
and the relay centre had managed to renounce their share in TV-Telekom,
and the entire block of stock was in the hands of Telekom.
The second telecommunications company to arouse
the acute interest of parliament was NIT (in Roman letters). Last
summer it obtained a licence to broadcast on channel TV-6 and, in January,
on National TV. Almost all political advertising on NIT programmes
belongs to the bloc “For a democratic and prosperous Moldova” headed by
Dumitru Dyakov, the political successor to president Petru Lucinschi.
Parliament gets involved too
A week ago, the country’s parliament conducted the
first debate produced by the “seizure of public channels by political blocs,”
which ended in the creation of a special commission. At the plenary
session of parliament on 27th February, the commission declared the creation
and operation of TV-Telekom illegal and suggested that the government bring
the guilty parties to account. Most of the deputies supported the
commission, and as a result, the parliament proposed excluding TV-Telekom’s
political advertising on ORT. The state company Teleradio-Moldova
obtained the exclusive rights to use the channel National Television and
four radio channels. The Procurator General’s Office was instructed
to determine if the formation of TV-Telekom was legal within 15 days.
In the opinion of Aleksei Chubashenko, the chairman
of the Radio and TV Coordinating Council, both state and private television
have the right to broadcast in market conditions. So the council
will encourage competition among television companies. In his opinion,
a state company’s exclusive right to operate channels is hardly possible,
since there is an antimonopoly law in effect in the country. Earlier
Chubashenko declared that the council would not interfere in politics,
and if a company pays for the use of airtime, let it. “It will become
an additional source for budget revenue and for obtaining capital to modernize
television.” The problem of public television channels in Moldova
is their downtime: National TV broadcasts 13.5 hours a day, and ORT six
hours.
‘Russkiy Telegraf,’ Moscow, March 3, 1998
III. Dnestr radio centre rebuilt with Russian funds.
The economy, which claims to be independent in
the Dnestr Moldovan Republic, is, to put it mildly, in a pretty bad way.
Following the collapse of the USSR, many former state installations, because
of a lack of funding, became useless, including those in whose viability
our country became very interested.
[Correspondent] In recent years the Dnestr Radio Centre, which was
once part of the USSR State Television and Radio Commission, has found
itself on the brink of complete collapse. A year ago this heap of
metal was one of the tallest radio masts in Europe, reaching 350 metres
into the sky. But it collapsed because of a lack of money to repair
the broken stay wires. The huge debts of Russia’s broadcasters led
to the end to the transmissions of Mayak, Russia’s Radio and Moscow foreign
broadcasts. Their place was taken on these same frequencies by solvent
western radio stations. The situation changed for the better only
following the adoption of the new Russian state budget which, in a separate
clause, provided for the financing of radio centres abroad which were able
to relay Moscow’s voice to virtually the whole world. The Dnestr
complex is one of the most powerful. Some 21m new Russian roubles
have been sent to Dnestr mainly for restoring the Russian state radio broadcasting
to the republics of the former union and the countries of Europe, including
the Balkans.
Russia TV channel, Moscow, March 20, 1998
The first private television station has appeared
in the town of Uroteppa [in northern Leninobod Region]. This station,
which is called Usturushana, is now broadcasting to all parts of the town
and neighbouring districts.
‘Tiroz-i Jahon’ points out that Usturushana is the
first private TV station in the country and its operations have been registered
by the Radio and Television State Committee.
The founders of this private station are the president
of the Zafarobod Tajik-American joint venture, a people’s deputy in the
Supreme Assembly, Bakhtiyor Khudoynazarov, and Ehsonullo Abdullozoda, son
of eminent poet and scholar Raziyullo Abdullozoda.
Noting this news, a ‘Tiroz-i Jahon’ correspondent
added that Usturushana television was established at the Afshin studio
and is on the air six days a week. Programmes last three to four
hours a day and include economic and cultural news, trade and business.
The director of the private TV station, Bahrom Yusufzod
said that in the year 2000 the ancient [city of] Uroteppa will celebrate
its 2,500th anniversary. Interesting programmes will be produced
because the TV station was established to raise the level of enlightenment
and moral wealth of the people as well as to inform viewers about social,
political and cultural events of vital importance.
The way, chosen by the president of the country,
Emomali Rahmonov, of consolidating peace will be comprehensively reflected
by the Usturushana television studio, Bahrom [Yusufzod] added: the process
of democracy, chosen by the head of the country gave us an opportunity
to be the owners of a new television studio.
Early broadcasts have shown that the planners behind
the new television station have carried out a worthy deed.
‘Tiroz-i Jahon,’ Khujand, February 10, 1998
Russia recently sent a complaint to Ukraine protesting
against the proliferation of video piracy in the country and in particular
the illegal distribution of satellite television through Ukrainian cable
networks.
However, Ukrainian television and radio company
Inter Video Kiev (IVK) is the first and only enterprise of its kind that
broadcasts satellite and live television channels, and it does so within
the borders of existing legislation, Dmytro Zhurko, who heads IVK’s external
affairs department, told Intelnews. IVK, which is a joint stock company
[JSC] and the largest cable network operator in Ukraine, acts in accordance
with the law when broadcasting various television channels, including European
and Russian studios, he said. It was founded in 1990 and is an associate
member of the Kyivmiskbud (Kiev city building) holding company.
The company has licences granted by the communications
ministry to be engaged in building, technical servicing and rendering service
to the Ukrainian population. Also, the company received a licence
from the national television and radio broadcasting council to use broadcasting
channels. Now, the cable network is broadcast throughout five Kiev
rayons and comprises 18 channels: UT1, UT2, TET, Inter, ICTV, Utar, Gravis,
Tonis/Nart, Studio 7, STB, ORT-2, RTR, TV-Centre, TV Polonia, TV-5, TV-S,
TVE, DW, Euronews and IVK. The JSC consists of about 300 employees.
Last year it accounted to the national budget 1.1m hryvna in taxes.
Recently it began building a cable network using fibre-optic cable which
will provide Ukrainian population with additional telephone numbers and
allow to provide services via Internet and interactive television.
Intelnews news agency, Kiev, March 9, 1998
II. Crackdown on Russian media on the eve of elections.
The Crimean subscribers were left without Russian newspapers and magazines after the Ukrainian customs arrested all periodicals arriving in the peninsula from Russia. . . . Importantly, the Black Sea TV and radio-broadcasting company was has been barred from the air from 2nd March. The company broadcasts in the Russian language and airs Russian TV programmes. At the same time, the Radio Asol station, forming part of the Black Sea company, was shut down. According to Tatyana Krasikova, president of the TV and radio-broadcasting company, the action was taken to fence the company off the election information space.
RIA news agency, Moscow, March 6, 1998
III. Crimean TV/radio firm taken off air without warning.
The local radio and TV broadcasting centre 3rd-4th
March stopped broadcasting the Chernomorska television and radio company,
which is the largest company of its kind on the peninsula.
The broadcasts were halted without any notification
and in violation of an existing agreement, said Chernomorska President
Tetyana Krasikova, calling the action “a blackmail and political pressure
aimed at denying the participation of the company in the election campaign.”
Krasikova said her company has advertisement commitments, including with
the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine
United (SDPUU), the Labour Party and Liberal Party together election bloc,
the Communist Party (CP) and the New Economic Party (NEP). Thus,
she said she believes the decision to deprive the company of airtime “would
be impossible without corresponding assignments or consent by Anatoliy
Franchuk,” who heads the Crimean government. In response to the situation,
the Crimean association of independent journalists [on 5th March] voiced
concern with “the dangerous state of freedom of speech on the peninsula”
and appealed to international organizations and the government to avoid
such violations in future, calling them “an attempt to kick the Simferopol-based
independent television and radio broadcasting studio off the information
field.”
Intelnews news agency, Kiev, March 5, 1998
IV. President vetoes amendments to broadcasting law.
President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine has returned the
draft amendments to the Ukrainian law on TV and radio broadcasting, together
with his remarks, to parliament for another reading. Kuchma says
this legal act cannot be signed because parliament failed to override the
veto imposed by the president previously, and because the new version had
not brought the law in line with the constitution.
In particular, the parliament had approved a provision
under which Ukrainian citizens, public organizations and political parties
would be banned from campaigning in elections and referendums by using
foreign TV and radio broadcasting organizations or their branches in Ukraine.
In the president’s opinion, this is in breach of article 34 of the constitution,
which guarantees everyone freedom of speech and dissemination of information
by any means of one’s choice.
The president disagrees with the provision banning
individuals without citizenship and foreign citizens from holding leading
posts in Ukraine’s TV and radio broadcasting organizations. The president
believes this runs counter to the constitution.
The president draws the attention of people’s deputies
to the fact that their amendments would seriously affect producers operating
in the regions. The law actually rules out the possibility of simultaneous
broadcasting of advertisements on local, regional and national channels.
Ukrainian TV, Kiev, February 26, 1998
V. Parliament passes amendments to broadcasting bill.
The Ukrainian Supreme Council [parliament] has passed
a new version of the amendments and additions to the law of Ukraine “On
television and radio broadcasting,” having partly taken into account the
president’s proposals.
According to a UNIAN news agency correspondent,
the provision prohibiting Ukrainian citizens, associations of citizens
and political parties from campaigning in an election or a referendum
with the help of foreign television and radio organizations or their branches
in Ukraine has been retained.
However, parliament has lifted the ban on using
television and radio organizations that have foreign investors in the election
campaign.
The provision that stateless persons and foreigners
cannot occupy leading posts in Ukrainian television and radio organizations
has been retained.
Parliament has also retained the article, notwithstanding
President Leonid Kuchma’s proposal that it be excluded, that television
and radio organizations that broadcast on national or cross-border broadcasting
channels must not transmit advertising or other programme products meant
for dissemination only at local or regional levels (concealed subleasing
of a channel).
UNIAN news agency, Kiev, February 5, 1998