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UKRAINE
I. MPs vote
against presidential decree on information.
[On 23rd
December], people’s deputies in the Supreme Council
[parliament] voted against the presidential decree on
making improvements to the information sector.
Parliamentarians also prohibited any changes to the
status of national televison and radio companies before
approval of the principles of state policy on
information. Yuriy Horban reports from parliament:
[Reporter Yuriy Horban] People’s deputy Vitaliy
Shevchenko [of the People’s Movement of Ukraine
faction] believes that the president’s decree has
created a super monopolist in the field of mass
media—the state joint-stock company
Ukrteleradio. According to the left, the decree was
created in order to guarantee Leonid Kuchma’s
victory in the presidential elections [due to take place
in October 1999].
[People’s deputy Vitaliy Shevchenko]
We
should move towards the creation of public forms
[presumably of ownership of mass media] in a gradual and
prospective manner, and away from the state-owned form
that it exists in at the present time, where, on behalf
of the state, individuals are managing these huge groups
and formulating public opinion.
[Horban]
Deputies
supported their colleague, although many of them do not
understand the current status of state television and
radio now that the presidential initiatives have been
voted down. The left did not support a draft bill
to create public television, which was put forth as an
alternative to the initiatives. Deputy Information
Minister Oleh Bay reacted to the vote by deputies in this
way:
[Deputy Information Minister Oleh Bay]
No
discussions about privatization have come up in relation
to the president’s decree. There is nothing
there [in the decree] about monopolies. This does
not come up. In essence, it remains 100 per cent
state-owned, as written in the decree. A conclusive
answer as to who is right in the battle over television,
the president or parliament, will be provided by the
Constitutional Court.
Ukrainian Television
Second Programme, Kiev, December 23, 1998
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