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UKRAINE
I.
Information Ministry downgraded.
[On 13th March], the number of ministries in Ukraine has
fallen from 21 to 18, while the number of [state]
committees will become directly subordinate to relevant
ministries. . . . Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma
signed a decree “On changes to the system of central
bodies of the executive power of Ukraine.”
Under the decree, the Ministry of Information, the
Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of
Family and Youth Affairs have been dissolved.
The State Committee for Information Policy, the
State Committee for Science and Intellectual Ownership
and the State Committee for Family and Youth Affairs were
created on the basis of the above ministries. The
newly-created State Committee for Communications [and]
Information incorporates the former State Committee for
Communications . . . and the Main Directorate for Radio
Frequencies.
Ukrainian Television
First Programme, Kiev, March 13, 1999
II. First
radio channel signs deal with TV-radio company.
The TV and radio company Era has signed a five-year
cooperation agreement with the Ukrainian national radio
company, the Ukrainian newspaper ‘Den’ reported
on 5th March. Under the agreement, UR-1, the first
channel of Ukrainian radio, will broadcast programmes
made by Radio Era, the newspaper said. For the most
part, the programmes are made by the staff of the
Ukrainian national radio company who are also employed by
Era on a part-time basis.
‘Den,’ Kiev,
March 5, 1999
III. STB TV
faces problems ahead of election.
The director of our channel, Mykola Knyazhytskyy, [on 4th
March] called a news conference to explain the recent
events around STB [TV].
[Correspondent]
Knyazhytskyy directly connected the events around the
channel with the coming presidential elections and
preparations for them by the oligarchic clans, whose
activities have been investigated by STB journalists . .
. .
Today we are
witnessing a constant redistribution of the television
space. Knyazhytskyy believes that the only reason
that so far nobody has tried to buy the channel out is
because some people are probably planning to annihilate
it . . . .
Knyazhytskyy
connects the current pressure on STB with his recent job
as head of the National Television Company of Ukraine and
the numerous violations disclosed during that
period. He does not rule out the possibility
that, should the lives of the staff be endangered, STB
might change certain programmes, but that would be the
last resort.
[Knyazhytskyy]
We will do everything to report the truth. But if
this truth is dangerous to human lives, sure, we will not
be able to do it. The main idea is that somebody
should tell the truth. If there is nobody, the
style will change.
Ukrainian STB TV, Kiev,
March 4, 1999
IV. TV
watchdog to include officials from all factions.
On 3rd March, the Ukrainian parliament adopted amendments
to the law “On the network of social television and
radio broadcasting,” Intelnews news agency reported
on the 4th.
The amendments
provide for the National Council for Television and Radio
Broadcasting to include not just four representatives of
the legislature but a representative from each faction or
deputy group in parliament.
Intelnews news agency,
Kiev, March 4, 1999
V. Debts
force Kiev TV channel off the air.
[Presenter]
[On 22nd February], the Kiev radio and TV transmitting
centre stopped broadcasting the programmes of the NART
television and radio broadcasting company. The
managers of the radio broadcasting, radio communication
and television concern said this happened because of the
huge debt the company had accumulated for their
services. Several other Kiev TV and radio companies
were given a warning. The managers said they had
stopped broadcasting solely for economic reasons and
there was no question of political persecution.
[Correspondent]
There was no programme by the NART creative union on the
air this morning. The company’s office first
said that this was a routine repair, but later they said
that for political reasons, NART would not be on the air
in the immediate future. Only Kievans could watch
NART’s programmes on UHF channel 25.
Its few
admirers will remember exclusive dialogues and monologues
by Volodymyr Tsendrovskyy, who is well known in TV
circles. They say that almost all MPs from the last
parliament and many from this parliament took the floor
in his programmes. Maybe because of this the NART
management is talking about there being political grounds
for the stoppage of broadcasting. However, workers
at the Kiev radio and TV transmitting centre say that
NART’s being refused airtime is not a sensation
because the same thing has happened to other debtors.
[Valeriy Yurchenko, captioned as the president of
the radio broadcasting, radio communication and
television concern] Mr Tsendrovskyy was here [on
22nd February] and we reached an agreement that if he
starts covering his 175,000 hryvnya debt even at a rate
of 5,000 hryvnyas per week, we will resume broadcasting
[on 23rd]. This is not politics but economics,
whatever they may say.
[Correspondent]
According to Yurchenko, national radio and TV companies
remain the largest debtors. Their debt accumulated
in the last three years totals 74m hryvnyas and there is
little hope that it will be repaid. For this
reason, the management of the radio and TV transmitting
centre will ask the government to help solve the
financial problems of the First National [TV
channel]. To avoid accusations of political bias
the managers suggest that only those companies which are
able to pay be issued with licences.
Ukrainian Television
Second Programme, Kiev, February 22, 1999
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