{"id":251973,"date":"2024-08-07T09:44:59","date_gmt":"2024-08-07T09:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/07\/press-freedom-amid-martial-law\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:12:56","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:12:56","slug":"press-freedom-amid-martial-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/07\/press-freedom-amid-martial-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Press freedom amid martial law"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"main-text\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At first, everyone contrasted the outspoken freedom of Ukraine\u2019s media with Russia\u2019s blank censorship. Two years on, the gap doesn\u2019t look that tremendous.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has even shifted since I began researching Ukrainian media legislation at the University of Glasgow in 2024. Cases such as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pravda.com.ua\/eng\/news\/2024\/02\/13\/7441693\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bihus.info<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> journalists being bugged<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the subsequent backlash against the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), who nevertheless couldn\u2019t be directly linked to Zelenskyi\u2019s Office, and the scandal on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/internews.in.ua\/news\/public-council-under-verkhovna-rada-freedom-of-speech-committee-calls-for-investigation-into-ukrinform-censorship\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">temnycky<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or internal guidelines for editors passed down from above at <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ukrinform<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the National News Agency of Ukraine, complicate media legitimacy. I\u2019ve had to convince my fellow students who read the sobering <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New York Times<\/span><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/18\/world\/europe\/ukraine-press-freedom.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">article<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on press freedom that Ukraine still accommodates independent journalism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I firmly believe this to be true. So do my research participants \u2013 editors and CEOs of major news publications in Ukraine \u2013 whom I nevertheless cannot quote directly. This may seem contradictory, but it\u2019s only problematic if that discussed doesn\u2019t exist or has clearly died \u2013 no one ponders over the existence of press freedom in North Korea, for example.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is also true, however, that martial law poses unprecedented challenges for media pluralism in an age of splinternets and digital convergence, putting twenty-first-century democracy \u2013 already in a fight with populism, disinformation and platform algorithms \u2013 to the test with no predetermined answers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the editors I spoke to talked a lot about still present double standards for local and foreign reporters in Ukraine: the former think twice if they should post certain photos of recent blast consequences in Kharkiv or reveal certain details they received unofficially; the latter meanwhile don\u2019t need to consider such constraints. Even national-level domestic reporters are often not being cautious enough, said the editor, given the frequency of Russia\u2019s practice of double-strikes in Kharkiv. Good journalistic practice in Ukraine is cautious, sacrificing the exclusive to national security.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some would call it a developing habit of self-censorship, some the ability to think as a responsible citizen.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_31761\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31761\" class=\"size-full wp-image-31761\" src=\"https:\/\/www.eurozine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Polish-Ukrainian_border.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.eurozine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Polish-Ukrainian_border.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.eurozine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Polish-Ukrainian_border-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.eurozine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Polish-Ukrainian_border-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-31761\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u2018Border zone, entry prohibited\u2019, Polish \/ Ukraine border, Wielka Rawka mountain. Image by Ond\u0159ej \u017dv\u00e1\u010dek via <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Polish-Ukrainian_border.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These limits on martial law interference, enshrined in law, have become the subject of my research. More specifically, I\u2019m looking at how media practitioners are influenced by the recently adopted Law on Media, which was advised by the EU Commission as a precursor to membership talks, criticized by organizations such as the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ifj.org\/media-centre\/news\/detail\/category\/press-releases\/article\/ukraine-ifj-calls-on-the-government-to-revise-new-media-law\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">International Federation of Journalists<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and reservedly accepted by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/rsf.org\/en\/rsf-hails-ukraine-s-adoption-new-media-law-despite-war-russia\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reporters Without Borders<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for expanding the remit of the politicized media regulator, whose board members are appointed directly by the president and parliament.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In short, martial law cannot be blamed for all the evidence of deteriorating media freedom. There\u2019s definitely more to the story here than just concern over a regulator\u2019s expanded power. Cases of impactful investigations conducted in the last two years, alongside histories of delivering them, exemplify this statement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Journalistic identity and citizen thinking<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In early 2022, the growing complexities of the journalist\u2019s identity became a hot topic. Inner conflict was quickly shaped in the first days of reporting: an abundance of top-notch Western journalists, who offered their expertise in reporting on conflict and HEFAT (hostile environment and first aid training), would often stipulate how they had never felt what it was like to report a full-scale war in their home country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Almost every Ukrainian journalist seemed to agree that one\u2019s concerns as a <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hromadyanyn <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(citizen) had to be kept in mind alongside one\u2019s professional thinking and were inseparable from one\u2019s media work. Though worded differently, statements by journalists of all kinds, from art critics to hardline news reporters, became ubiquitous rhetoric: we shouldn\u2019t thoughtlessly criticize the authorities, institutions and officials, because it would question the legitimacy of our country\u2019s government, which is precisely what Russia is doing to justify the invasion and Putin\u2019s distorted view of Ukraine as an illegitimate state.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Implementing this fine idea in daily work, however, wasn\u2019t easy for two solidly entrenched reasons. Firstly, independent journalism as the fourth estate has matured into reporting from an external position at critical distance from those in power. While this makes perfect sense, it becomes a lesser concern once your state is fighting for existence, with its survival and legitimacy resting on the cornerstone of maintaining a functioning, potent government. Secondly, given the rich history of Ukraine\u2019s oligarchic pluralism, where politically affiliated media moguls <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cmds.ceu.edu\/sites\/cmcs.ceu.hu\/files\/attachment\/basicpage\/1988\/mimukrainefunding.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">used to have a grip on two-quarters of audience share<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, resulting in thriving <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">dzhynsa<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (a unique Ukrainian term for political advertising that is not marked as such), and the inevitable hardships of a transitional democracy, there was zero possibility that the country would escape major misuse scandals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Time has played its part, altering what might seem the most sincere and rational media-politics nexus in decades.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For many watching from the outside, the first visibly bold move was perhaps made by the Kyiv Independent when they published a controversial, award-winning <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/suicide-missions-abuse-physical-threats-international-legion-fighters-speak-out-against-leaderships-misconduct\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">investigation on Ukraine\u2019s International Legion<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, revealing arms misappropriation, abuse and nepotism in connection with a notorious Polish felon serving as a unit commander. A clear message regarding self-censorship was <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/investigation-international-legion-misappropriation\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">delivered<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by KI\u2019s investigative team: \u2018We believe that journalism must preserve its watchdog function in any circumstances \u2026 We exposed the misuse because we think it\u2019s in the best interests \u2026 of the Ukrainian military as a whole\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Public interest journalism had once again redrawn its boundaries. Or at least that\u2019s how many foreigners saw the move back then.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From the internal perspective, the team would clearly emphasize how gentle, conscious and considerate they were in exposing details of the piece in order not to make the foreign public think that the issues could be attributed to the political system as a whole. Additionally, it takes being a national journalist to note how the tension stirred up by the Presidential Office\u2019s expanding involvement in the media sector, already criticized before the full-scale invasion, has intensified. The United News Telethon, 24\/7 reporting launched as the war escalated, refused to give bandwidth not only to pro-Russian channels, such as Medvedchuk\u2019s infamously <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rferl.org\/a\/ukraine-bans-medvedchuk-party\/31906479.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">sanctioned outlets in 2021<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, but also to the TV channel of Ukraine\u2019s former president Poroshenko alongside a number of others thought to be under the auspices of Zelenskyi\u2019s political opponents. \u2018<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiosvoboda.org\/a\/news-tkachenko-marafon-espreso-priamyi-pyatyi-kanal\/32066602.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not finding a common ground\u2019<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was the vaguely framed basis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From the get-go, it became a moot point for many that was well tolerated due to more urgent priorities. And while talks on political bickering versus unprecedented unity staged for external stakeholders had been <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pravda.com.ua\/articles\/2022\/04\/21\/7341035\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">revived by independent outlets<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as early as spring 2022, it took until late 2022 before wide debate on the much-needed media reform, required by the EU Commission, brought the distinction between the government and journalists to life, before any major foreign publication turned its eye to the issue of press freedom in Ukraine.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Martial law and political pressure<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When all the hopes for a quick victory were abandoned and the war entered its long-lasting phase, the need for media watchdogs sharpened.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More and more stories like that of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pravda.com.ua\/news\/2022\/12\/1\/7378795\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the deputy head of the Presidential Office allegedly using donated cars for personal purposes<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> started to surface, making journalists face ethical dilemmas: What is worse \u2013 to silence misappropriation or crush public morale? How is it best to frame misuse to not feed Russian propaganda? Wouldn\u2019t any sign of malpractice undermine the West\u2019s willingness to send help?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With such contradictions piling up, it would seem that the miraculous leap to solidarity on intensified attack has its own time frame. Despite fighting the same enemy, some of the country\u2019s institutions, officials and businesses certainly returned to their good old codes of conduct once the feeling of a new routine had been established.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More fund misallocation, human rights abuse and corruption scandals like that of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/zn.ua\/ukr\/economic-security\/tilovi-patsjuki-minoboroni-pid-chas-vijni-piljajut-na-kharchakh-dlja-zsu-bilshe-nizh-za-mirnoho-zhittja.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the misuse of Ministry of Defence funds, procuring eggs at inflated prices<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, were exposed by journalists, giving food for thought to international organizations and a fresh coverage angle for foreign correspondents sent to Ukraine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indeed, it is hard to think of a better weapon than time. Accompanied by mounting speculation on the right defence strategy, complaints on how territorial recruitment centres (known as TRCs) conscript men going about their daily lives and frustrating cases of vested interests influencing decisions, the image of a brave nation of freedom lovers has slowly changed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bihus.info<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> discovered SSU\u2019s spyware in their hotel rooms and published an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/nv4qSv8xSe0?si=mJLTxuXcZZ-tKlmu\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">investigation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on the allegedly planned crackdown on them this year, the confrontation between different forces inside Ukraine became way more palpable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The coalition of Ukrainian journalists\u2019 subsequent attendance at <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/G7AmbReformUA\/status\/1752009211330838802?s=20\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the G7<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has given rise to a new topic for major media outlets covering the Russo-Ukrainian war, and turned even the most defensive and optimistic citizens prone to justify minor breaches \u2013 like me \u2013 into anxious pessimists.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Martial law no longer sounds like a feasible justification at all. Nor could it have served, many think in hindsight, as a reason for concealing the taxation reports of some local authority income, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/rsf.org\/en\/three-ukrainian-tv-news-channels-barred-digital-video-broadcasting-past-year\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">switching off<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> opposition TV channels, or manually controlling access to some newly liberated territories \u2013 all the flawed practices either attributed to a specific political culture that didn\u2019t change overnight or just, at times, bad governance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A few months after the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bihus.info<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> case, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ukrainian Pravda<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, one of the most impactful national news outlets, published an even more sobering piece for those not previously familiar with civil society concerns. A former governmental information agency employee revealed that the team at <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ukrinform<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> used to struggle with informal lists of \u2018appropriate\u2019 and \u2018not appropriate\u2019 speakers on certain topics. The guidelines were distributed internally by the director general appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and approved by Zelenskyi. Some media practitioners even drew parallels, clearly not without resentment and exaggeration, between the story of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">temnyky<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and similar guidelines from the dark times of Kuchma or Yanukovich.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For some inside the local journalistic milieu, there were two enemies from now on: Russia and the Office itself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Can we maintain press freedom?<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although the situation may sound dire, it\u2019s a big relief for many that we are talking about it right now.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Criticizing either the Office, the regulator or local governors, or all of them, each of my research participants emphasized that, from their perspective, there\u2019s still no single institution in Ukraine that can revert the history of independent journalism, having slowly matured after the collapse of the Soviet Union in cases like that of Gongadze.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although the path of civil society actors doesn\u2019t seem straightforward at all, given the Russian invasion as backdrop that many see as complicit, it has clear, workable goals. Conducting investigations, speaking out and criticizing various bodies is more than possible in today\u2019s Ukraine. As joining the EU remains a strong pledge of the national government, there\u2019s hope that abiding by the rule of law will enable Ukraine to react to scoops on corruption by investigative journalists with relatively sincere and effective new <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/zelensky-dismisses-sbu-cybersecurity-chief-following-media-investigation\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">appointments<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite many issues being exposed and contested in relation to martial law, a number of recent achievements are also evident. Compared to last year, Ukraine has jumped 18 positions in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/rsf.org\/en\/country\/ukraine\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the World Press Freedom Index<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> after adjusting its media legislation to the 2018 EU AVMS Directive. The non-profit sector has clearly been mobilized, combining grassroots with international organization support, gaining more power and agency than ever before. For example, domestic media NGOs <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mediamaker.me\/naczionalnyj-konkurs-zhurnalistskyh-rozsliduvan-vid-media-development-foundation-zayavky-do-15-zhovtnya-5117\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">are emphasizing anti-corruption investigations<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 2024, offering awards and targeted training for journalists. And even though more issues are expected to pile up in the years to come, literally no one \u2013 from national-level CEOs to regional editors taking part in my research \u2013 felt that there\u2019s a battle that independent outlets have already lost.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perhaps the chaos, patchiness and pluralism characteristic of our independence is indeed the force that shields Ukraine from resembling authoritarian Russia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurozine.com\/press-freedom-amid-martial-law\/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=press-freedom-amid-martial-law\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] At first, everyone contrasted the outspoken freedom of Ukraine\u2019s media with Russia\u2019s blank censorship. Two years on, the gap doesn\u2019t look that tremendous.\u00a0 It<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":251974,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[154],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251973"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}