Kyiv, 27 March, Ukraine Crisis Media Center – Victoria Syumar, media expert and Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, has commented on the decision of the Kyiv administrative court to prohibit broadcasting of the Russian TV channels (NTV, Russia 24, First Channel and RTR) in Ukraine.
As she has stated, “ Information security is the corner stone of the national security in the circumstances of Russian aggression. The court decision was made due to the violation of the paragraph 28 of the Ukrainian Information Law by the Russian TV channels. As the Law says “information can not be used for calls for overthrow of the constitutional order, violation of territorial integrity of Ukraine, war propaganda, violence, cruelty, incitement of ethnic, racial, or religious hatred, acts of terrorism, attacks on human rights and freedoms”
Mrs. Sumar has added that National council of Ukraine on TV and Radio Broadcasting has conducted analysis of the Russian TV channels content. “We have conducted testing of the Russian TV channels based on the idea of human right for the free access to information and international journalist organization’s “Article 19” recommendations. Results obtained have shown that propaganda broadcasted by the Russian channels contains a serious threat to the national security of Ukraine and people’s lives. Keeping in mind that Russian Federation is not European Union country, and has not ratified European convention on trans-boarder broadcasting, the content broadcasted by Russian channels has to be mandatory adjusted to match current Ukrainian legislation.”
“More than 90 percent of all Ukrainian cable providers (including such in Lugansk, Kirovograd, Dnipropetrovsk and other eastern regions) have already stopped broadcasting four Russian channels mentions above, while some of the providers in Kyiv and Donetsk are still broadcasting them”.
Victoria P. Syumar – media expert, journalist, Executive Director of the Institute for Media. Starting February 28, 2014 – Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. During the strengthening of censorship in the country in 2004, joined the ‘third sector’ – human rights organization “Institute for Media” ( IMI) , of which she is Executive Director since 2005. She was a member of the public council at the Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Council) of Ukraine on freedom of speech, the National Commission on Freedom of Speech and Information Development under the President of Ukraine (during the presidency of Viktor Yushchenko 2005-2010). Member of the School of Journalism “New Ukraine” Supervisory Board.
