17 November 2004
IFJ REPORT URGES END TO BIASED ELECTION COVERAGE
As Ukrainians headed to the polls on 21 November 2004 for the second round of presidential elections, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) called on authorities to give journalists full access to polling stations and the counting process, and to stop interfering with the media.
In a new report assessing media coverage of the first round of elections, which were held on 31 October 2004, IFJ says while journalists were granted access to polling stations, "there were allegations that false press passes had been issued in various parts of the country to people intent on hampering media access." Ukrainian watchdogs, including the Committee on Journalistic Ethics and the National Union of Journalists, have also raised these concerns with the authorities.
IFJ also says some of the 300 journalists who protested biased reporting by media companies in the first round are in danger of losing their jobs. Several journalists from the broadcaster UT-1 have been informed that their contracts will not be renewed. UT-1 is owned by Viktor Medvedchuk, head of the current presidential administration and a supporter of candidate Viktor Yanukovych. Yanukovych is backed by the outgoing president Leonid Kuchma, whose iron-fisted control of the media has been widely criticised by press freedom groups.
Read the report "Democracy in the News" here: http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=2808&Language=EN
Visit:
- IFEX: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/62301/
- Freedom House: http://www.freedomhouse.org/media/pressrel/110104.htm
- OSCE Report on Ukraine Elections: http://www.osce.org/news/show_news.php?id=4494
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