On August 6-7 in Zhytomyr, the Joint Programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe "Strengthening Information Society in Ukraine" together with the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine and the Presidential Administration of Ukraine carried out the  fourth regional international educational seminar for the editors of communal print media.

There are more than 550 newspapers in Ukraine, established and controlled by the local executive and local self-governance  bodies. Editorial offices of such newspapers are often economically and politically dependent on the local authorities, and as a result, struggle to serve the needs of local communities and grow in professional reporting. The reform of state and communal print media would bring Ukraine closer to international standards on freedom of expression and a free press market.

The reform of state and communal print media is Ukraine's commitments to the Council of Europe since 2005 (according to Resolution 1466 (2005) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe "Honoring the obligations and commitments by Ukraine" from October 5, 2005). According to the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, Ukraine has voluntarily taken on obligation to gradually align its legislation with the EU legislation.

In September 2015, the Parliament will consider the Draft Law of Ukraine "On reform of state and communal print press" Reg. № 1123. The Council of Europe experts recommend to adopt and promulgate this Law before the autumn elections in 2015 (details - the Council of Europe expertise).

The experts proposed the series of amendments, including the proposal to describe in detail “the pace” of reforms. Law, the action of which is foreseen for the three year period, should determine the legal form of conversion of publications and clearly define the procedure for allocation of shares to ensure that the control over the publication was transferred to journalists. Targeted subsidies that were addressed randomly to local newspapers have to be distributed in by an independent body according to the clearly specified criteria defined by law. Also the Law has to explicitly describe the financial mechanism with the help of which the local authorities would be able to have an access to publish their information in local newspapers. Such mechanism should be developed in the way to avoid any political interference on the side of local authorities.

Speaking at the opening of the seminar is Zhytomyr, Jurgis Vilcinskas, Head of Press and Information Section of the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, said: «Мedia is the main element in the reform process , as they can explain how to combat corruption and describe successful  experience  in reform process  in other countries. Therefore it is essential to adopt the Law 1123 On Reforming the State and Communal Print Mass Media, and we hope that this is a question of the  next few months».

“About 100 editors, who have passed the regional seminars are practically ready to reform, these editors have received the knowledge that is essential to make their publications profitable, interesting for readers and for introducing some multimedia elements,” said  Kostiantyn Grygorenko, the Secretary of the National Journalists’ Union of Ukraine, editor of the municipal and rayon newspaper Obriyi Izyumschyny (Kharkiv region).

Olexandr Bukhtatiy, Head of media and communication department of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, Secretary of the National Journalists Union of Ukraine shared the latest data on status of communal press.  40 editorial offices (10% of the total number of communal print media) receive over 40% from total yearly state subsidies. Moreover the subsidies are distributed unevenly among the regions, most subsidies in 2014 were transfered to Odessa, Vinytsia and Kyiv oblasts and the city of Kyiv.

The local press is an important source of information, according to the research held in March - April 2015 by ARR, 68% of Ukrainian citizens read newspapers, more than 70% buy the newspapers  regularly, several times a week.