On 17 and 18 June a strategic session of Ukrainian Public Broadcaster's (PBC) Supervisory and Management Boards took place with the support of the European Union and the Council of Europe Joint Project “EU and Council of Europe working together to support freedom of media in Ukraine”.  Public service media play a crucial role in upholding freedom of expression, promoting values of democracy, enabling pluralism and social cohesion.

The purpose of the session was to form further working priorities; discuss strategic documents, in particular regarding provisions on the competition for the positions of the chairman and members of the board, the main activities of the UA:PBC, the concept of regional broadcasting; learn international experience of effective cooperation between supervisory board and management of public service media and experience of other European countries.

 “Support of the Public Broadcaster is one of the  components of the Project “EU and Council of Europe working together to support freedom of media in Ukraine”, which facilitated the transparency of the Supervisory Board and Management Board election process and provided expertise to develop the  Gender Equality Policy, the Broadcasting Strategy for children and youth audience, GR Strategy”, said Olena Lytvynenko, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine.

Remi Duflot, Deputy Head of EU Delegation to Ukraine, during his speech underlined that independence from political interference is key for the Supervisory and Management boards to fulfil their function and insure the success of the Public broadcaster in Ukraine.

The Council of Europe recommendations pay particular attention to public service broadcasting and set high standards for various aspects of public service broadcaster work, including governance, guarantees of independence, funding, the division of powers of supervisory boards and the management board, and gender equality. The Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the management of public service media (2012) established criteria for a proper system of public media management. These criteria are based on key principles of public service media functioning, including independence, accountability, good governance, transparency and openness, accountability and responsiveness.

Background information: The project «EU and Council of Europe working together to support freedom of media in Ukraine», funded by the EU and CoE, aims to enhance the role of media, its freedom and safety.

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