Back Council of Europe to support monitoring of media coverage of next Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Ukraine

Council of Europe to support monitoring of media coverage of next Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Ukraine

In view of upcoming regular Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Ukraine, the Council of Europe international expert Rasto Kuzel undertook 2-days mission* to Kyiv, Ukraine, on 7-8 June 2018, where jointly with the Council of Europe national expert Oleksandr Burmahin met different Ukrainian stakeholders in media and elections field to discuss and assess current and possible future challenges related to media coverage of the next elections. The meetings were conducted with participation of representatives of the National TV and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine, the Central Election Commission of Ukraine, Journalist’s Ethics Commission, Supervisory board of National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine, Independent Media Council, civil society organizations, media and election experts.

During the meetings, both national authorities and civil society organizations welcomed support of the Council of Europe for the purpose of balanced, unbiased, neutral media coverage of elections, as well as for preventing and counteracting violations in media coverage of elections and their disruptive influence on the results of elections. Following the experts’ meetings and discussions, the Council of Europe will support the development of a methodology for monitoring by civil society organizations of media coverage of elections. The said monitoring methodology will be based on the Council of Europe standards in media coverage of elections and it will take into account recent trends and challenges faced by some of the countries around the world during elections.

Development of such monitoring methodology, as well as respective monitoring activities and other related actions, will be supported by the Council of Europe Division of electoral assistance (DGII) and Department of information society (DGI) within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine for 2018 – 2021. These actions will maintain the Council of Europe support already provided in the field of media and elections in Ukraine. For more information, you may follow the links:

You may also follow us on Twitter @UkraineCoE.

* Mission of the international expert was organized with the support of the Council of Europe project “Supporting the transparency, inclusiveness and integrity of electoral practice in Ukraine”

Kyiv, Ukraine 22 June 2018
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What is the Project about?

The Council of Europe Project “Strengthening Freedom of the Media and Establishing a Public Broadcasting System in Ukraine” is aimed to enhance the role of media and the public broadcaster in particular as an instrument for consensus building in the Ukrainian society.

 

Who finances the Project and what is its duration?

The total budget of the Project is 1,93 mln euro. In 2016, the Project is financed from the budget of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2015-2017. The consortium of contributors to the Action Plan for Ukraine includes 16 countries: the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. The Project’s implementation period is 1 January 2016 - 31 December 2018.

 

What is the CoE Action Plan for Ukraine 2015-2017?

The Action Plan for Ukraine 2015-2017 is a joint initiative of the Council of Europe and Ukrainian authorities. The Action Plan intends to support Ukraine in fulfilling its statutory and specific obligations as a Council of Europe member state and to contribute towards addressing fundamental issues of human rights and rule of law in Ukraine. The initiative renews the commitment of the Council of Europe to assist Ukraine in its necessary reform agenda in the areas of expertise of the Council of Europe – human rights, the rule of law and democracy.

The Action Plan reflects the priorities of the country, as well as identified in the most recent findings of Council of Europe’s monitoring bodies, resolutions and recommendations with respect to Ukraine. Projects in the Action Plan are to be funded from multiple sources, and co-ordinated with the European Union delegation. Funding is provided from the Council of Europe’s ordinary budget as well as voluntary contributions from donor countries and international organisations.

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What is the situation?

The Council of Europe has systematically supported the process of establishing public broadcasting in Ukraine.Transforming the state broadcasters into the public service broadcasting channels is in line with relevant Council of Europe standards and is one of the Ukraine’s obligations to the Council of Europe enshrined in Resolution 1466 (2005) “On honouring the obligations and commitments of Ukraine”.Assistance with setting a fully-fledged public broadcaster in accordance with the new legislation adopted in April 2014 and March 2015 will remain a crucial priority as enshrined in the current Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine for 2015-2017.

Ukraine has entered a crucial and decisive phase of launching a public broadcasting system. The creation of the legal entity of public broadcaster in Ukraine is expected in the beginning of 2016. However, the legal framework for the media and the capacity of the future public broadcasting organisation of Ukraine to produce quality content needs to be substantially improved. Moreover, it is critically important to have reformed regional chapters of the public broadcasting, which would follow the standards of the public broadcasting and would positively impact media environment at the regional level as Ukraine is just one step from the decentralisation reform.

On 27 January 2016, the Strategy for development of Ukraine’s legislation on freedom of expression and mass media activity in line with European standards has been adopted by the members of the Parliamentary Committee as a strategic document for revising Ukrainian legislation.

The Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public Information” has been operating since 2011. The Ukrainian Law is a strong one as measured by the RTI Rating and since 2011 the legal framework on access to public information has been substantially reinforced through adoption of amendments, however,  at the same time, as it is underlined by the national and CoE experts and civil society, there remain some problems in applying the Law in practice, due in part to some of the shortcomings in the legislation that need to be addressed taking into account the fact that the access to information-related issues are important anti-corruption conditionality.

What are the expected results of the Project?
  1. Improved capacity of the public broadcasting system to manage the transition from a state-owned company. A model of the regional public broadcaster is developed based on the expert advice.
  2. Capacity of the public broadcaster to enable the production of higher-quality programming is increased as a result of trainings, internal procedures for raising editorial and professional standards are developed and introduced.
  3. Increased institutional capacity of the public broadcaster’s Supervisory Board and its Secretariat. Necessary regulations are developed based on the expert advice and training.
  4. Improved understanding of the European standards and practices around media freedom and public broadcasting service among legislative and executive authorities.
  5. Improved access to official documents and information held by public authorities to media professionals and general public, while individual rights to privacy and to control personal data protected.
Who do we plan to work with?

Our main partners are the National Television Company of Ukraine (which is being transformed into the National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine), the Parliamentary Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information Policy, the National TV and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine, the State Committee on TV and Radio Broadcasting, Ukrainian Commissioner for human rights, civil society and media organizations, relevant professional associations.

How to stay in touch with the Project?

If you are interested in activities of the Рroject please follow us on Project’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CoEUPSIS.

Contacts:
8 Illinska str., 8 entrance, 5th floor
04070 Kyiv, Ukraine
+380443399210