Ukrainian TV channels promise to consider results of independent monitoring in election reporting
During the 2012 parliamentary election campaign NGOs will monitor equal access to the media and television channels will factor in the results when preparing news programs. This was the subject of the memorandum “Open News for Honest Elections” signed in Kyiv on September 19 by the Academy of Ukrainian Press, Telekritika, the Institute of Mass Information and the Equal Access Committee. ICTV, Inter and Ukraina Channels joined the initiative.
The initiative’s Supervisory Board, organized by the International Renaissance Foundation, includes renowned experts in politics, economics and democratic development, namely: Anders Aslund, Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics; Andrew Wilson, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations; and Oleksandr Sushko, Research Director at the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation.
The Supervisory Board and monitoring organizations will release their findings on a regular basis. After the elections they will provide a final assessment of whether the TV channels met these obligations.
The experts will monitor the channels for compliance with principles of unbiased reporting, in particular: coverage of activities and programs of political parties and candidates; attention to important social and political issues including all significant stories about the election campaign; balanced viewpoints; separation of facts from opinion, and airing comments by independent experts.
One of the principles of the memorandum states that coverage of the activities of electoral subjects – political parties and candidates – will be consistent with their level of support among citizens of Ukraine (based on the results of independent public opinion polls).
The memorandum is open to all interested television channels.
Contacts:
International Renaissance Foundation
Stanislav Lyachynsky
(+38 044) 486 24 74
pr@irf.kiev.ua
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Main objective of the International Renaissance Foundation is to provide financial and operational assistance to the development of an open and democratic society in Ukraine by supporting key civic initiatives in this area.
