Was Kuchma's censorship effective? Mass media in Ukraine before 2004

Europe - Asia Studies

Volumn 58, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 215-238

  Dyczok, Marta ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

MEDIA ROLE; POLITICAL SYSTEM; REGULATORY APPROACH;

EASTERN EUROPE; EURASIA; EUROPE; UKRAINE;

EID: 33244464767     PISSN: 09668136     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09668130500481386     Document Type: Article

References (157)

1. For a comprehensive description of the Gongadze case see J. Koshiw (2003) Beheaded. The Killing of a Journalist (Reading, Artemia Press). For reports see The Committee for the Protection of Journalists, www.cpj.org;
2. Institute of Mass Information, imi.org.ua. For Ukrainian media criticism see: Ukrainska Pravda. European Union statements include, Permanent Council No. 420, 14 November 2002, 'EU Statement on the Media Situation in Ukraine'; '
3. Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on Media Freedom and Democratic Standards in Ukraine', Brussels, 18 March 2004.
4. Exceptions include, my own articles, as well as V. Bebyk & O. Sydorenko (1998) The Mass Media of Post-communist Ukraine (Kiev, Innovation and Development Centre);
5. N. Krasnoboka & K. Brants (2006) 'Old and New Media, Old and New Politics? On- and O.ine Reporting in the 2002 Ukrainian Election Campaign', in K. Voltmer (ed.) (2006) Mass Media and Political Communication in New Democracies (London and New York, Routledge);
6. O. Nikolayenko (2004) 'Press Freedom during the 1994 and 1999 Presidential Elections in Ukraine: A Reverse Wave?' Europe-Asia Studies, 56, 5, pp. 661 - 686
7. M. Riabchuk (2001) 'A Perilous Way to Freedom: Independent Mass Media in the Blackmail State', Journal of Ukrainian Studies, 26, Summer-Winter, pp. 93-132.
8. This phrase was widely used in Ukraine but was particularly poignant to hear during an interview with Victor Yushchenko's Donetsk oblast' headquarters press secretary, Oleksandr Mishchenko, Donetsk, 12 October 2004.
9. See Appendix A.
10. Ukrainians use the term 'vlada', which is translated here as establishment and used in a broad sense which includes political and economic elites, in other words government officials, oligarchs and their associates.
11. See J.D.H. Downing (1996) Internationalising Media Theory: Transition, Power, Culture. Reflections of Media in Russia, Poland and Hungary 1980-1995 (London, Sage).
12. D. McQuail (2000) McQuail's Mass Communications Theory (London, Sage).
13. E. Katz, J. Durham Peters, T. Liebes & A. Orlov (eds) (2003) Canonic Texts in Media Research. Are There Any? Should There Be? How About These? (Cambridge, Oxford and Maden, Polity).
14. M. Scammell & H. Semetko (eds) (2000) The Media, Journalism and Democracy (Dartmouth, Ashgate), p. xii.
15. An example of this is the recent special issue of Problems of Post Communism on 'Ukraine Under Leonid Kuchma, 1994 - 2004' which does not include an article on media: See Problems of Post Communism 52, 5, September - October 2005, Guest Editors Paul D'Anieri and Taras Kuzio.
16. See J. Keane (1991) The Media and Democracy (Cambridge, Polity);
17. J. Lichtenberg (1990) Democracy and the Mass Media (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press);
18. P. Norris (2000) A Virtuous Circle. Political Communication in Post-Industrial Societies (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press);
19. D. Swanson & P. Mancini (1996) Politics, Media and Modern Democracy: An International Study of Innovations in Electoral Campaigning and their Consequences (Westport, CN, Praeger).
20. Perhaps the best examples are J. Curran & M.J. Park (2000) De-Westernising Media Studies (London and New York, Routledge);
21. Downing, Internationalising Media Theory;
22. E. Fox & S. Waisbord (eds) (2002) Latin Politics, Global Media (Austin, University of Texas Press);
23. and P. Golding (1996) Beyond Cultural Imperialism: Globalisation, Communication and the New International Order (London, Sage).
24. J. Horvat (1991) 'The East European Journalist', Journal of International A.airs, 45, pp. 191-200.
25. S. Splichal (1994) Media Beyond Socialism: Theory and Practice in East-Central Europe (Boulder, Westview Press).
26. C. Sparks & A. Reading (1998) Communism, Capitalism, and the Mass Media (London, Sage Publications).
27. K. Jakubowicz (1995) 'Lovebirds? The Media, the State and Politics in Central and Eastern Europe', Public, 2, 1, pp. 75-91.
28. The more recent studies include L. Belin (2002) 'The Russian Media in the 1990s', Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Policies, 18, 1, pp. 139-160
29. E. Mickiewicz (2001) 'Piracy, Policy, and Russia's Emerging Media Market', Harvard Journal of Press/Politics, 6, 2, pp. 30-51
30. T. Rantanen (2002) The Global and the National. Media and Communications in Post-Communist Russia (Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield);
31. I. Zassoursky (2004) Media and Power in Post-Soviet Russia (Armonk, NY, M. E. Sharpe).
32. See S. White, S. Oates & I. McCallister (2005) 'Media Effects and Russian Elections 1999-2000', British Journal of Political Science, 35, 2, April, pp. 191-208.
33. McQuail, McQuail's Mass Communications Theory, p. 416.
34. See H. Lasswell (1927) Propaganda Techniques in the First World War (New York, Alfred Knopf);
35. R.A. Bauer & A. Bauer (1960) 'America, Mass Society and Mass Media', Journal of Social Issues, 10, 3, p. 336
36. G. Jowett & V. O'Donnell (1986) Propaganda and Persuasion (Beverly Hills, CA, Sage Publications).
37. See P. Lazarsfeld & R.K. Merton (1948) 'Mass Communication, Popular Taste, and Organised Social Action', in L. Bryson (ed.) (1948) The Communication of Ideas (New York, Harper);
38. C.I. Hovland, A.A. Lumsdaine & F.D. Sheffield (1949) Experiments in Mass Communication (Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press);
39. J.S.M. Trenman & D. McQuail (1961) Television and Political Image (London, Methuen).
40. For an overview see S. Devereaux Ferguson (2000) Researching the Public Opinion Environment. Theories and Methods (Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications), ch. 9 (part of the Sage Series in Public Relations).
41. Sparks & Reading, Communism, Capitalism and the Mass Media, p. 21.
42. Downing, Internationalising Media Theory, pp. 26-27.
43. P. Gross (2002) Entangled Evolutions: Media and Democratisation in Eastern Europe (Washington, Woodrow Wilson Center Press; Baltimore, MD and London, The Johns Hopkins University Press).
44. The famous Hanna Arendt phrase was aptly used by Sorin Antohi & Vladimir Tismaneanu to title their collection Between Past and Future. The Revolutions of 1989 and Their Aftermath (Budapest, Central University Press, 2000).
45. See T. Carothers (2002) 'The End of the Transition Paradigm', Journal of Democracy, 13, 1, January;
46. M. Riabchuk (2004) 'From Dysfunctional to Blackmail State: The Post-Soviet Transition in Ukraine', Wolodymyr George Danyliw Lecture, University of Toronto, 15 March;
47. K. Darden (2001) 'Blackmail as a Tool of State Domination: Ukraine under Kuchma', East European Constitutional Review, 10, 2/3.
48. See Law on Print Media, 1992, also Law on Television and Broadcasting in Ukraine, 1993, available at: www.rada.gov.ua.
49. See Computer Crime Research Center, available at: www.crime-research.org/ news/2003/08/Mess0901.html;
50. and the www.marketing.vc company cited in 'V Ukraine naschytyvaetsa 3.8 mil polzovatelei interneta', January 2004, available at: www.vechirka.com.ua.
51. See www.itfacts.biz/index.php?id=P2360.
52. See the website of the Central Elections Commission of Ukraine, www.cvk.gov.ua.
53. There are over 100 cable companies operating in Ukraine.
54. Interview with Valery Ingul'skyi, Kiev, 17 July 2003
55. interview with Mykola Veresen', Kiev, 17 July 2003.
56. Interview with Ivan Chyzh, Kiev, 28 July 2003.
57. Interview with Alla Plus, Kiev, 23 July 2003. See also www.comin.gov.ua.
58. See Appendix B.
59. This was the first clear attempt at censorship. Interview with Vitalii Shevchenko, Kiev, 24 July 2003.
60. See C. Freeland (2000) Sale of the Century: Russia's Wild Ride from Communism to Capitalism (Toronto, Doubleday);
61. R. Puglisi (2003) 'Clashing Agendas? Economic Interests, Elite Coalitions and Prospects for Co-operation between Russia and Ukraine', Europe-Asia Studies, 55, 6, pp. 827-845.
62. Official data on media ownership is difficult to obtain, but see M. Dyczok (2003) 'Ukraine's Media Landscape', in W.W. Isajiw (ed.) (2003) Society in Transition: Social Change in Ukraine in Western Perspectives (Toronto, Scholar's Press);
63. S. Datsiuk & N. Ligachova (2002) 'Partiini Media Holdingy', 8 November, available at: www.telekritika.kiev.ua;
64. K. Bondarenko (2003) 'Who Owns What in Ukraine', L'vivs'ka Hazeta, 17 July, available at: www.gazeta.lviv.ua. A small, alternative television station, Channel 5, came under the control of the Nasha Ukraina opposition bloc in summer of 2003, but it gained influence only later, and Donetsk oligarch Rinat Akhmetev's TRK Ukraina only expanded its broadcast reach nationally in 2003.
65. Interview with Kost' Bondarenko, Kiev, 24 July 2003.
66. Interview with Andrii Shevchenko, Kiev, 22 July 2003.
67. Interview with Volodymyr Ruban, Kiev, 25 June 2003.
68. Interview with Valentyna Rudenko, Kiev, 13 December 2004.
69. Interview with Volodymyr Skachko, Kiev, 18 July 2003.
70. Interview with Ol'ha Anhimova, Kiev, 23 July 2003.
71. Interview with Iryna Pohorelova, Kiev, 20 June 2003.
72. Interview with Nataliya Ligachova, Kiev, 22 July 2003.
73. Interview with Pohorelova, 20 June 2003.
74. Interview with Pohorelova, Kiev, 3 September 2004.
75. Interview with Ligachova, 22 July 2003.
76. See D. Manning White (1949) 'The Gate-keeper: A Case-study in the Selection of News', Journalism Quarterly, 29, pp. 383-390
77. P. Sinder (1967) 'Mr. Gates Revisited: A 1966 Version of the 1949 Case study', Journalism Quarterly, 44, pp. 419-427
78. M. McCombs & D. Shaw (1972) 'The Agenda Setting Function of Mass Media', Public Opinion Quarterly, 36, pp. 176-185.
79. McCombs & Shaw, 'The Agenda Setting Function of Mass Media'.
80. See T. Kuzio (2002) 'The Internet: Ukraine's New Samizdat', RFE/RL Media Matters, 2, 1, 4 January, available at: www.rferl.org/reports/mm/2002/01/ 1-040102.asp;
81. also O. Prytula (2004) 'Internet in Ukraine', paper presented at the 9th Annual World Convention of the ASN, Columbia University, New York City, 17 April.
82. Interview with Ligachova, 22 July 2003
83. interview with Yulia Mostova, Kiev, 24 June 2003.
84. This point was made by numerous journalists, including in an interview with Oleksander Martynenko, Kiev, 18 July 2003
85. an interview with Olena Prytula, Kiev, 18 July 2003
86. and an interview with Bondarenko, 24 July 2003.
87. There are numerous reports on censorship in Ukraine, produced mainly by international NGOs, but it was very difficult to actually prove censorship.
88. This law was signed by Kuchma on 26 April 2003, and not only defined censorship more clearly, but also required all legislative acts to be amended to root it out. However, as Skachko noted, the definition of censorship was limited to state censorship, and did not include censorship by owners, editors and self-censorship. See the Parliamentary Committee on Freedom of Speech, www.rada. gov.ua/svobodaslova/ news_20032904.html. For a list of legislation related to media and freedom of speech issues, see The Media Reform Centre at the National University of the Kiev Mohyla Academy, www.mediareform.com.ua/ article.php?articleID=545.
89. Interview with Chyzh, 28 July 2003.
90. Head of the Presidential Administration during Kuchma's first term as president.
91. Head of the Presidential Administration 2002-04.
92. See A. Wilson (2005) Virtual Politics: Faking Democracy in the Post-Soviet World (New Haven, CT, Yale University Press).
93. See RFE/RL PBU Report, 8 September 2002
94. V. Stepanenko (2002) 'Journalists Stand Against Political Censorship, End Note', RFE/RL Media Matters, 2, 39, 11 October;
95. for a description of the use of temnyky see, V. Kipiani (2004) 'Victor Yushchenko: "Please Ignore"', Ukrains'ka Pravda, 21 May, available at: www.telekritika.kiev.ua, 21 May 2004.
96. Kipiani, 'Victor Yushchenko: "Please Ignore"'.
97. Ibid.
98. This allegation was made in September 2002 by Mykola Tomenko, then head of the Parliamentary Committee on Freedom of Speech. See Ukrainska Pravda, 3 September 2002, available at: http://pravda.com.ua/news/2002/9/ 4/24751.htm.
99. Interview with Serhii Vasyliev, Kiev, 19 June 2003.
100. Interview with Inna Pidluska, Kiev, 6 September 2004.
101. This was widely discussed by journalists. Andrii Shevchenko mentioned this during our interview;
102. Tetiana Liakhovetska, UMREP, even gave me copies that she had picked up during her most recent visits to television stations.
103. Interview with Vasyliev, 19 June 2003. Tomenko became the Vice Premier for Humanitarian Affairs in February 2005.
104. See M. Dyczok (2002) 'The Court Battle for the Future of Ukrainian Television', RFE/RL Media Matters 2, 33, 30 August, available at: www.rferl.org/mm/2002/08/33-300802.asp.
105. See, IMI Barometer (2004) A History of Confrontation (Kiev, IMI), available at: www.imi.org.ua/?id=barometr;
106. Committee to Protect Journalists, 'Journalists Killed in the Line of Duty', available at: www.cpj.org/killed/Ten_Year_Killed/Intro.html; and others.
107. Interview with Pohorelova, 20 June 2003.
108. Interview with Serhii Huz, Kiev, 23 June 2003.
109. Interview with Martynenko, 18 July 2003.
110. The author would like to thank Victor Stepanenko for making this data available in 2003.
111. These include Kiev International Institute of Sociology, www.kiis.com.ua;
112. The Ukrainian Center for Economic and Political Studies Named After Razumkov, www.uceps.org;
113. and Democratic Initiatives, www.dif.org.ua/home.php.
114. See Ferguson, Researching the Public Opinion Environment;
115. H. Hardt & S. Splichal (2000) Ferdinand Tonnies on Public Opinion. Selections and Analyses (Lanham, Boulder, New York and Oxford, Rowman & Littlefield);
116. J. Lewis (2001) Constructing Public Opinion. How Political Elites Do What They Like and Why We Seem to Go Along with It (New York, Columbia University Press);
117. S. Splichal (ed.) (2001) Public Opinion and Democracy. Vox Populi_Vox Dei? (Creeskill, NJ, Hampton Press Inc.).
118. Other studies of public opinion in Ukraine do not really address issues of mass media and trust. See L.W. Barrington & E.S. Herron (2001) 'Understanding Public Opinion in Post-Communist States: The Effects of Statistical Assumptions on Substantive Results', Europe-Asia Studies, 53, 4, pp. 573-594
119. S. White, S. Oates, W.L. Miller & A. Gordeland (2001) 'Towards a Soviet Past or a Socialist Future? Understanding Why Voters Choose Communist Parties in Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic', in P.G. Lewis (ed.) (2001) Party Development and Democratic Change in Post-Communist Europe (London, Frank Cass).
120. European Institute for Media (EIM) (2002) Report on Monitoring Media Coverage During the Parliamentary Elections in Ukraine, March.
121. Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE) (2002) Ukraine, Parliamentary Elections, 31 March Final Report, p. 17.
122. Final Report of the Project on Public Monitoring of the Election Campaign Financing (2002) prepared by Transparency International - Ukraine and the Coalition of Ukrainian NGOs 'Freedom of Choice'.
123. For a lengthier discussion see M. Dyczok (2005) 'The Politics of Media in Ukraine: Election 2002', in N. Hayoz & A. Lushnycky (eds) (2005) Ukraine at a Crossroads (Bern, Peter Lang).
124. This is a summary of an argument made in my paper, 'Power Struggle for Freedom of Speech in Ukraine', presented at the 8th Annual ASN Annual Convention, 3-5 April 2003, Columbia University, New York City. For a discussion of political culture see A. Brown & J. Grey (eds) (1977) Political Culture and Political Change in Communist States (London and New York, Macmillan);
125. D. Pollack, J. Jacobs, O. Muller & G. Pickel (eds) (2003) Political Culture in Post-Communist Europe. Attitudes in New Democracies (Aldershot, Ashgate).
126. See M. McLuhan (1994) Understanding Media (Cambridge, MA, MIT Press), p. 8.
127. See M. Kahan (1999) Media as Politics. Theory, Behaviour and Change in America (Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice Hall), p. 17.
128. Interview with V'iacheslav Pikhovshek conducted by Nataliya Ligachova, Telekrytyka, 28 January 2005, available at: www.telekritika.kiev.ua.
129. Mig Newspaper, www.mig.com.ua/.
130. See www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/vp2004/wp0011.
131. Interview with Olena Prytula, Kiev, 2 September 2004.
132. See K. Razumovsky (2001) 'Leonid Kuchma Sweeps Away the Opposition', Current Digest of the Post Soviet Press, 53, 9, 28 March.
133. See T. Wanner (2002) 'Chronicle of Meeting on European Square', Financial Times, 16 September, available at: http://pravda.com.ua/news/ 2002/9/16/24975.htm;
134. N. Ligachova (2002) 'Why Everything is Wrong?', available at: www.telekritika.kiev.ua/arch/index.html?year=2002&date=2002-09-16.
135. Interview with Skachko, 18 July 2003.
136. Interview with Tetiana Korobova, Kiev, 26 June 2003.
137. Interview with Ruban, 25 June 2003.
138. Interview with Ihor Kulias, Kiev, 16 June 2003.
139. Interview with Ruban, 25 June 2003
140. interview with Kulias, 16 June 2003.
141. Interview with Serhii Kvit, Kiev, 23 July 2003
142. interview with Prytula, 18 July 2003.
143. See note 74.
144. For example, interview with Yulia Mostov and Volodymyr Mostovy, 24 June 2003
145. interview with Ligachova, 22 July 2003
146. interview with Bondarenko, 24 July 2003.
147. Interview with Bondarenko, 24 July 2003.
148. Interview with Skachko, 18 July 2003
149. interview with Bondarenko, 24 July 2003.
150. Interview with Bondarenko, 24 July 2003.
151. Interview with Pohorelova, 3 September 2004.
152. Ukraine's economy went into growth in 2000
153. see A. Åslund (2001) 'Ukraine's Return to Economic Growth', Post-Soviet Geography and Economics, 42, 5, pp. 313-328.
154. A critical view of the media's role in the US is provided by E.S. Herman & N. Chomsky (1988) Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (New York, Pantheon Books).
155. Interview with Martynenko, 18 July 2003.
156. This argument is developed more fully in M. Dyczok (2005) 'Breaking Through the Information Blockade: Election and Revolution in Ukraine 2004', Canadian Slavonic Papers/Revue canadienne des slavistes, XLVII, 3-4, September-December.
157. See D. C. Hallin & P. Mancini (2004) Comparing Media Systems. Three Models of Media and Politics (Cambridge and New York, Cambridge University Press).