Crimea online: Ukraine without a voice

Crimean television is brazenly conducting antigovernment propaganda — and not just on commercial channels. The Crimean State Television and Radio Company (DTRK Krym), which is financed by the Ukrainian state, is working indefatigably in the interests of a foreign country.

This state of affairs is confirmed in a letter of enquiry sent by Ukrainian parliamentarian Olha Herasymiuk to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, requesting that he clarify the incident that took place recently at the DTRK Krym, specifically in regard to the program Zelenyi koridor (The Green Corridor) which is broadcast live. A group of communists and their henchmen, acting like hoodlums, sabotaged the program about NATO by preventing the invited guests from entering the TV studio.

This situation is standard practice for Crimean television. The Day investigated the incident at the Crimean State Television and Radio Company. Below we reproduce the text of Herasymiuk’s letter to the Prosecutor General, together with a comment by a Crimean TV studio official.

As a member of the Ukrainian parliament and a journalist, I was disturbed and outraged by the events that took place on the premises of the Crimean State Television and Radio Company on Aug. 21, 2008. That day the DTRK Krym was scheduled to broadcast the program The Green Corridor with a debate on Ukraine-NATO relations. Members of various political parties and civic organizations, political scientists, journalists, army officers, members of the Crimean Parliament, and my assistant and consultant Volodymyr Kuntsov, who heads the Symferopil branch of Our Ukraine, were invited to take part in the program.

However, a group of communists led by Viacheslav Zakharov, a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Crimea, with the help of Ukrainian MP Maryna Perestenko, first blocked the entrance to the DTRK Krym and then forced their way into the television and radio company premises. After occupying the seats in the studio and starting a ruckus, they demanded that the program start its live broadcast live in this set-up. These thuggish actions led to the cancellation of the program.

It has been confirmed that the group of hooligans was brought to the studio by Members of Parliament. This hooliganism, which prevented the DTRK Krym staff from carrying out their professional duties, was made possible by the silent connivance of police officers, who failed to detain the hooligans and establish law and order on the premises of the DTRK Krym, and who had allowed them unauthorized entry to the studios.

This incident was planned in advance, and some of the participants in this act of hooliganism filmed it. Small children also took part in this action.

Communists have staged such incidents at the DTRK Krym before, yet none of them have been investigated. This paved the way to a repetition of these acts of hooliganism.

I request that you launch an investigation into this incident and prosecute the hooligans and the representatives of law enforcement authorities whose inactivity was instrumental in sabotaging the live broadcast.

I further request that you inform me about the results of the investigation within the legally established timeframe.

COMMENTARY

Olha HERASYMIUK, MP, Ukraine:

This is not child’s play. These kinds of situations need a harsh response while our country still has a Ukrainian government. The State Television and Radio Committee must also react. It’s one thing when a communist MP appears at the studio and produces his ID card, but an altogether different thing when he brings people who have no authorized access. No one knows what statements they will make during a live broadcast. This is a security matter. As one who knows how live broadcasts are prepared, I am surprised that this could have happened on the premises of a TV studio. When programs are being prepared, all security arrangements are put in place. This is a must. How can a program be sabotaged like this? This is not the first such case. The communists are a pro-Kremlin force and they organized this pro-Kremlin action.

I work in the Crimea, and I know how difficult it is to discuss these subjects [NATO] with people, but I also know that such discussions are possible. If you can explain your point of view, people will listen without shouting and interrupting you. Basically, they need information. Situations, like the one that happened at the DTRK Krym, are broadcast by Russia’s channels and beamed to eastern and southern Ukraine. They show that the entire population of Ukraine is adamantly opposed to NATO. I see no other reasons for such acts of hooliganism. Therefore, the prosecutor’s office must investigate the matter. Otherwise, questions arise whether we have laws at all and who is supposed to enforce them.

I also have a question for the DTRK Krym’s administration. How could such a situation have come to pass? I can understand people shouting protests at the entrance to the building, but preventing invited guests from entering and allowing unauthorized individuals to behave outrageously on the premises is inadmissible. I know what happened at the studio in detail from my assistant Volodymyr Kuntsov, who as the head of the Symferopil branch of Our Ukraine was invited to appear on the program, and the journalists working for the newspaper Pervaia Krymskaia. I don’t think that a handful of communists are so omnipotent that they can storm strategically important targets.

Mykhailo SHMATOV, director general of DTRK Krym, Merited Journalist of Ukraine:

A total of 35 persons were invited to take part in that program. Among them were representatives of various political forces, experts, and our special guest Michel Duray. Many people knew about the program through the city grapevine. Several people, including members of the Supreme Council of the Crimea, were in the studio for two hours before the live broadcast. Then they simply barred access to the guests. After that, we decided to cancel the live broadcast. We suggested that the program be taped, but the communist MPs refused, so we canceled the program.

The TV company did suffer any material damages, but there was considerable moral damage. Our journalists wanted to make a program that would reflect all views on the issue, but the picketers-middle-aged people-behaved like clowns, if you will pardon my saying so. Standing in front of the TV company were eight— and nine-year-old unchaperoned children holding political symbols and handing out propaganda leaflets. All means are good for the communists. Michel Duray said later that the public must decide whether Ukraine should become a member of NATO, but the people need information.

I reported the situation to the State Television and Radio Committee and the government of the Crimean Autonomy. This is not the first incident at our channel, but it was the first time I was faced with such an aggressive attitude.

As for Crimean politicians making all kinds of statements on our channel, they are allowed to do so under the law that gives parliamentarians time on the air. That is when they make offensive statements about the Ukrainian government and suchlike. I must say that these bucketfuls of dirt are being hurled by only one political force, which cannot put up with the loss of their power. Too bad our laws allow parliamentarians to behave like that.

The Crimean population is sufficiently reserved and tolerant. Everyone who loves the Crimea realizes that its fragile peace can be easily broken, which makes such actions especially dangerous.