President Kuchma has signed an order, On Additional Measures to Secure the Unimpeded Performance of the Mass Media and Further Asserting the Freedom of Expression in Ukraine. Mr. Kuchma told journalists of the document when visiting Vinnytsia oblast, adding, “I think that the measures envisaged by the edict will remove the issue of the freedom of expression from the order of the day.”
The document contains a number of instructions addressed to central and local executive authorities, aimed at removing obstacles to the work of the Ukrainian media and enhancing it.
The presidential press service announced on Saturday that the Chief Executive instructed the cabinet, in collaboration with the National Television and Radio Council, National Union of Journalists, and relevant nationwide non- governmental organizations, to submit proposals on how best to remove the legal, administrative, economic, and institutional barriers facing the mass media. Inter alia , the government is to see to it that the laws of Ukraine preventing intrusion into journalistic work, including intervention through the preliminary “coordination” of media stories and reporting, and forbidding the termination of media outlets other than if their founders or a court of law so decides.
The cabinet is to consider improvements in journalists’ pay, pension, and other norms of social support, especially with regard to journalists residing and working in the rural areas, and submit appropriate proposals. Proposals also are also to be worked out, concerning the amicable settlement of disputes involving the media. The President ordered officials in charge of central and local executive authorities to assist in strengthening contacts between their subordinate bodies and the media, secure systematic supplies of complete and unbiased information about their performance, and respond within established time-limits to criticism addressed to them via the media, reports Interfax Ukraine.
