Proposed Ukrainian public service broadcasting law needs improvement, OSCE media freedom representative says

VIENNA, 9 September 2013 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, today reiterated her positive assessment of the Ukrainian parliament decision to adopt a law on public service broadcasting.

“My Office notes the positive basic provisions of the proposed act, including the principles and tasks of the future National Public Television and Radio Company of Ukraine (NSTU) and its licensing procedures which will help establish legal and institutional frameworks to protect the independence and accountability of public service broadcasting,” Mijatović said in a letter sent to Chairman of the Parliament Volodymyr Rybak along with an accompanying legal review of the proposed law which was prepared by her Office.

“However, the draft law does not exclude a dangerous possibility of parallel state and public broadcasting, which would contradict European standards of freedom of expression and freedom of the media. It also envisions dependence on the Cabinet of Ministers, which impinges on its independence from the government,” Mijatović said.

“Reviewing the whole system of financing the future broadcaster is recommended because the proposed mechanisms do not seem to take into account best practices that exist in the OSCE region.”

“I am pleased to see these legal developments during the Ukrainian OSCE Chairmanship,” Mijatović said. “I hope that the expert recommendations will be considered when discussing and adopting this long-awaited legislation, as they would ensure the compliance with OSCE media freedom commitments and international standards.”

The full text of the legal review is available in Russian at: //www.osce.org/ru/fom/104653