News for the Ukrainian public is funneled through a government-run “Telemarathon” agency which has tried to ban interviews with opposition candidates, such as former President Petro Poroshenko, and to punish TV reports that don’t follow its rules, according to a June 18 New York Times article on the lack of press freedom in Ukraine today, just two days after the Times published the terms of the peace negotiation of March 2022 which Ukraine was compelled by NATO to break off in April.
The paper wrote that according to analysts whom it did not name, reporters for the Ukrinform state news agency were presented with lists in late 2023, of opposition figures and local officials “undesirable” to be quoted in the media. The Times “reviewed the instructions to Ukrinform reporters, which blacklisted elected officials and civil society activists, including some military veterans”. One former Ukrinform deputy director has resigned over the “guidance” on interviewing opposition members, which Ukrinform distributed to reporters.
