Ministry of Culture responds to European Commission’s criticism of United News
31 October 2024 09:18
The Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications has released a reaction to the European Commission’s opinion on the progress of EU candidate states, which criticized the United News telethon, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
The European Commission has recognized that Ukraine has fulfilled all the requirements specified in the conclusion on granting the status of candidate for EU membership. However, the report for the first time contained direct criticism of the telethon and a call to restore the independent work of broadcasters.
The Ministry of Culture noted that “the European Commission’s recommendations regarding United News have been taken into account.” At the same time, Minister Mykola Tochytskyi continues to insist that the telethon will not complete its work until the end of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
“The state will stop supporting it after the end of martial law, while further emphasis will be placed on building a sustainable media space,” the official added.
The ministry is currently engaged in “daily work to create a space for truth and freedom of speech.”
The draft Law of Ukraine “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2025” provides for UAH 2.2 billion to finance the public broadcaster, which fully meets its request. The Minister confirmed that UA:PBC JSC operates on a politically neutral basis.
It is worth noting that about half of Ukrainians believe that the single telethon is currently irrelevant. This is evidenced by the results of a survey conducted by the Razumkov Center sociological service in cooperation with the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation at the request of the Chesno Movement from August 9 to 15, 2024.
The results of the survey show that the number of viewers of the telethon is decreasing, and therefore the feasibility of its existence is in question. 35% of Ukrainians absolutely agree with the thesis that the telethon format has lost its relevance. About 16% of citizens rather support this position.
About 16% of citizens have a neutral attitude to the only telethon, and another 15% have no answer.
As a reminder, in February, according to sociologists, for the first time since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, the balance of public trust/distrust in the United News telethon turned negative.
Thus, in February 2024, 36% of people trusted United News, while 47% did not. Back in December last year, this balance was reversed: 43% against 38% in favor of trust.
