Media bias roils election

KIEV — With six weeks to go before Ukraine’s presidential elections, officials and observers warn that unbalanced media coverage and a crackdown on the independent press are threatening the balloting process.

“The biggest violation is [unequal] access of candidates to national channels,” Nina Karpachova, the national ombudsman, told The Washington Times.

“Information … is skewed, and that’s for all candidates. It’s not objective, and that’s not normal. Society needs objective information so it can make a normal, balanced decision” on Election Day, Oct. 31.

The United States and Europe have warned Kiev that future relations will depend on whether the elections are free and fair. Viktor Yanukovych, currently prime minister and a leading contender for president, has promised his government will ensure transparency. In a July interview with The Washington Times, Mr. Yanukovych also said democratic media need to be expanded and improved.

Several Ukrainian nonprofit organizations monitoring the campaign, however, said the prime minister has received the majority of news coverage on state television and several national stations owned by businessmen sympathetic to him.

His main challenger, opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, has been negatively portrayed in newscasts since the campaign began in July.

Miss Karpachova said she is so concerned about the situation that she canceled a recent trip to North America to monitor the situation. Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn has repeatedly called for balanced media coverage.

“Unfortunately, the situation with respect to the media in Ukraine in the run-up to the elections is discouraging,” Rep. Christopher H. Smith, the New Jersey Republican who heads the U.S. Helsinki Commission, said in a statement last week.

“The election — apparently because of the clear-cut choice between current Prime Minister Yanukovych, and leader of the Our Ukraine democratic bloc, Victor Yushchenko — seems to have frightened those who are now in power. It seems the ruling regime has decided to interfere in media election coverage at an unprecedented scale, presumably with the expectation that the interference will ensure their victory at the polls.”

Although state television and radio are broadcasting political statements from all 26 presidential candidates, media access could sway the outcome of the race, according to a poll conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology and Democratic Initiatives, a nonprofit organization.

If candidates had equal access to television and radio coverage, Mr. Yushchenko would receive 29 percent of the vote, while Mr. Yanukovych would garner 23 per cent, the poll found. If access does not improve, Mr. Yanukovych would win with 31 percent of the vote and Mr. Yushchenko would receive 23 percent, the institute said.

In all, 1,980 persons were polled throughout Ukraine. The margin of error did not exceed 2.3 percent. Other polls have placed Mr. Yushchenko as the favorite by as much as six percentage points, although most people questioned said they believe Mr. Yanukovych will win.

Mr. Yanukovych’s campaign suffered a setback last week when some 40 deputies defected from the pro-government parliamentary majority, which has backed the prime minister. Deputies from the center have complained that their concerns are being ignored.

Independent media, meanwhile, continue to face obstacles. Police recently ruled arson was involved after one of the offices of Postup, an independent newspaper in the western city of Lviv, was set on fire.

Archives from the past seven years and a number of computers were destroyed in the blaze. Damage was estimated at $56,500.

Story Continues →