Order Is a State Of Mind, Friction Adds Sparks, Gravity Adds Necessity

Michael Hedges November 18, 2019 - Follow on Twitter

Media regulators give priority to order over disruption. This makes for nice meetings as the constituencies, too, like order, usually for their own needs. Things at rest, though, tend to fall apart. But inertia, as students of physics learn, relates to friction and gravity. Sometimes intervention is the only solution. Cue John Bercow.

Ukraine regulators and investigators have been on a tear in recent weeks making adjustments to the media landscape. With the election of President Volodymyr Zelensky, reinforced by the decisive showing in parliamentary elections for his Servant of the People political party, rooting out media operators of questionable intent has been elevated and determined. Moving quickly to unravel the mess is a strategy, perhaps successful.

At the end of October the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council (National Council) decided not to renew the broadcast license of Media Network LLC, operator of All News, a digital TV channel operating in Kyiv. The license was denied, reported media watcher MediaSapiens (October 30), because the paperwork was not received on time. Rather than submit the required documents by the appointed date, the company instead asked for a six-month extension, which the regulator denied. “We did not receive evidence that the company did not violate the deadline for submission of documents,” said National Council Deputy Chairman Olga Gerasimyuk. “The documents that we have been provided need further study.” The company, she said, “did not convince us that there was no violation.”

Media Network LLC has operated All News since 2012, when in won a spot on the Kyiv digital TV multiplex (MX-5). It has gone through several owners. In 2017 the company was acquired by Joseph Axelrud and Andriy Alyoshin, “assistants” to MP Vadim Rabinovich, leader of the pro-Russian Opposition Platform - For Life political coalition. Mr. Rabinovich has a long media history in Ukraine; co-founding TV channel 1+1 in 1997 and forming publisher and broadcaster Media International Group (MIG) in 2000.

Also at the end of October, the Interim Investigations Commission (TCK) of Ukraine’s parliament Verkhovna Rada began looking into the ownership of three digital TV channels - 112 Ukraina, NewsOne and ZiK - questioning who, exactly, is running things. The three news channels are formally owned by Opposition Platform - For Life MP Taras Kozak. However, they are widely believed controlled, if not owned, by Viktor Medvedchuk, political council chairman of the pro-Russian For Life political party.

The inquiry is “to show the real owners of the television channels,” said the TCK statement, quoted by news portal ZN.UA (October 29). “It is not about interfering with the editorial policy of the channels. It is about indulging the aggressor state (diplomatic shorthand for the Russian Federation) and imposing an artificial manipulative agenda.”

Media regulator National Council decided in September not to extend the 112 Ukraina digital broadcasting licenses due to “failure to fix violations of the broadcasting concept since 2014.” The channel remains available on satellite, cable networks and IPTV. 112 Ukraina is going forward with a political telethon, led by the aforementioned Mr. Rabinovich, to be held November 20th, reported media watcher Detector Media (November 16).

In September, under court order, assets of Ukrainian Media Holding (UMH) were transferred to the country’s Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA). The court upheld a decision of the Prosecutor General that the company had been acquired by Serhyi Kurchenko with “funds obtained from corrupt offences,” reported independent news portal hromadske.ua (September 23). Those assets include several print and online publications including Vetek Media (the Ukrainian publisher of Forbes), the Ukrainian publisher of Komsomolskaya Pravda, Izvestia-Ukraine and more.

Mr. Kurchenko departed Ukraine several years ago, first to the Russian Federation and then to Belize. That exit, along with those money laundering charges, prompted the Media Council to vacate radio broadcasting licenses held by UMH, citing the “opaque ownership structure.” Most of the radio broadcasting assets have recently been reassigned by the ARMA, operating licenses transferred by the National Council.

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• Hot Topics - Media in Ukraine

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