“… And other official figures “

Pro-regime officialese in the news is on the increase unlike expert opinions and commonsense.  This is the key conclusion from monitoring of infringements of media standards in television news carried out in the second half of March.  The monitoring is carried out as part of a project by the civic organization Internews Network, in cooperation with “Telekritika” and the Institute for Mass Information [IMI], and is aimed at raising the level of media literacy among the Ukrainian public.

The monitoring report published on 30 March notes that trend towards covering the activities of the President and Cabinet of Ministers with officialese is increasing and is spreading beyond the channels (Inter and TRC “Ukraina”) known for their support for those now in power. During the second half of the month, the First National TV Channel [TV 1] more and more often broadcast openly pro-regime material, and it also appeared on other channels. “Commentary from specialists has totally disappeared from the political and economic news on most channels.  It’s difficult to recall when any well-known political analyst, economist or specialist from other fields commented on the intentions and actions of the new regime on the television news. One has the impression that the information services are trying to cover the activities of the President and Cabinet of Ministers not just according to the principle “either say good things or nothing”, but as formally and superficially as possible. In its style the political news are thus steadily approaching the style of the Soviet news programme “Vremya”.