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TVi Journalists present their demands

25.04.2013   
Following the dramatic events on Tuesday at TVi, the journalists on strike have formed a trade union, headed by Mustafa Nayem and have issued their demands. The current situation is of immense concern and the demands are given here in full

 Mustafa Nayem 

Following the dramatic events on Tuesday at TVi, the journalists on strike have formed a trade union, headed by Mustafa Nayem.  The latter appeared on TVi for 12 minutes on Wednesday evening in a special broadcast replacing the normal daily “Syohodni pro holovne”.  Clips were shown of the events of the day before, as well as comments from the presenter of Proti Nochi, Pavel Sheremet, who was fired on Wednesday and from Artem Shevchenko who was on Tuesday presented as the new General Director, replacing Natalya Katerynchyk.

The current situation is of immense concern but remains unclear with conflicting statements being issued for a second day running, including with respect to who the "real owners" of the channel are. The following are the demands issued in full.  More details can be found in the statement here and in Effective Hatchet Job?

The Demands

“Article 24 of the Law on Information prohibits interference in he professional work of journalists; control over the content of information circulated, including in order to circulate or not circulate certain information; the muffling of publicly needed information; the imposition of bans on coverage of particular topics, on showing certain people or disseminating information about them.

Article 25 of the Law on Information stipulates that a media journalist has the right to refuse to acknowledge authorship (sign) material if its content following editorial corrections (editing) runs counter to his or her beliefs.

In accordance with Item 16 of the Ukrainian Journalists’ Ethical Code, “Journalists may not be officially forced to write or undertake anything if it runs counter to their own convictions or principles”.

On the basis of the above, the TV Channel TVi Trade Union Committee demands:

1.  That the contract of employment between the manager of the TV company Teleradiosvit Artem Shevchenko and the head of Interprofit Oleh Radchenko be terminated. They infringed labour legislation and journalists’ professional rights by obstructing journalists from carrying out their professional duties, by cancelling broadcasts on 23 April 2013; through demands not to circulate information; through the muffling of publicly needed information regarding the events on the channel; by imposing a ban on coverage of particular subjects; showing particular people or circulating information about them; obstructing guests invited by the journalists to come and take part in the programmes; flagrant violation of labour legislation regarding Natalya Katerynchyk; unexplained cancellation of the programme “Proty nochi” with Pavlo Sheremet.

2.  That acting heads of the TV company Teleradiosvit and of Interprofit be appointed until the dispute is resolved between the founders and investors of the channel through the courts, and only after agreement with the primary trade union “TV Channel TVi Journalists”.

3.  That a transparent ownership structure with the legal entities which are the owners of TVi be published and announced with documentation confirming the final beneficiary.

4.  That the makeup be announced and a meeting held urgently of the channel’s editorial council; that the council’s powers regarding formation of editorial policy be increased, and that internal editorial disputes be resolved.

5.  That the broadcasting schedule is not changed and that there is no interference in the professional activities of journalists; that all programmes as per 22 April 2013 are able to be broadcast.

6.  That no dismissals of journalists and technical staff involved in producing programmes on the channel as on 22 April 2013 are made;  that current contracts and agreements with producers of TVi content which were in force on 22 April 2013 are not terminated

 7.  That no sanctions are applied against participants in the strike either in the form of termination of contracts or through suspending agreements. 

Photo from Ukrainska Pravda, full text posted by Telekritika

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