Ukrainian Journalists Denounce Government's Politically Motivated Interference in Denying NTN Television Station's Broadcast License Application

Ukrainian Journalists Denounce Government's Politically Motivated Interference in Denying NTN Television Station's Broadcast License Application

Journalists from Ukraine's NTN Television Station Demand Media Freedom Protection from the Yushchenko Administration

KIEV, Ukraine, March 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Ukrainian journalists from independently owned NTN television station today denounced the Ukrainian government's politically motivated and biased interference in denying the station a broadcast license and its subsequent attempt to re-nationalize the station. The Yushchenko administration, which championed media freedoms during the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, denied NTN a broadcast license despite both a Ukrainian arbitrage and appellate court ruling that the station should be granted the license.

"President Yushchenko must uphold his repeated promises made during his presidential campaign to protect media freedom in Ukraine," said Vladimir Kartashkov, a journalist at NTN television station. "The Yushchenko administration is denying journalists at NTN their basic media freedoms because of politically motivated retribution levied against Yushchenko's political opponents."

Following the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, NTN applied for an increased broadcast license and was approved by both the State Committee on Communications and Information and the Ukrainian Council on Television and Radio. Facing mounting pressure from the Yushchenko administration, the Ukrainian Council on Television and Radio reneged on its approval and refused to extend the station's broadcast license or renew the already existing license.

Despite the government's attempt to re-nationalize the station, in direct contradiction of the Yushchenko administration's supposed free-market philosophy, NTN television successfully petitioned a Ukrainian arbitrage and appellate court to require the State Committee on Communications and Information and the Ukrainian Council on Television and Radio to recognize NTN's existing broadcast license and approve an increased licensing application. The Ukrainian Council on Television and Radio once again refused to approve the application, despite the court's ruling, and the Ukrainian attorney general initiated procedures against NTN for non-licensing, which would result in the station's re-nationalization.

"How will President Yushchenko look US President George Bush in the eyes on April 4 in Washington, DC knowing he is re-nationalizing a television station because he disagrees with his opponents views," asked Kartashkov. "On behalf of all Ukrainian journalists, I ask President Yushchenko's administration to recognize the courts' orders and grant NTN its broadcast license."

Ukraine's NTN television station was founded in 2004 and is privately owned, in part, by Eduard Prutnik, a former advisor to Viktor Yanukovych, Yushchenko's opponent during the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election. NTN's latest legal case petitioning the court to require the Ukrainian Attorney General to recognize the licensing application will be decided on April 1, 2005.

Source: NTN Television Station

CONTACT: Darren Spinck, +1-202-746-9966, for NTN Television Station

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