Posted on 11/26/2004 12:02:30 PM PST by Ginifer
Journalists on Ukraine's state-owned channel - which had previously given unswerving support to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych - have joined the opposition, saying they have had enough of "telling the government's lies".
Journalists on another strongly pro-government TV station have also promised an end to the bias in their reporting. The turnaround in news coverage, after years of toeing the government line, is a big setback for Mr Yanukovych.
Journalists in Ukraine seem to have responded to the call by opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko for them to reject government censorship.
A correspondent on the state channel, UT1, announced live on the evening bulletin that the entire news team was going to join the protests in Independence Square. She said their message to the protesters was: "We are not lying anymore".
Rebellion
For the first time in years, the UT1 bulletin aired opposition views in a balanced way after the station's management acceded to the journalists' demands.
We understand our responsibility for the biased news that the channel has so far been broadcasting under pressure Aleksander Rodnyansky Director of One Plus One TV It was the culmination of a rebellion among journalists at the state-run channel that had been brewing for days.
Even the sign-language presenter said that in an earlier bulletin, she had rejected the pro-government script and informed her viewers instead of the allegations of vote-rigging.
The news staff at UT1 were not alone. A couple of hours earlier, journalists on the pro-government private channel One Plus One took a similar stand.
The station had announced earlier in the day the resignation of its news editor, who had been presenting a fiercely pro-government election special for the past three days, after journalists refused to produce news bulletins in protest at censorship of the opposition.
Impartial
In the reinstated evening bulletin that replaced the election special, the channel's director Aleksander Rodnyansky stood in front of a solemn group of his colleagues to deliver a brief statement.
Pro-Yushchenko rally in Kiev on 24 November 2004 State TV has now started broadcasting opposition rallies He began by saying: "The One Plus One TV channel fully resumes its news and political and social broadcasting.
"We understand our responsibility for the biased news that the channel has so far been broadcasting under pressure and on orders from various political forces."
Mr Rodnyansky went on to say that the station would now guarantee "full and impartial" news coverage, allowing all viewpoints to be expressed. The subsequent bulletin lived up to this promise.
Media role
This new balance in TV coverage on previously government-controlled channels means that pictures making plain the huge size of the opposition demonstrations can now reach the heartland of Mr Yanukovych's support in the east of the country.
Rolling news coverage of the protests by Channel 5 - the one station fully backing the opposition - had earlier been blocked in the region.
The Ukrainian media played a big role in boosting Mr Yanukovych's election chances by denying the opposition any airtime to make its case and ridiculing his challenger, Mr Yushchenko. Reporters say the government issued lists of what they could and could not show.
Now that Ukrainian journalists have openly rebelled against such tight government control, Mr Yanukovych appears to have lost one of the key pillars of his support. It is another clear sign that the momentum behind the opposition is growing ever stronger.
VERY interesting.
Wouldnt it be great if American TV would do the same and stop their liberal bias.
ping
Praying that it stays peaceful.
We could only be so lucky!
This is truly an important moment in the spread of democracy around the world. A Tianamen Square moment. Let's hope that it turns out differently.
Thanks for ping.
I agree. The more I have time to think about it, the more convinced I am that this is Ukraine's moment. If they will hold fast, and seize the day, they will walk free. They should hold prayer services, administer last rites, and then go out to take control of their country.
Freepers should be very careful not to fall for the BS line that the Government is anti-West. The Government is anti-Soros and his Clintonista henchmen............
did you support Kerry ?
did you vote for Kerry ?
simply not true
So what is the real "truth" ?
The American MSM is Revolting. Or Revoltin' as Jimmy Durante used to say
Putin funded Yanukovych with four times that.
What kind of question is that?
Since ehoxha disagrees with you, asking (for whatever strange reason) whether you voted for Kerry, I am going to strongly agree.
Perhaps that poster prefers that Ukraine remaind under the Russian boot at which point it is time to suspect that ehoxha is a Kerry/Commie supporter.
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