The Struggle to Achieve Public Media Reform in Ukraine

moderated by
 
Dean Jackson
Assistant Program Officer for the International Forum for Democratic Studies,
National Endowment for Democracy
 
Thursday, January 24, 2019 3:00 p.m.–4:30 p.m. 1025 F Street, N.W., Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 20004 Telephone: 202-378-9675
 
Twitter: Follow @ThinkDemocracy and use #NEDEvents to join the conversation.
 
All cameras and media must register with NED public affairs.
Please email press@ned.org to register as a member of the press.
 
In Soviet times, Ukraine’s media served as a mouthpiece for state interests. Since achieving independence, reform efforts have focused on strengthening the integrity of public media, culminating in legislation adopted after the Euromaidan protests that officially transformed Ukraine’s state broadcaster into a public service outlet. Today, conflicts of interest and insufficient political will to reform within the Ukrainian political elite threaten the future of public media by the obstruction of adequate financing and the implementation of critical regulatory reforms. A hotspot for some of Russia’s most ambitious attempts at disinformation, Ukraine’s public media has an essential role to play in ensuring that the public has access to information that is relevant, fairly reported, and free from distortion and bias. In his presentation, veteran journalist and radio and TV personality Kyrylo Loukerenkowill discuss the role of public media in Ukraine’s democracy and the challenges it faces to becoming a strong and stable institution. Comments by NED Senior Program Officer Joanna Rohozinska will follow.
 
Kyrylo Loukerenko is the executive director and co-founder of Hromadske Radio (“Public Radio” in Ukrainian language), a leading public news broadcasting service that provides timely and balanced news on current affairs in Ukraine. From 2012 to 2013, he worked at TVi TV channel, one of the few voices of responsible journalism at the time, serving as editor of a weekly TV magazine and co-presenter of the daily show “Znak Oklyku” (Exclamation Mark), covering Ukraine’s widely criticized 2012 parliamentary elections, among other topics. In the early 2000s, he worked as a producer and special correspondent for the BBC’s Ukrainian Service in London and Kyiv.
 
Joanna Rohozinka is the senior program officer responsible for Northern Europe, including Ukraine. She has been engaged in programs in the post-Communist space for 19 years, living and working in a number of countries in the region prior to joining the NED ten years ago. She holds a graduate degree in Russian and European history from the University of Toronto where she focused on nationalism and foreign policy issues within the Russian and Soviet Empires.