Detector Media Kyiv 2018 MONITORING REPORT WORK OF PUBLIC AUTHORITIES IN INFORMATION POLICY AND MEDIA REGULATION Annual Monitoring Report of 2017 Detector Media Kyiv 2018 Work of Public Authorities in Information Policy and Media Regulation. Annual Monitoring Report of 2017. – Kyiv: Detector Media, 2018. – 48 pages Authors: Serhii Harmash Mykhailo Kolesnikov Nataliia Lygachova Evgeniia Oliinyk Halyna Petrenko Roman Shutov General Editorship: Andrew Nynka Design, page layout: Yana Dobrianska Coordinator of the project: Olena Demchenko Monitoring is performed within the project “Strengthening Civic Supervision in Media” with the financial support of National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The content of this Report is a sole responsibility of NGO Detector Media and may not reflect the opinion of NED. This Monitoring Report has an overview and assessment of actions of the Parliamentary Committee for Freedom of Speech and Information, the State Committee for TV and Radio, the National Broadcasting Council, the Ministry of Information Policy of 2017. The Report gives a global understanding of the situation, achievements and issues of the public information policy in Ukraine under conditions of war and democratic media reforms. This Report may be interesting for civil servants, media analysts, media NGOs, researchers in public policy, representatives of technical assistance programmes, journalists and all interested individuals. © NGO Detector Media, 2018 photo: Pixabay © Yana DOBRIANSKA, design, page layout, 2018 Detector Media · Kyiv 2018 3 WORK OF PUBLIC AUTHORITIES IN INFORMATION POLICY AND MEDIA REGULATION CONTENT 5 RESUME 6 What media are making progress in the Ukrainian media market. A short guide to the Ukrainian media landscape Nataliia Lygachova, Halyna Petrenko 16 Between security and freedom: informational threats and political toolbox Roman Shutov 22 Media Reforms in Ukraine 2017: A Time of Fluctuations Evgeniia Oliinyk 34 Crimea Wiped Clean of Independent Mass Media and Free Speech Mykhailo Kolesnikov 40 Donbass: The window of freedom is shrinking Serhii Harmash 4 Monitoring Report RESUME 2017 was a year of continued implementation of important reforms in the media. It bouyed the hope of Ukrainians for change in the information sphere. A lot has been done, but there is still more work to be done in 2018 and beyond. At this point in the process of reform, it is important that the public, media experts, and the international community closely monitor the progress of the work, monitor each stage, and ensure that structural changes translate to quality content, and prevent the “adaptation” of new ways of working that would allow content to return to what was there previously. Namely, state and communal print publications, which according to Ukrainian law should no longer exist in the country by the end of next year, will need support as they work in these new conditions. Editors will face serious challenges, including the need to target content to the audience and not the owner of the publication, as was done in the past, resulting in a total overhaul of content; update visual design; construct a new financial model that will support the editorial staff; and, finally, all of the above will require knowledge and skills in media management. In 2017, the government of Ukraine adopted a number of important decisions to protect society from misinformation by the Russian Federation. In addition to a wide range of measures that were implemented earlier, the government continued its doctrine of information security, which blocked Russian social networks, and is continuing discussion on possibly blocking websites with dangerous content. Ukraine seeks a balance between security and freedom of speech. And while this line has not yet been crossed, there is still a danger that, in its effort to ensure security, the government may take action that will irreparably harm the democratic future of Ukraine. Over the past three and a half years, Russia has completely cleared the Crimean information space of independent mass media: editorial offices of newspapers and television channels have been closed, creating an absence of Ukrainian media, and journalists have faced criminal prosecution. With regard to freedom of speech, the peninsula finds itself on par with dictatorships. Russia’s occupation of Donbass has left the region without freedom of speech, too. Citizens of the region do not have access to Ukrainian media; regional and local mass media have become propaganda tools of the marionette governments in the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) and the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR). Journalists and activists who oppose the occupation were forced to leave the territory. Detector Media · Kyiv 2018 5 WORK OF PUBLIC AUTHORITIES IN INFORMATION POLICY AND MEDIA REGULATION photo: Pixabay WHAT MEDIA ARE MAKING PROGRESS IN THE UKRAINIAN MEDIA MARKET. A SHORT GUIDE TO THE UKRAINIAN MEDIA LANDSCAPE Nataliia Lygachova 0, 98 billion UAH Halyna Petrenko MEDIA MARKET MEDIA 6 Monitoring Report What media are making progress in the Ukrainian media market. A short guide to the Ukrainian media landscape ccording to a survey conducted by the Research & Branding AGroup in February 2017, approximately 9 out of 10 adult Ukrainians more or less regularly received news via television, and about half got their news via the Internet. Other types of media are less popular. Table 1 [1]. WHAT KIND OF MASS MEDIA DO UKRAINIANS USE MOST OF ALL? In pct from all respondents; N = 1800 Television 58 Internet 30 Radio 2 Press 2 Denied to answer 8 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Values Detector Media · Kyiv 2018 7 WORK OF PUBLIC AUTHORITIES IN INFORMATION POLICY AND MEDIA REGULATION The advantages that Ukrainians attach to certain types of media are to some extent related to age, education, and employment. According to the company’s analysis, the highest level of trust in television was observed among people of retirement age, and the lowest among people under the age of 30. On the contrary, the Internet was most often used by young people and rarely by the elderly. At the same time, individuals with the highest level of education are significantly less likely to use television to get their news than those with lower education, but they use the Internet significantly more to get their news than do people with low levels of education. The popularity of different types of media closely correlates with their rates in the advertising market. Thus, according to the All-Ukrainian Advertising Coalition, in 2017 television led in advertising sales, while the Internet was in the second place, newspapers were third, and radio was in fourth place. Table 2. 2016 Total, Million Forecast for Percentage change UAH 2017, million UAH 2017 to 2016 (forecast made in August 2017) TV advertising, total 5 676 7 414 31 % Direct advertising 4 965 6 455 30 % Sponsorship 711 960 35 % Press, total 1 150 1 349 17 % National 680 816 20 % Regional 190 219 15 % Specialized 280 314 12 % Radio advertising, total 400 480 20% National radio 290 348 20 % Regional Radio 39 47 20 % Sponsorship 71 85 20 % Out-of-Home Media, total 1 240 1 766 42 % Outdoor advertising structures 1 081 1 567 45 % Transportation advertising 77 96 25 % Indoor-advertising (i.e. Indoor video) 82 103 25 % Advertising in theaters 35 40 15 % Internet advertising 3 140 4 344 38 % TOTAL MARKET 11 641 15 393 32 % MEDIA MARKET MEDIA 8 Monitoring Report What media are making progress in the Ukrainian media market. A short guide to the Ukrainian media landscape TELEVISION According to the Industrial Television Committee, in October 2017, television channels 1 + 1, Ukraine, STB, ICTV, Novy Kanal, Inter, NTN, TET, K1, and 2 + 2 made up the top 10 rated television channels for peopla age 18-54. Each had an audience of more than 50,000 people. Each channel is privately owned and part of various media groups owned by Ukrainian oligarchs: Igor Kolomoisky and Igor Surkis (1 + 1, TET, 2 + 2), Rinat Akhmetov (Ukraine), Viktor Pinchuk (STB, ICTV, Novyj Kanal), and Dmitry Firtash, Sergey Lyovochkin and Valery Khoroshkovsky (Inter, NTN, K1). Table 3. Age 18-54, 50,000+ audience № TELEVISION CHANNEL rat % shr % 1 «1+1» 1,46 10,64 2 «Ukraine» 1,46 10,60 3 STB 1,44 10,48 4 ICTV 1,21 8,77 5 Novyj Kanal 0,94 6,83 6 Inter 0,89 6,49 7 NTN 0,45 3,28 8 TET 0,43 3,14 9 K1 0,35 2,53 10 2+2 0,34 2,45 Meanwhile, public television channel “UA: First,” created in early 2017 and based on the former state television company, came in 29th in the October rankings. As a result of commercial negotiations with cable providers, all of the largest private media holding groups decided to encode their signals on satellite in 2018, creating a significant challenge for the configuration of the mass media market in Ukraine. There are fears that this could harm information security in Ukraine, as the satellite signal will remain uncoded and be capable of broadcasting Russian television channels with illegal anti- Ukrainian propaganda. At the same time, Ukrainian television channels may not be able to compete for the attention of those Ukrainian satellite television consumers who do not want to pay for encoded channels or change their television signal. Another trend in Ukraine’s television market in 2017 included the launch or intensification of television content focusing on Ukrainian presidential and parliamentary elections in 2019. Currently, there are 14 television channels either entirely or partially devoted to providing news and information: Channel 5, 24, Espresso, 112 Ukraine, NewsOne, Hromadske, ZIK, Social Country, NewsNetwork, PravdaTUT, UNIAN, Direct Channel, Oboz TV, and ATR. Although the audience for these channels is much smaller than the audience of large channels, it is comprised of people who are highly politicized.