Tkachenko declares the importance of adopting the Law “On Media”

Alexander Tkachenko recalled that the Law “On Media” was promoted by his committee. Photo: Tkachenko's Facebook page

The Law “On Media” is now more important to adopt than the law on misinformation, said the candidate for the post of Minister of Culture of Ukraine, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee for Humanitarian and Information Policy and Honorary President of “1 + 1 Media” Alexander Tkachenko.

“The Law ‘On Media’ was promoted by our committee. Now it’s on a restart, it’s under its first re-reading ... If you mean the law on disinformation, then it’s more important for the industry to adopt the Law “On Media”, the online edition “Strana.ua" cites Tkachenko.

The Law "On Media" has raised serious concerns with the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations. The AUCCRO twice called on the authorities to finalize the draft of this law - in February, members of the Council sent the authorities their amendments to the draft of this legislative act, and in May they urged that these proposals should be taken into account and finalized.

The AUCCRO expresses concern in regard to the provisions of Para 3, Part 1, Article 37 of Bill No. 2693 (a ban on the dissemination of statements that are discriminatory against individuals and their groups – Ed.) And Part 3 of Article 21 of the bill, which is about the prohibition of religious organizations from establishing, owning or managing audiovisual media. In the opinion of the representatives of the AUCCRO, such an atheistic, ideologically biased policy was pursued by the Soviet regime.

“This approach is unacceptable in a democratic, pluralistic and free society, such as Ukraine, including given the guarantees of ideological diversity and the prohibition of censorship provided for in Articles 15 and 24 of the Constitution of Ukraine,” said members of the Council.

On April 30, the profile committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine decided to continue work on the new edition of the draft Law "On Media".

According to the political scientist Ruslan Bortnik, the AUCCRO’s concerns about the new bills are absolutely justified.

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