Chairman of Ukraine’s Television and Radio Broadcasting Committee: Systemic attack launched on public television reform

Chairman of the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine Oleh Nalyvaiko said this at a meeting of the board of the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"A systemic attack to disrupt the reform is being launched at the final stage, during these last 2-3 weeks. The attack has been launched after representatives of one of the media groups failed to lead [the reform process]. I see absolutely clear the traces that remain: the fake news that all is lost with the public television and all is lost with the Eurovision," Nalyvaiko said.

According to him, such fake messages primarily appear on the Russian websites, usually, from a single source, and then are canceled by the same source on the same websites, and then the Ukrainian websites republish that information.

"The group, which sets sights on the public television, is the same group which had been buying up the media assets before the Maidan protests, and now actively works in the interests of particular people through their former members of supervisory boards, operating directors, directors of legal departments," the Chairman of the State Committee said.

At the same time, he added that there was no time now to carry out any investigations as it was necessary to speed up the reform process.

"However, in January, as soon as the acting head of the National Public Television and Radio Company of Ukraine is appointed and as soon as the supervisory board of the National Public Television and Radio Company of Ukraine enters into force, the first thing they need to do is to conduct an internal investigation into attempt of the National Television Company of Ukraine officials to disrupt the reform. Moreover, this case should be united with another one regarding the attempts of the same people to privatize one of the most important projects of the National Television Company of Ukraine, which is now implemented in the interests of own enrichment," Nalyvaiko said.

He specified that former Director General of the National Television Company of Ukraine Zurab Alasania mentioned different reasons for his resignation and his key statement was that "one destructive person, erroneously taken into the team, can cause quarrels among all other team members and eventually destroy all the results of one-year work of many." Then, according to Nalyvaiko, when he himself decided to take the leadership of the Commission on transformation of the National Television Company of into the National Public Television and Radio Company of Ukraine after Alasania's resignation and got acquainted with the situation in the team, he realized who the person, mentioned earlier, was.

ol