Civil society and press freedom

The International Press Institute (IPI) is a 60 year old global press freedom organisation based out of Vienna, Austria.  Alison Mckenzie, Interim Director of IPI, has over 20 years experience in journalism, as a reporter, bureau chief, editor and trainer.

August 10, Mckenzie signed an open letter, on behalf of IPI, addressed to the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. In the letter she urged the Ukrainian President to make good on his repeated promise to support independent media, saying that “current developments [concerning press freedom in the Ukraine] run counter to [his]public pledges to defend the freedom of the press and to prevent pressure on the media.”

Why did IPI feel it was necessary to intervene and to express its concerns to President Yanukovych?

Our organisation looks at global press freedom issues, this situation really struck us because it is right in our backyard. We had been monitoring the situation for six months along with other press freedom organisations, so we have seen how quickly the situation has been deteriorating. Also concern was raised by our Ukrainian members.

Have you had a response from the government? 

We received a response from the government web site. The President makes it clear that he is interested in a dialogue about press freedom and that he would do due diligence to make sure that media court cases are faire. We were very excited about that and we were also excited to hear that the government had postponed the August 16 hearing on TV frequencies by two weeks. We were delighted by this because it means that the court is doing due diligence.

Are you hopeful that press freedom will improve?

Yes we are, when the President was running for office one of his pledges was that he would act as a watchdog of press freedom – so we were surprised when things turned for the worst. But he has promised a transparent and fair trial without any political pressure. Now he is the President and not the judiciary but he obviously has some influence over the situation.

The President recently released a statement expressing his concern for the well being of Vasyl Klymentyev (the missing Ukrainian journalist). Is this a positive sign?

In terms of the case of the journalist who has gone missing, the government has been very diligent in trying to find out who could have taken or injured him. We are very encouraged by the Interior Ministers statement, regarding suspects in the case and by his decision to move the case to the central office to avoid tampering with evidence or leaking of information.

In a situation like this what kind of impact does your organisation hope to have?

We send these letters because we want to start a conversation. Many times we will meet with heads of state to discuss the role of the media, self regulation and how the media can do its job effectively. An effective media means that the community is well informed.

More generally, what can civil society and of NGOs do to improve press freedom?

I think that civil society has to do two things. First it needs to offer financial support. Many newspapers, television and radio stations are hanging on by a thread, particularly in this financial crisis. Next there is a need for more training and exposure for journalists in developing countries.