In 2022, Ukraine was ranked 106th out of 180 in the “Reporters Without Borders” (RSF) World Press Freedom Index. In the first year of the full-scale invasion, we lost 9 points at once: The Great War has damaged our media space.

In 2023, we moved up to 79th place – but the challenges of war have not disappeared. “The armed conflict unleashed by Russia on 24 February 2022 threatens the survival of the Ukrainian media space. In this information war, the country is at the forefront of countering the expansion of the Kremlin’s propaganda system,” states the Ukraine page in the Index-2023.

We asked the experts what challenges the media sector faces today and what steps the European Union expects us to take in the field of information policy.

Media challenges: then and now

There is a war in Ukraine. We cannot talk about complete freedom of speech even from the martial law point of view: it directly allows the state to impose certain restrictions. Vadym Miskyi, programm director of Detector Media, an NGO member of the RPR Coalition, is convinced of this. In his opinion, the Ukrainian authorities are relatively mild in their use of direct means of influencing the information space and the work of the media – except for television. 

“The government-backed telethon “United News” has radically changed and unified the picture on television. At the same time, under the pretext of introducing the marathon, the digital broadcasting of three private TV channels associated with the previous president of Ukraine was stopped, but they remained available on satellite, OTT and the Internet,” – explains Vadym Miskyi. So, the first challenge is media censorship. 

The second challenge is the expansion of the state-controlled media sector. Despite Ukraine’s long-standing commitment to transform all state-owned media into public media, i.e. with an independent system of governance and editorial policy, or to abandon them, new state-owned channels outside the Public Broadcasting system continue to be created and developed. “These channels receive phenomenal funding,” the expert explains, “Sooner or later, Ukraine will have to decide how to shut down or transform these newly created state media to separate them from the influence of the authorities”.

As of May 2023, more than 230 media outlets were forced to close. Some journalists have gone into collaboration, as is happening in Crimea, and those who are trying to continue honest journalism have either been forced to leave or sooner or later find themselves in Russian torture chambers. So the industry is currently short-staffed.

Ihor Rozkladay, deputy director of the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law, also an NGO member of the RPR Coalition, emphasises another challenge: “Media funding is an acute problem from the local level to national holdings. For example, Ukrainian Public Broadcaster receives only 30% of the minimum required by law, while other national media outlets are forced to hold the National Marathon as a way to save resources.

The third challenge was the lack of people, space and money.

Finally, the last issue that has been hotly debated is the role of social media in the information war. Telegram has quadrupled its audience, taking it away from the “classical” media. At the same time, the quality of materials in anonymous Telegram channels is questionable. 

“I would call the audience’s desire to confirm cognitive biases the biggest challenge facing the media in the coming years, along with economic problems,” – sums up Igor Rozkladay.

So, there are many challenges in the media today. And yet, it was during the Great War that Ukraine managed to make one of the most important steps in its information policy – the adoption of the Law on Media. 

Media reform in the spotlight 

Since the Revolution of Dignity, several packages of media laws have been adopted to regulate transparency of media ownership, access to information and protection of journalists. The establishment of independent Public Broadcasting in 2017 was the most significant of these reforms. 

“We can already say that the creation of Ukrainian Public Broadcaster is one of the overdue, but nevertheless important steps that took place before the large-scale invasion. Yes, we still have a problem with its funding, but the reform is on the right track,” – said Ihor Rozkladay, Deputy Director of the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law.

Vadym Miskyi, programme director of Detector Media, adds: “This year, the European Commission, in its conclusion recommending the opening of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU, noted that Public Broadcasting adheres to the standards of independent journalism, has the highest trust ratings among radio and television channels, is considered politically neutral and not subject to political influence.”

Among the other advantages of the reform, experts note: strengthening the regulator’s powers, expanding its arsenal of tools to respond to violations of media legislation (for example, fines, injunctions as an initial measure to warn the media against new violations), regulating the online media, and joint regulation to replace the full state control. 

But recalling the challenges discussed at the beginning of this article, the question arises as to whether censorship and lack of resources are affecting media reform.

Both Vadym Miskyi and Ihor Rozkladai are convinced that although martial law affects the level of media reform, it keeps on.

“Media reform is about changing the rules of the game. It means that there is no need to spend local communities’ money on ‘parquet’ [unnecessary purchases],”-  assures Miskyi, – “It means that market players should be involved in policy-making.”

The European Commission praised the adoption of the media law on 8 November in its report. But the wartime challenges will not disappear, and the EU will have expectations of media reform. What are they?

Ukraine’s media market and EU accession 

In its conclusion, along with the recommendation to open negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU, the European Commission outlined the following tasks for the Ukrainian authorities for the next year:

– Together with the journalistic community, develop simplified rules for reporting from the war zone and adjacent territories, taking into account security issues;

– ensure the independence of the national regulator by providing adequate funding, including for the necessary adjustments to its structure in accordance with the new Law on Media;

– develop a roadmap to support the restoration of a pluralistic, transparent and independent post-war media landscape;

– address the issue of funding of Public Broadcasting;

– implement the Acts on Digital Services and Media Freedom, as well as future acts on artificial intelligence, etc.

Legislative activity is unstoppable, says Rozkladay. In Ukraine, work on media reform and freedom of speech must continue despite the full-scale war. And civil society organisations will help the state in this. For example, the Reanimation Package of Reforms Coalition presented the Vision of Ukraine 2030, where we outlined media reform, among other things. You can read the vision document here.

The material “In Spotlight: How to Preserve Freedom of Speech and Join the EU in Times of War” was published with the support of the European Endowment for Democracy (EED). Its contents do not necessarily reflect the official position of the EED. The information or views expressed in this material are the sole responsibility of the authors.