On Ukrainian tv, the troublesome steadiness between army censorship and the expression of pluralism

It is a kind of limitless telethon, which has been occurring for nearly eight months. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days every week, the knowledge of Ukrainian digital tv is equivalent and broadcast concurrently on 5 channels, martial regulation obliges.

Due to the Russian invasion which has ravaged the nation since February 24, the military imposes strict army censorship: newsrooms should wait 4 hours earlier than broadcasting photos of Russian strikes. That is to keep away from serving to the enemy to “appropriate the taking pictures”. It’s also and above all a query of sustaining cohesion throughout the inhabitants within the face of adversity and of combating in opposition to the makes an attempt at destabilization carried out by Russia on social networks.

“Tv is a precedence goal for Russians, ensures the World Tradition and Info Coverage Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko. That’s the reason their missiles haven’t ceased to focus on tv towers, in kyiv, in Kharkiv, in Rivne, Vinnytsia and elsewhere. Once they seize a metropolis, they at all times begin by slicing Ukrainian tv to exchange it with their channels, even earlier than taking management of the executive buildings. »

The central instruction of this system broadcast by Ukrainian tv channels is to persuade the viewers’ morale, emphasizing excellent news and ridiculing the invader as a lot as attainable. The troopers try to do their bit. Responding on Saturday, October 15 to a urgent query from the presenter on the imminence of a takeover by the Ukrainian military of the Kherson area, the top of the press service of the 63^e mechanized brigade, Oleg Zelinsky, first answered in essentially the most typical manner: “I can not inform you, as a result of it is forbidden. » Then he grabbed a big slice of watermelon, hitherto out of body, and sank his tooth into it, sparking hilarity within the studio. This vegetable is the image of the Kherson area.

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“No blacklist”

This sketch, directed by a namesake of the actor who turned president, Volodymyr Zelensky, illustrates the communication efforts made by the federal government to maintain the rear mobilized. The telethon, referred to as in Ukrainian “Info Union – collectively we’re stronger”, is organized by 5 tv channels. Three belong to oligarchs: Inter (Dmytro Firtash, below home arrest in Austria), 1+1 (Ihor Kolomoisky, banned from getting into the USA) and ICTV (Viktor Pinchuk, son-in-law of former President Leonid Kuchma). The opposite two are public channels: Pershi and Rada, the parliamentary channel. Every of the chains produces a six-hour slot then passes the baton to the following, ie a thirty-hour cycle.

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