Draft law “On Media” No. 2693: new restrictions of freedom of media in Ukraine

Abstract

The analysis of the draft law On Media No. 2693, submitted for consideration by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in December 2019. The official reason for its development was the lack of working mechanisms to ensure information security and protection of the national media space of Ukraine in a hybrid war. The main task of our study is an attempt to determine the place of the bill in the reformed system of legal regulation of the media in Ukraine, from a position neutral to the process of the scientific community. (The following draft law On Misinformation, which is also under consideration by the Verkhovna Rada, speaks in favor of a systematic policy of reforms in the media sector of Ukraine). To this end, a detailed content analysis was conducted, which showed that the potentially ambiguous wording of the adopted document at the stage of its enforcement leaves the regulatory authorities free to interpret them depending on the interests of the parties, rather than on the letter of the law. The key to understanding the risks associated with its entry into force is the section on the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine, which will have jurisdiction over all aspects of the country's media structures, including economic ones. Thus, the proposed material may be of interest and be considered as a contribution to the development of criteria for a comprehensive scientific analysis of the legislation governing media structures, while the need for the participation of the scientific community in the development of such documents and public discussion at the stage of their preparation is obvious.

Keywords

• bill
• censorship
• internet media
• legal regulator
• freedom of speech
• ukraine
• on media no. 2693
• discrimination
• sanctions
• controlling authorities
• media liability
• bloggers