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War is a circumstance of unparalleled dimension. Media attempting to operate in conflict zones are always under threat, often direct targets, yet serve citizens immeasurably. Aggressors seek an information advantage to add fear to the plight of citizens.
Most television channels in Ukraine have united by executive order offering a single broadcast, reports Ukraine media news portal Detector Media (March 20). Two orders were issued (March 18) on the decision of the National Security and Defence Council: “On neutralization of threats to information security” and “On the implementation of a unified information policy under martial law.” Digital TV operator Zeonbud is charged with equipping and monitoring “uninterrupted broadcasting” including through “alternative satellite operators.” (See more about media in Ukraine here)
Privately held 1+1 Media, StarLightMedia, Inter Media Group and Media Group Ukraine are joining with public broadcaster Suspilne and parliament channel Rada TV to produce a single television broadcast, largely news and information. Channel 5 and Direct will produce a separate channel. The broadcasters will also jointly produce a children and family channel. The Russian Federation military has targeted and damaged several distribution facilities and completely taken over facilities in Zaporizhia and Kherson areas. (See more about conflict zones here)
Distinctly pro-Russian channels ZiK, 112 Ukraine and NewsOne owned by politician Viktor Medvedchuk, considered close to Russian Federation president Vladimir V. Putin, were ordered closed in February. Pro-Russian political parties have also been banned.
After Taliban militants took over Afghanistan last summer, the briefly vibrant media sector was effectively reduced to religious speeches. Amazingly, Tolo TV managed to survive, mostly because owner Moby Group decamped for Dubai, only a few employees remaining in Kabul. Distribution of the channel is by satellite.
Last week (March 17) three Tolo TV employees were met by a group of armed extremists and led away. Tolo TV owner Moby Group indicated that they had been “instructed” by the Taliban to remove certain “foreign drama series.” The notorious Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice imposed the ban. What sent the extremists into a tizzy, apparently, was social media messages from Tolo TV about the ban on dramas. The employees were released a day later, reported the AP (March 18). (See more about media in Central Asia here)
Several Afghan and international media support groups. at a recent Kabul press conference, said times remain very tough both financially and professionally. “We have suggested that they should help the media outlets until they stand on their own feet, no matter if it takes one year or two,” said Afghanistan Federation of Journalists official Hafizullah Barakzai, quoted by Tolo News (March 15). “They (the Taliban) do not respond to our messages,” said one reporter. “If they answer our calls, they do not give us the information we need for our reports.”
Sanctions levied on Russian propaganda TV channel RT, originally Russia Today, by German regional regulator Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenberg (MABB) were affirmed by the Administrative Court of Berlin, noted the regulator in a statement (March 17), reported Süddeutsche Zeitung (March 18). RT DE Productions GmbH had filed for “urgent” injunctive relief as the MABB increased the financial penalty for broadcasting without a license to €40,000. RT DE has continued to broadcast its German-language programs and is waging legal appeals. The MABB banned the channel in Germany in early February.
“The media law procedure is an expression of a functioning constitutional state, the rule of law is the prerequisite for a free and democratic media public,” said MABB director Eva Flecken. “Broadcasting in Germany requires a license. RT DE cannot ignore this either." RT DE claimed a German broadcast license is not required as it has a license in Serbia. RT DE has refused to pay the fines and the MABB is moving forward on collections. (See more about television here)
UK media regulator Ofcom rendered a similar decision (March 18), officially revoking the RT broadcasting license, noted the Guardian (March 18) and others. Citing Russian state funding as well as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ofcom decision said ANO TV Novosti, the license holder, is not “fit and proper to hold a UK broadcast license.” The RT and Sputnik propaganda outlets are already off air in the UK following European Union (EU) sanctions. (See more about media in the Russian Federation here)
“We also note new laws in Russia which effectively criminalise any independent journalism that departs from the Russian state’s own news narrative, in particular in relation to the invasion of Ukraine,” the Ofcom statement added. “We consider that given these constraints it appears impossible for RT to comply with the due impartiality rules of our Broadcasting Code in the circumstances.’’ Quick with a come-back and without a touch of irony, RT deputy editor Anna Belkina said Ofcom “is nothing more than a tool of government, bending to its media-suppressing will.” (See more about propaganda here)
On the international level, the EU added Russian state TV broadcaster Channel One chief executive Konstantin Ernst to the sanctions list this week. He has a long history with Russian television, beginning as a TV show host. Channel One is the primary Russian-language propaganda source. Yesterday (March 17) his departure from the board of mobile telephone operator MTS was announced, reported Kommersant (March 17). Mr. Ernst joined the MTS board as an independent director in 2020 as a joint venture film channel with Channel One was established.
MediaForEurope (MFE) upped its stake this week in German pay-TV broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Media, now holding “over” 25%, reported Italian news agency ANSA (March 15). Shortly thereafter MFE made a cash and stock offer for outstanding Mediaset Espana shares. From media watchers everywhere came the sigh, there they go again.
MFE is the Berlusconi family holding company. It principally owns broadcaster Mediaset in Italy. MFE was formed last year after settling a very long dispute with Vivendi, controlled by Vincent Bollore, over a quasi-pan-European television plan, ostensibly to compete with Netflix, Amazon Prime et.al.. MFE is incorporated in the Netherlands. M Bollore had French pay-TV broadcaster Canal+ to offer. The Berlusconi family had Mediaset plus a controlling stake in Mediaset Espana. But M Bollore became distracted by the Lagardère takeover. Oh, French TV operator M6, owned by RTL Group, struck a quasi-merger/takeover deal with TF1, owned by conglomerate Bouygues, which, considering the strength of public broadcaster France Télévisions, spoiled the opportunity to include the French market in the pan-European dream. (See more about mergers and acquisitions here)
ProSiebenSat.1 Media also has been part of that dream, at least for the Berlusconi family. But buying out the 44% of Mediaset Espana shares it does not already own is the immediate priority. But, again, the ProSiebenSat.1 Media annual general meeting (AGM) is coming right up and the Berlusconi family, now with more votes, wants to change a few things, including selling off non-broadcast subsidiaries to bring in a bit of cash and, perhaps, spinning off chief executive Rainer Beaujean, who has been quite successful developing a pan-German language product, adding the Austrian and Swiss-German markets. (See more about television here)
It is highly unlikely that MFE will further raise its stake in ProSiebenSat.1 Media, say, to 30%. That would trigger a mandatory takeover bid which, all things considered, would be very expensive, perhaps out of reach. And, once that takeover mechanism starts to roll other bidders would be invited to play. It is not out of the realm of possibility that RTL Group, principally owned by Bertelsmann, would change the equation.
Support continues to grow for Ukraine’s media outlets. With the country’s media workers enduring personal pain and professional stress colleagues around the world are reaching out. Literally being bombed, broadcast and publishing infrastructures are increasingly fragile.
“I highly appreciate it when colleagues from other countries take our radio signal and broadcast it,” said Ukraine public broadcaster (UA:PBC) chief executive Mykola Chernotytskyi in a statement released by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) (March 6). “I would appreciate it if stations could broadcast in AM frequency which has very good penetration in Ukraine.” Due to threats to towers, transmitters and other facilities UA:PBC “relocated” from Kyiv, the capital, to Kviv in the west of the country. (See more about media in Ukraine here)
French public television channel France 2 originated its evening news program Monday (March 14) in Kviv. “Assistance” was provided by 50 producers and reporters from UA:PBC, noted Le Figaro (March 14). Details of the production and broadcast were kept confidential until Monday morning. Press freedom advocate Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) established in Kviv a “center for press freedom” over the weekend providing general support to reporters and news crews. (See more about media support here)
After several recent media initiatives focused on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, such as the Dutch Radio555 broadcast and the worldwide “Give Peace A Chance” broadcast, it is now the turn of the New York Metropolitan Opera. Yesterday (March 14) The Met presented a benefit performance A Concert for Ukraine, offered live to its large US radio network. International broadcasters, including Classic FM in the UK, are offering the performance today (March 15). Last week, The Met severed its relationship with Russian soprano Anna Netrebko who declined to condemn Russian president Vladimir V. Putin.
Direct media support is coming from the Ukrainian Media Fund, an initiative of the Gazeta Wyborcza Foundation, related to the major Polish newspaper owned by publisher Agora SE. Foundation council member Peter Wolodarski reached out to publishers and associations in Scandinavia who responded “within 24 hours.” Within that day, €260,000 had been raised. “The collected funds will be used for the purchase of equipment necessary for journalists working in war zones, financial support for these journalists and journalists and media organizations in Ukraine, as well as for the relocation of journalists to Poland and other EU countries,” said Foundation president Joanna Krawczyk, in a statement (March 4).
Last week the European Parliament passed by wide majorities several resolutions setting out human rights positions. Called out for “heinous atrocities carried out against the country’s population” was the military junta in Myanmar. Azerbaijani authorities were condemned for “erasing and denying the Armenian cultural heritage in and around Nagorno-Karabakh.” Mexico under president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was firmly criticized for failing to stem attacks on media and human rights workers. The country, said the resolution, “has long been the most dangerous and deadliest place for journalists outside an official war zone.”
Periodically, major governmental and non-governmental organizations issue statements of conscience; supporting the good, criticising the other. These are, generally, to place positions on issues into the public record. It is a well-known effort for those groups, just a shade above symbolism. But, that symbolism can be powerful and enduring.
The European Parliament resolution on media and human rights in Mexico directly pointed to the country’s president. “Lopez Obrador has frequently used populist rhetoric in daily press briefings to denigrate and intimidate independent journalists, media owners and activists.” In turn, he called the resolution “slanderous” at his daily news conference, reported AFP (March 11). At the same time he defended his recusal on the Russian Federation invasion of Ukraine. (See more about press/media freedom here)
The public outburst by president Lopez Obrador, often referred to as AMLO, was "not worthy of a head of state but typical of a populist haranguing for his followers,” said Spanish MEP Leopoldo López Gil, to El Pais (March 12). Sr López Gil fled Venezuela for Spain in 2014. "What is happening in Mexico is not far from what happened in Maduro's Venezuela. He cited the “lukewarm” response of president Lopez Obrador to the murders of seven media workers this year as linked to "corruption, drug trafficking and populism.” (See more about media in Mexico here)
UPDATE: The death toll this year for media workers in Mexico rose to eight this week. El Monitor Michoacan director Armando Linares was shot dead (March 15) by unidentified assailants at his home in the town of Zitacuaro, state of Michoacan. A digital news portal, El Monitor Michoacan is active in reporting on corruption in the region, which has long been site of a turf battle among drug lords. Roberto Toledo, a reporter for the outlet, was gunned down January 31.
After offering condolences to the family, President Lopez Obrador quickly deflected any government irresponsibility by pointing to the “Mechanism,” as it is known in Mexico, which sets out safety measures for media and rights workers. One step requires notifying authorities of every move. Another is a panic button, actually a mobile phone, that somehow can be accessed by telemarketers, noted El Universal (March 17). Sr. Linares refrained from the “Mechanism” procedures after his colleague was murdered.
“We do not want government condolences,” blasted the Journalism Guild of Michoacán, reported Punto MX (March 16). “We are not interested in solidarity from authorities or popular representatives on social networks. Save them! We demand that you assume your responsibilities and stop using us as cannon fodder for your political disputes.”
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