[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 20672-20673]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  50 YEARS OF RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY BROADCASTING IN UKRAINE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 4, 2004

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, 50 years ago, Congress authorized a program 
of U.S. radio broadcasts to Ukraine that had enormous historical 
importance, and still do today. We know that the transition to 
democracy and genuine freedom of speech in the former communist 
countries has never been easy to implement, but such broadcasts are an 
essential component. Thomas A. Dine, the President of the RFE/RL, is 
one of my dear and closest friends. He has been a tireless fighter for 
democracy, human rights, press freedoms, and rule of law in Ukraine and 
other countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. I want 
to honor his contribution to the cause of freedom and democracy in 
Ukraine by including this speech he delivered last month in Kharkiv, 
Ukraine, in the Congressional Record.

            Today's Ukraine: The Lack of Democratic Freedoms

                          (By Thomas A. Dine)

       I am in Ukraine at this time for several reasons:
       First, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Radio Liberty's 
     Ukrainian broadcasting service. Radio Liberty has been a 
     source of objective news and information for the people of 
     Ukraine for fifty years--for this fact, I am honored to head 
     Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and to be associated with the 
     men and women who have brought first-class journalism to 
     Ukraine's airwaves for half a century. Second, to remind as 
     many Ukrainians as possible that in February 2004, the Kuchma 
     Government kicked Radio Liberty off the Dovira Radio FM 
     network. Third, to work with media people to try to restore 
     our broadcasts on as many stations as possible as soon as 
     possible. Fourth, to join all of you participating in this 
     Global Fairness Initiatives, IREX, and Ukraine in Europe 
     conference here in Kharkiv.
       Today I want to share my experiences and observations about 
     the condition of democratic institutions in general, and free 
     press in particular, in Ukraine. Overall, the Ukrainian 
     people still do not have the full freedoms they deserve. This 
     is the essence of my talk here this morning: after five 
     decades, the Ukrainian people still do not have the full 
     freedoms they deserve. Of course, Ukraine in 2004 is a vastly 
     better place to be than it was in 1954. The tyrannical Soviet 
     Union is no more, and its calculated effort to eradicate 
     Ukrainian culture failed. Ukraine now has a semblance of 
     political independence and free markets.
       But I can tell you that for those of us in the business of 
     establishing and protecting freedom of speech and press 
     institutions, Ukraine continues to be a heartache. For 
     example, here's a question for you: What do Pakistan, Jordan, 
     Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Egypt, and Kuwait have in common? Yes, 
     they are all Muslim countries. But besides that, they all, 
     according to the watchdog organization Reporters Without 
     Borders, have more press freedom than Ukraine.
       Let me give you a more personal example: Radio Free Europe/
     Radio Liberty broadcasts to 19 countries today, and each one 
     is important to us. All people, whether they're from large 
     nations like Russia or small nations like Armenia, have the 
     right of unfettered access to news and information. But as 
     the President of RFE/RL, owing to the lack of real press 
     freedom here in Ukraine, starting with the murder of George 
     Gongadze, I have spent more time dealing with Ukraine over 
     the past four years than with any other single country. The 
     condition of press freedom in Ukraine today is poor.
       Ukraine is the biggest disappointment among the countries 
     to which Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty broadcasts. I say 
     this because, while we certainly broadcast to countries less 
     free than Ukraine, no other country's post-Soviet path has 
     diverted so much from the hopes that I, and other western 
     friends of Ukraine, had for it. Ukraine is a potentially rich 
     and beautiful country, with immense potential with a well-
     educated populace 50-million strong, fertile land, bustling 
     seaports, and a strategic location between the European Union 
     and Russia. But a succession of corrupt governments has 
     squandered this potential. U.S. State Department officials 
     have even invented a term for our feelings of frustration; it 
     is called in Washington, ``Ukraine fatigue.'' Elected 
     American politicians and American foreign policy officials 
     are tired of the Ukrainian leadership's resistance to liberal 
     democratic reforms.
       The media environment in Ukraine has one overriding 
     problem, and it's easy to summarize: an overwhelming majority 
     of radio and television stations present only pro-government 
     points of view. Experts who have studied the Ukrainian media 
     have identified three reasons for this.
       The first reason is obvious: almost all national TV and 
     radio stations are owned or controlled by government 
     officials and their friends. Two associates of President 
     Kuchma in particular Viktor Medvedchuk, the head of the 
     Kuchma Administration, and Viktor Pinchuk, Mr. Kuchma's son-
     in-law-control a staggering portion of Ukrainian broadcast 
     media outlets.
       The second reason for the dominance of the government's 
     point of view on the airwaves is the widespread use of 
     temniki. As I am sure all of you know, temniki are secret, 
     unsigned daily memoranda sent by President Kuchma's staff to 
     editors of the leading state and private media, instructing 
     them on how to cover a particular story, and on which stories 
     to cover and which to ignore. When the President's office 
     determines the content of the evening news, that is not 
     freedom--that is autocracy. Noted journalist Andriy 
     Shevchenko put it best when he told your Parliament in 2002, 
     ``Television news coverage in Ukraine is done by remote 
     control.''
       The third reason for the orthodoxy prevailing in Ukrainian 
     broadcasting is the corrupt licensing process. As you know, 
     anyone with a computer and a printer can start a newsletter 
     or a website. But television and radio frequencies are a 
     finite commodity that must be allotted by the government. 
     That is how it works in the United States, and that's how it 
     works in Ukraine. The problem in Ukraine, however, is that 
     the licensing authorities favor broadcast entities that 
     promise to be friendly to the government--and the process 
     itself is so closed and confusing that protesting a given 
     decision is futile.
       This concentration of media power in the hands of one 
     political mindset and one political bloc becomes particularly 
     dangerous during an election campaign. This year, when it is 
     absolutely critical that voters receive as much objective and 
     balanced information about the candidates as possible, 
     Ukrainian voters are getting only one side of the story. 
     Studies by outside observers have established beyond doubt 
     that on the TV and radio stations controlled by Mr. 
     Medvedchuk and Mr. Pinchuk, including Ukrainian state 
     television and Ukrainian state radio, reporters are providing 
     positive coverage of the candidate Mr. Kuchma supports, and 
     overwhelmingly negative coverage of the candidate Mr. Kuchma 
     most fears and dislikes. This is precisely why freedom of the 
     press is essential to the operation of a democracy: an 
     electorate cannot possibly make informed

[[Page 20673]]

     choices at the ballot box if the media do not report the 
     whole truth about the candidates.
       President Kuchma thus enjoys a luxury that any political 
     leader would envy--a media environment that is almost totally 
     compliant. And this lack of diversity in the media landscape 
     has been exacerbated by the fact that the profession of 
     practicing journalism in Ukraine is so difficult that few 
     people are willing to do it.
       I stated earlier that the condition of media freedom in 
     Ukraine is poor. Associated with this fact is that Ukraine, 
     to put it mildly, is not a good place to be a journalist. 
     Reporters there have more to fear than the censorship and 
     intimidation that unfortunately plague much of the media in 
     the former Soviet Union. Ukrainian journalists must also fear 
     for their lives. Since 2000, at least 39 journalists have 
     been killed. 42 Ukrainian journalists were attacked or 
     harassed in 2003 alone nearly double the figure for 2002. And 
     although President Kuchma himself may not be to blame for all 
     the mayhem that is visited on reporters in his country, there 
     is strong evidence, indeed a tape recording, that he is 
     directly responsible for the most notorious act of violence 
     against a journalist in recent memory: the cruel and criminal 
     beheading of Georgy Gongadze.
       Furthermore, practicing journalism in Ukraine entails 
     enormous economic burdens. While there is a small group of 
     well-connected journalists that is very well-paid, low 
     salaries are the rule. Expenses such as computers, 
     transmitters, newsprint, and paper are very burdensome for 
     the average Ukrainian enterprise. Private media outlets have 
     a limited pool of advertisers from which to draw extra 
     revenue, and therefore have a hard time turning a profit. 
     When you have impoverished media employing impoverished 
     journalists, the result is a journalistic climate that is 
     extremely conducive to corruption: people with money can get 
     their stories told and their views expressed, while people 
     without money cannot. Moneyed interests--including government 
     officials--can manipulate coverage of their actions, as cash-
     starved newspapers are offered financial inducements to tell 
     the payer's side of the story. Call it journalistic bribery.
       Meanwhile, the prevalence of organized crime has made 
     targets of journalists who dare to print the truth about 
     corruption. And law suits against media outlets for 
     defamation are on the rise. In a climate such as this, when 
     independent journalists face everything from lawsuits to jail 
     to death, it is almost a miracle that anyone is willing to 
     pursue the profession.
       Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has experienced the 
     hostility of the Ukrainian media environment firsthand. As a 
     broadcast entity funded in the United States and produced in 
     Prague, we cannot be intimidated by President Kuchma and his 
     goons. But while Kuchma can't go after RFE/RL, he can go 
     after our affiliate stations in Ukraine, and that is 
     precisely what he has done.
       The government's crusade against Radio Liberty began in 
     earnest in February 2004 when, after a five-year, close 
     working relationship, our Ukrainian-language programs were 
     removed from the Dovira FM radio network by the company's new 
     owner, who is a political supporter of President Kuchma. 
     Dovira was RFE/RL's major affiliate; it gave us the ability 
     to reach some 60 percent of the population of Ukraine, 
     including Kyiv. The explanation given by the new owners--that 
     RFE/RL news programs did not fit the envisioned new format of 
     the radio network--ignored the fact that Dovira listenership 
     was highest when our programs were on its airwaves. And in 
     fact, authorities later admitted to some of us that the 
     Dovira action was taken for political, not commercial, 
     reasons.
       The attack on Radio Liberty intensified in March, when 
     Radio Kontynent, an FM commercial station in Kyiv that had 
     begun to air RFE/RL programming two days earlier, was raided 
     and closed by Ukrainian authorities. The station's 
     transmission equipment was seized and three employees were 
     briefly detained. This station also carried the programs of 
     other international broadcasters, including the Voice of 
     America, BBC, Polish State Radio, and Deutsche Welle. Serhiy 
     Sholokh, the owner of Radio Kontynent, fled Ukraine and has 
     received political asylum in the United States.
       On that very same day, an RFE/RL representative was 
     scheduled to meet in Kyiv with Heorhiy Chechyk, the owner of 
     an independent FM station in Poltava, to finalize a contract 
     to broadcast RFE/RL programs. The director was killed in a 
     suspicious automobile accident en route to this meeting.
       RFE/RL continues to broadcast in Ukraine on seven 
     independent radio stations in smaller cities and a small 
     network in Crimea. In addition, our board, the U.S. 
     Broadcasting Board of Governors, has added additional 
     shortwave frequencies into Ukraine in an effort to continue 
     to provide our popular programming to listeners in Ukraine. 
     But the Kuchma Administration is doing its best to prevent us 
     from gaining greater access. Over and over again, owners of 
     radio stations in Ukraine tell us that they are being 
     threatened by Ukrainian authorities and told not to take RFE/
     RL programs. Some station owners who earlier showed interest 
     now are unwilling even to meet with us. The government has 
     exerted financial pressure on potential affiliates as well, 
     threatening a tenfold increase in the licensing fees of any 
     TV or radio station that rebroadcasts foreign programming. 
     Their tactics, in other words, are no different from those of 
     the mafia.
       The website of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, 
     www.radiosvoboda.org, has a substantial following in Ukraine. 
     But even our Internet efforts have faced government 
     obstruction. Earlier this year, RFE/RL attempted to send a 
     ``mirror server'' to Kyiv, which would have provided Internet 
     users in Ukraine with much quicker and more reliable access 
     to the site. Ukrainian customs, however, refused to admit the 
     server, seizing on a clerical error to accuse RFE/RL of 
     attempted smuggling. Just looking at the harassment Radio 
     Liberty has faced in Ukraine, you can see why Reporters 
     Without Borders has given Ukraine such low marks.
       In addition to the problems I mentioned earlier, there is 
     one more problem plaguing the Ukrainian media environment--
     and this one is the most worrisome of all. It is apathy. Over 
     and over again, scholars and observers of Ukraine note that 
     when the government interferes with freedom of the press, the 
     Ukrainian people--including journalists--do not protest much. 
     As one Ukrainian journalist has stated, ``Freedom of speech 
     is not valued in our society, and its violation does not 
     cause public outrage'' when it is threatened.
       Ladies and gentlemen, if I can leave you today with one 
     message, it is that freedom of expression does matter. 
     There's a reason that the founders of the United States put 
     freedom of speech and freedom of the press at the top of the 
     Bill of Rights. There's a reason that Thomas Jefferson once 
     wrote, ``If it were left to me to decide whether we should 
     have a government without a free press or a free press 
     without a government, I would prefer the latter.'' There's a 
     reason Franklin Roosevelt called it ``the first freedom.'' 
     There's a reason it occupies an important place in the 
     Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That reason is that 
     without a free press, society simply does not work--and its 
     people cannot prosper.
       Newspapers, radio, and television perform two functions 
     that are absolutely critical: first, they allow a nation's 
     citizens to engage in an ongoing conversation with one 
     another, and to form intelligent opinions about how their 
     society should be run; and second, they serve as a check 
     against government corruption. It is a universal truth of 
     human nature that power corrupts. A free press is the most 
     important protection we the people have against government's 
     inevitable tendency to increase its own power. This is the 
     critical difference between the Communist view of government 
     and the democratic view of government: the Communists 
     preached that the government knew best. The democratic view 
     is that because power corrupts, government cannot be trusted 
     and it therefore must be checked in every way possible. That 
     is why democracy requires a representative legislature, 
     independent courts, and, most importantly, a free press.
       One of my favorite words in the English language is 
     ``obstreperous.'' I am told that in Ukrainian it is 
     halaslivy. If you look at the word's Latin roots--``ob''--
     against, and ``strepere''--to make a noise--you can get an 
     idea of what it means: unruly, clamorous, noisy, defiant. 
     What Ukraine needs more than anything now is for you, the 
     Ukrainian people, to be more obstreperous. If corrupt 
     officials violate your rights, make lots of noise. If they 
     shut down the TV stations they do not control, make lots of 
     noise. If they send goons to polling places when you are 
     trying to vote for your local mayor, make lots of noise. And 
     if they try to steal next month's election, make lots of 
     noise. Protest, defiance, noise, demanding the truth--these 
     are the fundamental ingredients of freedom and democracy.
       My fondest wish is for this to be the last anniversary that 
     Radio Liberty ever celebrates in Ukraine; nothing would make 
     me happier than for us to become obsolete. But as long as 
     Ukraine lacks a free press, Radio Liberty will be with you--
     if it takes another 50 years, we will not abandon your cause 
     of real freedom, of real democratic institutions.
       Remember, though, that the most important role will be 
     played by you, the people. Never forget that apathy is the 
     dictator's best friend--and that obstreperousness is the 
     dictator's worst nightmare. Ukraine is a proud place, but it 
     is not a free place.
       A window was opened when the Soviet Union dissolved and the 
     nation-state of Ukraine arose again--and now it's up to you 
     to make sure that the window stays open, so that Ukraine can 
     at last breathe the same fresh air, that is a fully free 
     media, that we in the West have worked so hard for and been 
     fortunate enough to breathe for so long.

                          ____________________