SEE THE #MomProject ABOUT UKRAINIANS MEDIA INDEPENDENCE

The Ukrainian authorities have adopted a number of long-awaited reforms since the 2014 revolution, including laws on media ownership transparency and access to state-held information. But, as the new public broadcaster’s under-financing has shown, these gains are fragile. Much more is needed to loosen the oligarchs’ tight grip on the media and to encourage editorial independence. The information war with Russia has negative effects that include banning Russian media and Russian social networks and the blacklisting of foreign journalists. Foot-dragging in the fight against corruption has affected investigative reporting. Physical attacks on the media, including journalist Pavel Sheremet’s murder in 2016, continue to go unpunished and concern is growing in the run-up to the 2019 elections. The separatist-controlled areas in the east are still no-go areas without critical journalists or foreign observers.