Ukraine May Deny Radio Liberty Airtime
 

February 12, 2004
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 11:45 a.m. ET

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- A radio station that rebroadcasts
U.S.-funded Radio Liberty's shortwave programming onto
more-accessible FM frequencies is threatening to cancel the
service, prompting a harsh complaint from the U.S. Embassy
and speculation the move was politically motivated.

The privately owned Radio Dovira sent a letter Wednesday
threatening to deny the Radio Liberty FM airtime unless it
makes format changes, said Radio Liberty spokeswoman Sonia
Winter in Prague.

Radio Svoboda, the Ukrainian-language service of Radio
Liberty, has until Tuesday to make the changes or have its
broadcasts restricted to shortwave, Winter said Thursday.
But she said the demanded changes were not specified, ``and
that's why it's such a strange decision.''

Radio Dovira representatives declined to comment.

Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty president Thomas Dine condemned
the decision as a ``political act against liberal
democracy, against free speech and press,''

In extraordinarily blunt comments, the U.S. Embassy in Kiev
criticized the decision as ``a blatant attempt to get Radio
Liberty off the air,'' adding it was ``especially
deplorable in an election year in Ukraine when the need for
news and information from a variety of independent sources
is greatest.''

Mykola Tomenko, chairman of Ukraine's parliamentary
committee on press freedom, called the move an ``active
cleansing of the mass media'' ahead of October elections,
in a statement posted on the opposition Our Ukraine Web
site.

Viktor Yushchenko, widely seen as the favorite to replace
President Leonid Kuchma, called the decision ``undeniably
political,'' alleging it was approved by top government
authorities, the Interfax news agency reported.

Kuchma's administration has come under increasing fire from
Western governments, human rights groups and journalists
who accuse him of muzzling the press.

Ukraine's media climate has been under scrutiny since the
2000 death of Heorhiy Gongadze, an Internet writer who
crusaded against high-level corruption. His decapitated
body was found in a forest outside Kiev.

Opposition groups allege Kuchma was involved in Gongadze's
killing. Kuchma denies involvement.

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Steve
Holland, MI
Drake R7, R8 and R8B