OSCE helps Ukraine form regulatory approaches to new media

KYIV, 31 October 2012 – International experience in regulating new audio-visual media is the focus of a seminar that started in Kyiv today with support from OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine (PCU) and the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.

Organized at the request of the country’s National Council on TV and Radio Broadcasting, the event includes presentations of international best practices of forming regulatory approaches to new media, from classifying audio-visual media to identifying the types and scopes of regulation needed to ensure compliance with the legal and media freedom standards.

“Innovations in today’s world are emerging much faster than new adequate laws and regulatory acts. Media regulation has always been a challenging task, because, on the one hand, the state has to make sure that the laws are observed, on the other hand, the regulatory policy should not undermine freedom of expression and should not narrow media pluralism in any way,” said Ambassador Madina Jarbussynova, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine. “To maintain this balance it is important that the regulatory authorities and the media community speak the same language and understand each other’s needs and concerns.”

Larysa Mudrak, the Deputy Head of the National Council of Ukraine on TV and Radio Broadcasting, who participated in the event, recognizing that the Ukrainian broadcast market is currently adapting to new technologies, said: “Communication with international experts will help us be better prepared to a new era in audio-visual media and develop the right legislative approaches to broadcast regulation in Ukraine.”

Ukrainian broadcast regulation and media experts, and representatives of mass media are attending the meeting. Their feedback on the applicability of the presented international experience to Ukrainian realities will be gathered, analysed and included in a publication on the topic. 

This work is part of a PCU-implemented project to assist the National Council on TV and Radio Broadcasting in ensuring a pluralistic media environment in the context of convergence trends and the upcoming switchover from analogue to digital broadcasting.