U.S. Dept of State includes national TV Marathon in report on human rights violations in Ukraine

The U.S. Department of State presented a report on human rights compliance in Ukraine in 2023. According to the text of the report, in Ukraine last year there were cases of violation of the right to freedom of expression, including for the press and other media.

"President Zelenskyy signed a decree imposing martial law in February 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which permitted further restrictions on the media and media freedoms. For example, the national TV Marathon – a rotating platform of channels that take the government line on war reporting – enabled an unprecedented level of control over primetime television news. Moreover, some media outlets reported being removed from lucrative terrestrial broadcasting contracts and pressure from the Office of the President as early as the spring of 2022," the report notes.

The government also reportedly banned, blocked, or sanctioned media outlets and individual journalists deemed a threat to national security or who expressed positions authorities believed undermined the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"Some speakers who were critical of the government were also blacklisted from government-directed news programming. Investigative journalists critical of the government were sometimes targeted by negative social media campaigns, sometimes via government-friendly channels. Other practices continued to affect media freedom, including self-censorship," the report notes.

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