Despite a challenging year, Ukraine has risen by 27 positions in World Press Freedom Index – Taras Shevchenko

Despite a challenging year, one important, positive news is Ukraine’s significant growth in the Press Freedom Index calculated by Reporters Without Borders. Over the year, Ukraine moved up 27 positions to 79th place from 106th. At the same time, Ukraine is now in first place among the countries where the largest number of journalists have been killed.

It was emphasized by Taras Shevchenko, Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine for European Integration, during a panel discussion at the Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform, dedicated to Journalist’s Day.

“27 positions up is a lot. And this result was achieved despite Ukraine, unfortunately, ranking the highest number of cases of journalists killed in the same year. Mexico was in second place, and Ukraine, unfortunately, was in first place. Therefore, on the one hand, it was an extremely difficult and dramatic year, a year of challenges, but also a year of opportunities,” emphasized Taras Shevchenko.

In addition, he noted that in the Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders noted a significant decrease in the influence of oligarchs on the media in Ukraine.

“Therefore, when it comes to the media market, it has become less oligarchic than it was before. I cannot but mention that this was also one of the positions of the European Union, one of the requirements. And in the context of Ukraine having to implement the Directive on audiovisual media services, the law on media was adopted and entered into force this year,” he explained.

Taras Shevchenko also noted the growing role of the public broadcaster.

“Since the full-scale invasion outbreak, in my opinion, the role and place of the public broadcaster has grown significantly and become much more influential both in traditional media. These are the radio, television, and digital, in Telegram channels,” said the Deputy Minister of Culture.

At the same time, he emphasized that since the full-scale invasion, the media economy has suffered significantly, and the amount of advertising funds on the market has decreased dramatically.

In addition, Taras Shevchenko noted that today there is a tendency to increase the role and share of media consumption via Telegram.

“Ukrainian Telegram channels, the largest ones with more than 2.7 million users, have become, on the one hand, a quick way to get information, and on the other hand, a certain challenge due to non-compliance with laws, copyright infringement, and non-compliance with restrictions on the dissemination of information related to martial law.”

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