Development of the Ukrainian media from the initial state in 1991 to «corruption pluralism» 2017: development and perspectives

Abstract

The article is covers the history of media after the fall of USSR to post-war Ukraine 2014–2017. This period as marked by reconstruction of state media and develop of private media. Emphasis is put on oligarchization of the media and subordination them to the large financial groups. As follows they try to influence the content of media after the so-called «Journalistic revolution». The main conclusion is that despite the apparent expression of the freedom of speech in several revolutions, the phenomenon of «jeansa» (paid journalism), the faith of politicians and parties, that the trust of citizens can be bought through the media, creates the illusion of democracy in the media. Paradoxically, the greatest freedom of thought and speech in the media was in the early 1990’s. Precisely since the end of 1990th the government and tycoons conceived media may be under pressure via its outbidding or destroying. So called «temnyky» appeared at the beginning of 2000th as a secret instructions from the government on the way some event must be covered. Government and tycoons found the way to influence media even after journalists achieved elimination of «temnyky» practice — bribing practice has been invented. It involved only some journalists at first, but later covered whole editorial offices and holdings. Hidden ads phenomenon, so called «jeansa», still exist today and is wide spread. IMI regional representatives found up to 400 corrupted materials in regional Internet-media during pre-election period. It is the «freedom of corruption chances» as result of Ukrainian media degrading.