Broadcasting Ukrainian News on ETV Not a Viable Solution, Says Ombudsman
Estonian Public Broadcasting journalism ethics ombudsman, Tarmu Tammerk, said that ERR’s decision not to broadcast Ukrainian Channel 5 news depicts journalistic professionalism.
Channel 5, a Ukrainian news channel, sought out many countries and offered their news to be broadcast daily - ETV was among the list of potential broadcasters.
Tammerk said although the Lithuanian Public Broadcasting Station (LRT) decided to broadcast the Ukrainian news in full extent, airing foreign news on ERR without review is not reasonable.
“Every media channel is responsible for their own news content. Therefore it is impossible for ERR to take journalistic responsibility for another state’s news channel in full-scale,” Tammerk said.
The journalism ethics advisor said ERR only airs content from channels which have a clear international tendency. For Example, Radio Tallinn broadcasts certain bits from BBC and Radio France international programs.
The Lithuanian public station LRT’s hasty decision to air Channel 5 news seems to Tammerk, above all, as a political and emotional option.
“The Head of LRT’s argument that we must stand against the propaganda originating from Moscow is understandable. Although I am not convinced that airing one Ukrainian news channel on another states' public broadcasting station automatically betters the development of a balanced and unbiased journalism,” Tammerk said.
“Taking into account the information war that is going on, it is better that in Estonia it is possible to monitor Ukrainian TV channels via many local television service providers. In addition there are several Internet options, which give an alternative opportunity to keep up with direct news feed from Ukraine”, said Tammerk to rus.err.ee.