There is a new player entering the information war between Ukraine and Russia, and one that thinks truth will prevail over state-manufactured propaganda.
Billionaire
Dnipropetrovsk Governor Igor Kolomoisky’s 1+1 Media on Aug. 11
launched Ukraine’s first English-language international television
news network.
Currently
in technical test mode, the channel is curiously called Ukraine
Today, yet unlike its state-owned counterpart in Russia, it has
positioned itself to offer “independent news, views, and insights
from Europe’s largest country,” according
to its website.
Official
broadcasting, however, is scheduled to commence on the symbolic day
of Aug. 24 when the nation will celebrate its 23rd birthday
amid Russian military aggression in the two easternmost regions of
Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, and without the Crimean peninsula, which
Moscow annexed in March.
The
channel will be broadcast throughout Europe via the Eutelsat Hotbird
satellite, with North American coverage to launch in March 2015,
according to 1+1 Media CEO Oleksandr Tkachenko. It could potentially
reach millions of viewers, with up to 4 million watching the
channel in larger European countries daily, through cable network
and digital satellite platforms, added the chief executive. It will
broadcast round the clock.
“We
also understand that (Ukraine is) in peak interest,” he told the
Kyiv Post of the project. “From such a point of view, we don’t
need to convince anybody that we will provide news that is different
from Russian propaganda…We have no other possibilities other than
to be open, fair and definitely adhere to all journalistic
standards.”
But
Kremlin information mouthpieces, admitted the media executive, is
part of the reason why Ukraine Today was created.
“We
feel this situation (Russian propaganda) will continue for a longer
period of time,” he said, noting that he has seen a shift in
Russian society. “The main difference is in values …It took a
long time for Russians…to start to hear what’s happening here. I
think that potentially because of the large difference in values, the
project will have a long-term perspective.”
Additionally,
the English-language news channel won’t be as much about Ukraine as
“this part of the world,” stated Tkachenko, referring to Russia,
Belarus and other Eastern European countries. Specifically, reports
will explain which European left- or right-wing parties cooperate with
Russia, which lobbyists support Ukraine’s neighbor, about the
differences in attitudes people have towards various issues,
including intervention from Russia.
Once
the project is fully scaled, the executive said, an international and
local editorial staff of 30 will be churning news, including studio
and on-the-ground reporting scheduled to start in early 2015. “The
sooner, the better,” said Tkachenko, adding that correspondents
will report from the main European capitals like Brussels, London and
Paris. For now though, the channel will start broadcasting videos
accompanied by audio reports much like Euronews does.
When
asked why the channel’s name resembles Russia Today, a
Kremlin-owned, English-language news network known for news
fabrication and biased coverage of Ukraine, Tkachenko replied: “As
soon as people switch over to the channel, they will understand that
this is a different type (of channel)… Ukraine Today is
different…in these terms we can use, in fact, the marketing arm of
Russia Today in our interest.”
But
because the channel doesn’t intend to engage in propaganda, it
won’t need Russia Today’s annual budget of more than $300
million.
“We
are a normal news provider,” added the chief executive officer,
emphasizing that the initial investment is not in the triple-million
digits without providing an exact financial figure.
Only
a couple of months in the making, the project won’t consider
breaking even on the unspecified investment for the next 2-3 years.
Once the channel is carried by cable and digital satellite platform
networks, “we’ll understand how to manage all the opportunities.
Right now it’s not an issue to earn money, but to spend less,”
said Tkachenko.
Kyiv
Post editor Mark Rachkevych can be reached
at [email protected].
