World Press Freedom Day 2008
What Does Press Freedom Mean to You?
A Point of View from Ukraine
Boris Borisovich Lebedev
Physicist,
Kyiv, Ukraine
Intellectual, dog-owner, concerned citizen
“To me press freedom means the free exchange of information, access to information and choice of information. There has been a significant qualitative change in mass media since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but there still isn't a truly free press in Ukraine. I don’t read the papers anymore, except occasionally The Weekly Mirror because there are too many pages and the print is too small. I enjoy watching BBC and other international news programs so I can get a handle on world news - you really can't get that on Ukrainian TV.
During Soviet times there were three, fairly clear-cut layers of information understood by most people: official, inferred, and reality. Samizdat played a role in getting information. Now, however, the lines aren't as clear-cut and there is an unusual phenomenon happening - the more information out there, the less informed people become.
It's harder for people to discern fact from fiction. And many people don't read the papers any more. The internet is playing a more important role. For instance, I recently learned that Paul McCartney is giving a free concert in Kyiv in June - everyone I spoke with already knew about it, mostly because of the internet.”
Return to World Press Freedom Newsletter
|
