07/26/2005 | Мертві Бджоли Загудуть

Ганьба пост-кучмівському режиму! Тепер це кумівство вилізе боком на весь світ. Надалі вже не вдасться приховувати шила в мішку. ГАНЬБА!!!
-------------------------------------

Yushchenko Smears Ukraine's Independent Journalists

From President Yushchenko's Address to the National Press Club, July 18, 2005:

"Ukrainian democratic authorities appreciate an objective and critical point of view as an effective and necessary mechanism of public control. For me, as a President, a Ukrainian journalist has been and remains a partner, and freedom of speech – an axiom of public life."

A week later Yushchenko calls a journalist from the prominent news web-site "Ukrainian Truth" a "media killer" for publishing two articles about his son's luxurious lifestyle. President goes on accusing the article's author of working on behalf of unnamed political forces trying to destroy Yushchenko. Finally, he claims that this journalist never fought in his life for the freedom of the press.

The sad irony is that newspaper "Ukrainian Truth" was distinguished by the US National Press Club last week as the best example of courage displayed by Ukrainian journalists in the days of the "Orange Revolution". The journalist, whom Yushchenko publicly humiliated, has been an author of numerous articles over the past 4 years, revealing corruption of Yushchenko's predecessor - Kuchma (you can read the journalist's last year interview with Yushchenko here:
http://www.yuschenko.com.ua/ukr/present/Mass_media/612/).

By attacking a journalist just for asking a tough question, Yushchenko attacked the very principle of critical and objective journalism, which he once had pledged to respect. And we wittness the first troubling signs of a transformation of once democratic opposition leader into an intolerant autocratic ruler. Unless journalists react now, it might soon be too late.

You can listen to Yushchenko's remarks in the audio link below.
http://demokrit.multiply.com/music/item/27