Mykola Kniazhytsky: How Espreso Was Turned Off

The war united us all, regardless of place of residence and political views. Individual traitors from the Opposition Platform for Life are the only ones in Ukraine who welcomed the occupiers. Late in the evening on April 3, I was returning to Lviv from Sumy, where my colleagues and I were delivering humanitarian aid.  There were many plans.  Here, in my native Lvov, in my constituency, millions of people collect humanitarian aid, organize business transferred from the East, and prepare in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the terrorist defense to be sent to the front.  Espresso journalists in the Lviv studio have organized information broadcasting since the first days of the occupation.  Espressovites also came here, who were evacuated from Bucha, Irpen, Brovarsky district.  We worried about each of them until there was a connection with them and were glad that we met them alive.

 

  On the morning of April 4, Espresso disappeared from the T2 terrestrial speech network.  It happened without any warning or explanation.  At the same time, the Direct signal and 5 channels disappeared from T2.  Espresso continued to speak on satellite and cable networks, but viewers watching the channel from the air began to call on the phone: what happened.

 

  The channel's management began to look for any documented grounds for the outage.  Neither the National Council as a regulator of television and radio broadcasting, nor the National Security and Defense Council, nor other state bodies made decisions to turn off the channels.

 

  The digital broadcasting operator Zeonbud also did not take any action.

 

  It's just that the leaders of the PPT Concern turned off the Espresso patch cable in their premises and plugged in the cable of another channel without legal grounds and contrary to the current agreement.  The Concern's officials violated three articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

 

  Here is the legal description of their actions:

 

  Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.  High treason: officials of the PRT Concern, fully aware of the illegal nature of their actions, lacking the authority to turn off the television broadcasting of a television channel that owns a valid broadcasting license, committed deliberate actions aimed at damaging information security, provided during the state of war to a foreign aggressor state  assistance in carrying out subversive activities against Ukraine.

 

  Article 356 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.  Self-righteousness: officials of the RRT Concern arbitrarily, having appropriated the powers of the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting, openly illegally, having the intent to violate the rights of citizens of Ukraine to receive information, turned off the Espresso TV channel from digital air.

 

  Article 361 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.  Unauthorized interference in the operation of information (automated), electronic communication, information and communication systems, electronic communication networks: officials of the RRT Concern illegally, contrary to their authority, interfered in the operation of the multi-channel digital television network T2, as a result of illegal reswitching.  aimed at depriving citizens of Ukraine of the right to receive information guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine.  These actions led to the blocking of information and committed under martial law, which constitutes a qualified corpus delicti, provided for by Part 5 of Article 361 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

 

  The paradox is that Espresso in this situation must also pay millions of hryvnias to Zeonstroy for illegally rebroadcasting someone else's TV signal!  How are the officials of the Concern different from marauders who appropriated someone else's channel, and others have to pay for it?!

 

  What were they guided by?  I have only one explanation: the officials wanted to deprive the Ukrainians of the right to information in order to help the aggressor carry out his disinformation operations.

 

  It is known that Russian Nazis are at war with Ukrainian television.  They systematically bomb TV towers, turn off Ukrainian channels in the occupied territories and turn on their dirty propaganda there.  From this point of view, the Ukrainian state should have taken care of preserving the broadcasting of Ukrainian TV channels.

 

  And the National Security and Defense Council, by the way, in its decision of March 19, ordered the Concern to ensure "sustainable operation of digital broadcasting facilities and uninterrupted broadcasting of television channels in MX - 1, -2, -3, -5;".

 

  Obviously, the illegal shutdown of the Espresso channel broadcast by the PPT Concern cannot in any way be considered as ensuring uninterrupted broadcasting.  This is a direct violation by the Concern not only of the legislation on television and radio broadcasting, but also of the said decision of the National Security and Defense Council.

 

  Thus, turning off the signal of the Espresso TV channel is nothing but lawlessness and arbitrariness on the part of the PRT Concern and its officials.

 

  No decision of the state authorities to disconnect Espresso from the digital terrestrial television network was taken.

 

  It can be assumed that Espresso was turned off in order to introduce political censorship.  I emphasize that we are talking about political censorship, and not about military censorship.  After all, according to the current legislation, during martial law, only the military-civilian administration can turn off TV channels in accordance with the procedure approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.  But the CAA did not take any such decisions.

 

  It is believed that Espresso was turned off due to the fact that the channel is not involved in the production and broadcast of the United News telethon.  There is no legal evidence for this.  And the channel itself has never been offered to participate in the creation of this marathon.

 

  We will talk about the marathon and the history of its occurrence separately.

 

  On February 25, the press service of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine announced that the telethon "United News" will start at midnight on February 26, which at midnight is coordinated by the 1 + 1 media holding, and then the Council TV channel and the channels of the StarLightMedia and InterMediaGroup groups.  In fact, since February 26, Mediagroup Ukraine has joined the telethon, and since March 2, the Public Broadcaster has joined.

 

  By the way, the Public has preserved its speech by running its own informational marathon through a nationwide network of regional channels.

 

  Espresso is still actively cooperating with correspondents of the Public Society throughout Ukraine.  In addition, from the first day of the launch of the marathon, Espresso gave 12 hours of broadcasting every day for its broadcast.  The channel understood all the responsibility in the joint implementation of the information policy.

 

  As of March 2, in addition to the public marathon, "United News" produced (separate segments) ICTV, "1 + 1", "Rada", "Ukraine", "Inter".

 

  On March 19, the President signed a Decree obliging TV channels to show a common information marathon and put into effect the decisions of the National Security and Defense Council "On the neutralization of threats to the information security of the state" and "On the implementation of a unified information policy under martial law", adopted on March 18.  “To establish that in a state of war the implementation of a unified information policy is a priority issue of national security, which is ensured by combining all national television channels, the program content of which consists mainly of information and / or information and analytical programs on a single information platform of strategic communication.  round-the-clock informational marathon "United news #UArazom" - the decision of the National Security and Defense Council says.  It was recommended to implement this to the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting, which, however, did not take any decisions on this matter.

 

  On March 21, the Direct and Channel 5 channels announced that they were ready to fulfill the lawful demands of the authorities and the presidential decree and the decision of the National Security and Defense Council.  "We are waiting for the offer of slots, for the broadcasting of which our TV channels will be responsible and we see it necessary to involve the creative teams of TV channels in the formation of an information product."  At the same time, Espresso was also ready to take part in the production of the marathon together with other channels.

 

  On March 29, Ukrainian media groups "1+1 media", "Media Group Ukraine", Starlight Media, Inter Media Group asked for financial assistance for the further production of the "United News" marathon.

 

  I can assume that the TV channels producing the marathon are planning to receive funds from the state and sharing these funds with others is not beneficial for everyone.  But the question arises why these channels have the right to monopoly broadcasting and state funding.  Why are they better than other similar nationwide channels?

 

  I note that Espresso appreciates the work of all colleagues during the war, gives 12 hours of air to broadcast the marathon, although he does not participate in its production and did not apply for state funding.  That is why the shutdown of Espresso, allegedly due to unwillingness to participate in the marathon, is an absurd fake.  On the contrary, this shutdown has all the hallmarks of ordinary political censorship.

 

  Perhaps I will be boring, but I will give here a legal interpretation of this situation.

 

  To understand the legal side of the issue, it is necessary to highlight the following:

 

  - the state granted the Espresso TV channel the right to carry out digital broadcasting by issuing an appropriate broadcasting license.  According to Article 27 of the Broadcasting Law, a license "is the only legal basis for the right to broadcast".

 

  At the moment, the license is valid, no decisions on its cancellation have been made or even initiated.  That is, the right of the Espresso TV channel to broadcast is not questioned or disputed by anyone.

 

  - the technical side of digital broadcasting is provided by the T2 digital network operator - Zeonbud LLC.  Based on the contract, this company takes the signal from Espresso and then distributes it through its own network of transmitters.

 

  According to Article 39 of the Law on TV and Radio Broadcasting, Zeonstroy is obliged to broadcast each holder of a digital broadcasting license (Espresso TV channel has such a license).

 

  - according to LLC Zeonbud, the exclusion of the TV channel was carried out at the level of switching, which is provided by the state Concern PRT.  This Concern decided to distribute the Council channel signal instead of the Espresso signal.

 

  In other words, the disconnection of the Espresso TV channel from the digital air was carried out by the management of the PRT Concern, since they had such a technical possibility.  They simply do not transmit the signal of the Espresso channel for further distribution to the digital network;

 

  - these actions are completely illegal, since the PRT Concern does not have the authority to determine who has the right to broadcast.  This right is vested in the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting, which can issue a license (and thereby grant the right) or cancel it (and thereby deprive it of such a right);

 

  There are no legal grounds for disconnecting the Espresso TV channel from digital broadcasting.  This is understood by the PRT Concern itself, since the Concern was unable to provide any explanations as required to explain the reasons for the shutdown of the Espresso TV channel.  Obviously, if there were such reasons, the Concern should officially announce them.

 

  Here are several versions, using which the PRT Concern could try to justify the legitimacy of the current situation:

 

  1. Possible references of the PRT Concern to the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of March 18, 2022 "On the neutralization of threats to the information security of the state" will be unfounded.

 

  This decision provides only for the need for the Concern, together with Zeonstroy, to ensure “sustainable operation of digital broadcasting facilities and uninterrupted broadcasting of television channels;  round-the-clock monitoring of the on-air network;  redundancy of satellite channels for the delivery of programs and equipment of the main multiplexing station;  backup delivery of TV channels to digital transmitters with the involvement of an alternative satellite operator”.

 

  The RRT Concern does not have the authority to determine which TV channels are broadcast and which are not.  As stated above, only the National Council has such powers, which implements them by issuing broadcasting licenses on the basis of a competition.

 

  2. Possible references to the decisions of the National Security and Defense Council of March 18, 2022 "On the implementation of a unified information policy under martial law" will also be unfounded.

 

  Firstly, this decision does not contain any indication of the hypothetical possibility of shutting down the TV channel.  Neither the RRT Concern nor other bodies are empowered to shut down TV channels.

 

  This alone is enough to conclude that the officials of the PRT Concern do not even have a theoretical opportunity to justify the shutdown of the TV channel, referring to this decision of the National Security and Defense Council.

 

  Secondly, this decision provides that “under the conditions of martial law, the implementation of a unified information policy is a priority issue of national security, which is ensured by combining all national TV channels, the program content of which consists mainly of information and / or information and analytical programs.  the only information platform for strategic communication - the round-the-clock information marathon "United News #UArazom".

 

  There are no obligations to broadcast the information marathon, the volume of such a broadcast in the decision is not established.

 

  Espresso TV channel applied to the National Security and Defense Council with a request to coordinate the broadcast of the marathon in the amount of about 50% of broadcasting.  In its response, the National Security and Defense Council did not provide any objections and forwarded our appeal to the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting.

 

  The National Council also did not provide any objections to the specified volumes of broadcasting for the marathon.

 

  According to the above, given that Espresso, in pursuance of the decision of the National Security and Defense Council, broadcast the marathon "United News #UArazom" in volumes in respect of which none of the state bodies claimed claims, it is impossible to assert that Espresso violated this decision.

 

  It is also impossible to assert that the RRT Concern turned off the Espresso TV channel from digital air on the basis of the said decision of the National Security and Defense Council, since, as indicated, the National Security and Defense Council did not give the Concern the authority to turn off or turn on anyone.

 

  Let me remind you that among the partners of Espresso are Radio Liberty Free Europe, Voice of America, BBC, France24, the Crimean Tatar channel ATR and many other respected partners who honestly cover the life of Ukrainians during this terrible Russian military aggression.

 

  Espresso journalists are fighting at the front in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, covering the most important and current events, resisting Russian disinformation.  This is their front, where they fulfill their patriotic duty.  Someone in the Concern decided that these people do not have the right to freedom of speech, that they should be fired, and the channel born on the Maidan should be turned off.

 

  If this is an illegal political decision, then its initiators want to build here not democracy, but a second totalitarian Russia.  It was with the shutdown of the NTV channel and other independent TV channels that the power of dictator Putin began in Russia.  We will not allow this in Ukraine.