European Integration and the Ukrainian Press: A Phenomenon More Resembling Sabotage
Viktor Zamiatin
  Section Editor, Den newspaper
President Leonid Kuchma declared the European integration of Ukraine as the main priority in Ukrainian policy in his inaugural speech and Ukraine's joining the European Union as it's main goal in foreign policy. This theme both he and other representatives of Ukraine's establishment repeat quite often, particularly at meetings with leaders of foreign countries.
Obviously, the theme of this thesis is tied to the problems of Ukraine entering the European Union, the approximation of Ukraine's legislation to the norms of acquis communautere, problems that arise diplomatic and trade relations between Kyiv and Brussels, and certain EU member states would have to set one the main priorities for Ukraine's mass media: print, electronic, television and radio information agencies. Various aspects of Ukrainian politics and internal life would also, by applying elementary logic, have be done through the prism of integration into the EU.
The real state of affairs for a variety of reasons differs considerably from that which was supposed to be and from how the European iscues are broadcast by the mass media of Ukraine's neighbouring countries, which not only announced their course of integration, but some became associate members of the EU.
The problem of a mutual connection between the of European integration course and the daily work announced by Ukraine  mass media can be broken down into several different aspects.
1. REALITIES OF POLITICS AND THE PRESS
One of the main particularities of Ukrainian (as well as Russian, Belarussian and Moldovan) political life lies in the fact that the political processes are severely and almost fully departing daily life of society, its needs, hopes, moods and assessments. This applies to both domestic and foreign policy of the state. It is unusually difficult to give an average Ukrainian living in the countryside an answer to a straightforward question: what do the successes or failures of Ukrainian foreign policy give him? For the average citizens, politics has very little meaning, for they are simply willing to physically survive.
It is not Ukrainian political parties in Ukraine that come out in force, but rather separate financial, industrial and business circles, which pursue their own interests.
The latest events in Ukraine and the political crisis of the last months, illustriously demonstrate that the political elite in Ukraine look at European integration as some kind of an abstraction, which has nothing to do with daily realities. European integration of Ukraine, the European choice of commitment to the European idea (which, as a rule, is never clarified), and the transformation of Ukraine into a flourishing European nation are often declared in programme documents of many Ukrainian political parties, particularly of those regarded as influential. Among them are the Social Democratic Party (United), National Democratic Party and Trudova Ukrayina, which all make up the oligarchic environment and can influence the president and his policy. And then there are Narodniy Rukh of Ukraine, Ukraine's Narodniy Rukh, Reformy i Poryadok, the Green Party and many others which are said not to have significant influence on the events in Ukraine.
The most influential mass media in Ukraine are either directly or indirectly controlled by individuals who are members of the most influential parties (except for the Communist Party) and groups, or are close to them and, accordingly, broadcast events in Ukraine and abroad in accordance with the views of their owners., Those do not give readers grounds for suspecting them of conducting policy that is truly aimed at maximizing integration of Ukraine into the European Union and bringing Ukraine's legal norms, principles of the functioning of state power and bodies of self-governance, and the development of Ukraine closer to those tenets deeply engrained in EU countries to the maximum extent possible.
Both at the plenary sessions of parliament and on the pages of leading newspapers or television programs, problems either directly or indirectly associated with European integration have very little room.
     
2. THE LACK OF UNDERSTANDING THIS TOPIC AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE FOR UKRAINE
It cannot be said that the topic of European integration is completely absent from the mass media.
The leading newspapers published and disseminated mainly in Kyiv and news on the leading national TV channels fairly actively give coverage of diplomatic and political contacts between Ukraine and the EU and individual EU member countries. In particular, meeting at the highest levels of state (the President, the Prime Minister and the Foreign Affairs minister) and high level parliamentary contacts. In such news (more rarely analytical articles), one can come across information based on official statements made by leaders, which do not always properly reflect the true state of affairs between Ukraine and the EU, and  real problems that should resolved in the name of the process of Ukraine's integration into the EU. It is often difficult to understand the reasons why problems that were real five years ago are still on the daily agenda of the parliament to this day.
Information on what principles the European Union is based, what is the true state of affairs today and what problems it is facing (besides the obvious ones: fluctuation of the exchange rate of the euro, mad cow disease and foot-and-mouth disease, and introduction of a stricter visa regime as regards Ukrainian citizens) get far less frequent coverage in the Ukrainian mass media.
Materials from which a reader could understand what European Union expansion is, what aims this process has had from its inception and what consequences this could have, both for Europe and the rest of the world, are practically absent. Ukraine's mass media is much more active and willing in informing its citizens about problems of Russia, Russian politicians and Ukrainian-Russian relations, than they are about the current state of affairs in the European Union and its bodies. It is virtually impossible to learn from Ukrainian mass media any information on the significance of the EU Summit in Nice Summit, held at the end of 2000, for the future of Europe and how its decisions will influence daily life in Ukraine.
Exceptions to this rule might be newspapers like Den, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, Kyivskiy Telegrafh and the PiK magazine inasmuch as they are lacking a systemic approach to covering a whole string of problems associated with European integration.
It is quite possible that one of the main errors of Ukraine's mass media is that they relate the European integration process, which logically must be subordinated to the entire political life of Ukraine, to the sphere of foreign policy, which remains not understood by the average citizen and the majority of politicians, leaders and businessmen on the regional level. This is precisely why the topic of Ukrainian integration is practically missing in regional media in Donbas, the Crimea, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Zhytomyr, etc. Informing the public in this case starts and ends in the best case scenario with short news flashes through Interfax Ukraine, UNIAN, DINAU-UkrInform.
As results of public opinion polls, show Ukraine's population basically does not understand the notion of European integration, how it can be applied personally to each citizen and what might be the positive and/or negative consequences.
But, once again, it can't be said that bodies of state power of Ukraine do not pay at least some attention to executing tasks called for in the country's course of European integration.
In particular, there is a special department with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine responsible for bringing Ukrainian legislation in line with the requirements of acquis communautaire. This department not only conducts checks of the existing legislative base, but also devises the basic principles of laws that have yet to be passed.
Currently, the passing of a whole series of Codes as basic laws defining the main requirements of the current legislation) are in the second reading in the Verkhovna Rada. Among them are Civil, Code, Tax Code, Land Code and others, the passing of which should help the process of parting with the Soviet legislative base and transitioning to a modern system widely accepted in Europe (not just in EU member countries).
A special department on European integration functions within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has the task of coordinating diplomatic activity of Ukraine and the EU aimed at European integration.
A similar structure exists in the government within the Economy Ministry, which is responsible, like the department of the Justice Ministry, on achieving tangible progress in Ukraine moving towards the EU.
The press basically ignores the activity of these government structure and informs almost nothing about the problems they face, the level of support of the press on the part of the country's leaders and the successes and failures achieved in contacts with the EU.
Hardly any information can be found in the Ukrainian press on opportunities for heightening cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union in the area of defense and security. As practice shows, this is the only sector today where progress is possible.
It would be in vain to say that the press does not perceive its role as, first of all, the indicator of the public's mood, second a unique means of enlightening the public, and third, a force that would incite the state bodies to be more transparent, provide full information and, finally, to more work actively in this given direction.
It can't be said that the press does not at all follow the process of the EU enlargement and the consequences it could have for Ukraine. The Ukrainian press quite actively (albeit quite negatively in all cases) reacted to the introduction of the visa regime for Ukrainian citizens by the Czech Republic and Slovakia. There is much negative commentary in the press on the decision of Poland and Hungary to introduce a visa regime in the nearest future. There are a lot of materials in the Kyiv press and in regional press, in particular in L'viv, which write about the negative consequences for Ukraine of entry of Poland, Hungary and Slovakia into the EU.
Nonetheless, such commentary is for the most part superficial, with no details on the reasons for such decisions and their connection to both Ukrainian reality, and the fact that this reality is based on actions of the most influential clans, leads to results contradicting the nation's course towards European integration declared by the country's highest leadership.
Information published or broadcast by Ukraine's mass media lacks analysis of the situation Ukraine will be faced with when the process of the real European Union enlargement begins in areas of trade, investment and tourism. It is hardly in tune with the course towards European integration  when Ukraine's mass media lack analysis of the modern state of European markets (including labour markets and intellectual and other services), fail to offer sound analyses of which sectors of the Ukrainian economy could be the most attractive for Western European investors, sound analysis of what niche Ukraine may capture on European markets and how exactly could the pan-European processes could be used to bolster the domestic economy. The theme of Ukraine and international (European) division of labor remains a terra incognita for the Ukrainian reader. The processes which are today pressing for all of Europe in the context of globalization of economies are virtually not covered on the pages of Ukrainian newspapers.
One of the urgent problems of Ukrainian media is their weak financial standing, and lack of professional skills in market conditions on the part of management, the desire to participate in the domestic political process on the side of one of the political forces, while all the rest are forced by other to lean toward civilized behavior and to relative transparency of the process of decision making.
As a consequence, Ukrainian media are not represented by a single reporter (with the exception of DINAU-UkrInform) in Brussels at the headquarters of the European Union, NATO and other international organizations. This can be construed as full lack of congruity of Ukraine's course of European integration and is testimony to the weak interest in Europe today on the part of owners of print and other media. After all, even Yugoslavia was represented by several journalists and reporters at NATO Headquarters when NATO was bombing the country's territory.
So, Ukraine's media do not have the opportunity to obtain first-hand information about the EU itself, the processes underway within the EU, priorities of its foreign and security policy due to lack of interest in the subject on the part of those powerful groups close to the Ukrainian government. A direct example is Russia. Although it never declared its intent to join the EU now or in the future, it has several accredited journalists in Brussels (television and information agencies).
This, in turn, is only testimony to the fact that these groups are not interested in the Ukrainian media developing along the models, for example, in Poland and the Baltic countries. Obviously, this has its roots in the Soviet past both with political leaders of the state, as well the management of leading and regional mass media. In the Soviet times, for Ukraine as a province of Russia  only local information - and usually incomplete - was relevant. Ukraine never had its own school of journalism, which would make informing the public a priority, rather than the banal propaganda activity. None of Ukraine's modern mass media companies (print, TV and electronic) meets these criteria even today. Not a single media company conducted monitoring or analysis, which is precisely the type of information Ukraine's people need to have access to. As a result, the Ukrainian media domain is primarily made up of publications and TV channels that conduct propaganda or entertainment activity.
The integration of Ukraine into the European media space can be considered to be going nowhere fast. Publications belonging to international media concerns, as  well as in neighboring countries, are practically non-existent (with the exception entertainment and women's magazines). The average citizen cannot obtain information from foreign publications due to their absence on the market (the reason for this is that prices for such publications are prohibitive relative to their low wages and the language barrier). Internet is used by about 1% of the population. The development of web sites at a pace in line with European integration is absent.
3. CHILD SICKNESSES IN SOCIETY AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES FOR THE PRESS.
The general level of professional skills of journalists in Ukraine, particularly in the regions, remains extremely low, while their knowledge of European processes is next to nil. Even the Kyiv-based media often confuse the European Union with the Council of Europe.
The common illness all Ukrainian mass media suffer from is that the Ukrainian media space is virtually closed. This was conditioned by primarily psychological problems of journalists, media company owners and leaders of the state.
Meanwhile, it is noteworthy that the majority of Ukrainian mass media come forth as advocates of European integration.
Overt opponents of Ukrainian integration into Europe are publications belonging to the Communist Party of Ukraine (Kommunist and others which are champions of the recreation of the Soviet Union), as well publications of certain, not very influential radical groups in society.
Nearly a third of Ukraine's population, according to a public opinion poll, support the course of European integration, while more than half consider tight cooperation with CIS countries, in particular Russia, as a priority.
All these problems are undoubtedly a result of the entire Ukrainian society not being fully prepared for state independence in 1991. That is, not only a large number of citizens, but also a significant number of representatives of the political and business elite orient themselves in practice towards Moscow and lack a sense of national identity as full-fledge independent players and agree to Russian control over the Ukrainian media domain.
Media cannot exist apart from a society, which today cannot concisely formulate its priorities. Similarly, media, which is part of this society, cannot explain why the slogan "To Europe with Russia", popular among many, including state leadership, is absurd.
Ukrainian society virtually knows nothing about what European integration means, though the majority, according to results of opinion polls, consider Western Europe and the European Union an attractive goal. The plusses and minuses of integration clearly remain a mystery for many leaders of the country, which often gives birth to strange comments on the part of the government.
Inasmuch as European integration has not become a top priority for the country's leadership, it has also not become the number one issue for the mass media. Besides that, Ukrainian mass media have only an approximated perception of how their colleagues work, for instance, in Poland and Lithuania.
Ukrainian media, unlike in Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, are experiencing problems of mass media development across the country, which is a result of many errors committed. Nevertheless, the new generation of Ukrainian politicians and journalists currently ascribe to a new world outlook and a different system of values.
It can be said that mass media in its current modern state indeed has been unable to become a champion of the notion of European integration, inasmuch as it was prepared for this, they were not given the according tasks and sent the according signal from society.
In order for the subject of European integration in all of its aspects to get coverage in Ukraine, there is a need not only for Ukraine  to develop by laws, which do not contradict laws in other European countries, but also the perception that Ukraine is part of this world of the Europeans. Accordingly, Ukraine can and should claim more attention to itself, as the countries neighbouring on the West did at the start of the 1990s with the assistance of western structures.
This is, first and foremost, applicable to a programme aimed at the development of mass media in Ukraine (not financial assistance, but a diversity of programmes, routine seminars, conferences and roundtables), which would foster the breakdown of stereotypes. And obviously, media at this stage could break down prejudice and capture the interests of the West to Ukraine. This could only result in the emergence of a society pull for increasing the volume and quality of information about the West, the European Union, and positive and negative aspects of Ukraine getting closer to the EU.