Media: At new state-owned TV station, reporters are told to promote Zelensky
Ukrainska Pravda quoted anonymous ex-employees of the Dom TV channel saying that their editors instructed them to include positive mentions of President Volodymyr Zelensky in their news coverage. The journalists also said they were told to avoid mentioning ex-President Petro Poroshenko, Zelensky’s opponent.
The Dom TV channel was launched in 2020 to provide news and combat Kremlin propaganda in the Russian-occupied Donbas and Crimea. According to Ukrainska Pravda, Zelensky’s office may push to expand the channel's reach throughout the country to use it as a political tool.
Zelensky's spokesman Serhiy Nikiforov told The Kyiv Independent that the President's Office does not know anything about alleged censorship at Dom.
In October, two hosts of the public broadcaster UA Pershyi accused Zelensky’s office of pressuring them by making demands on whom to include and exclude from their political talk show. If the demands weren’t met, the office allegedly wouldn’t allow representatives of the government or Zelensky’s party to participate in the show. Pryamyi, a TV channel controlled by Zelensky’s opponent Poroshenko, backed the accusations. The president’s office denied interfering in the TV channels’ editorial process.
