“Journalists must not walk around with bruises, and their equipment must not get broken!” Sergiy Tomilenko comments on the incident in Chernihiv

“No matter what political rage stands between politicians and council members, journalists must not suffer and walk around with bruises, and TV cameras and microphones must not get broken!” said at yesterday’s meeting with journalists in Chernihiv President of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) Sergiy Tomilenko commenting on the recent incident during which the equipment of the Chernihiv-based TV and radio company Dytynets’s crew was broken.

“We call on journalists to be objective, not to play along with politicians,” said Sergiy Tomilenko. “But whatever the cause of this or other conflicts is, broken equipment and infringed journalists’ rights is a huge signal to the whole society supposedly giving the green light to “beating journalists.” We are convinced that this cannot be done!”

As earlier reported, the crew of the Dytynets TV channel (TRO Liga LLC) informed the NUJU about a case of physical and psychological pressure and damage to filming equipment.

Journalists claim that on March 30, 2023, during the execution of an editorial task, businessman Serhii Berestovyi prevented the channel’s camera crew from carrying out legitimate journalistic activities and damaged the camera. Berestovyi himself denies this and declares that he became a victim of the struggle of political forces at the Chernihiv City Council.

NUJU Information Service