“The state must protect journalists from pressure due to hatred and discredit,” Sergiy Tomilenko

Hatred around the investigative journalist of the Nashi Hroshi publication Yurii Nikolov and the BIHUS.info investigative team and attempts to discredit them, have a negative impact on the media industry of Ukraine and freedom of speech in general.

The President of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), Sergiy Tomilenko, stated this on the air of the Suspilne on January 16.

“Every journalist, whether in the regions or in Kyiv, who raises this or that high-profile topic, must be ready to withstand the discrediting campaign of pressure against them. They will have to decide how protected they feel in society and whether they should leave their profession or work anonymously,” said Sergiy Tomilenko.

He emphasized that the NUJU expects the state to protect media workers.

“But this protection will be effective only when there are precedents for law enforcement officers to identify perpetrators and punish them,” added the head of the Union.

As a positive example of prompt response to pressure on journalists, Sergiy Tomilenko cited the comments of the head of the Parliamentary Committee on Freedom of Speech, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn. Sergiy Tomilenko called for a similar response from government officials, the President of Ukraine, and members of his team.

“We have to show that we are a country that definitely does not allow discrediting campaigns, which we have seen in Russia and other authoritarian countries before,” the NUJU President emphasized.

“Hatred and attempts to discredit journalists and the media negatively affect the media industry of Ukraine and freedom of speech on the whole,” Sergiy Tomilenko