They don’t believe in the feasibility of the marathon: ‘Suspilne’ is leaving the ‘United News’ telethon

“Suspilne” is partially exiting the national telethon and resuming 24-hour broadcasting on the “Pershiy” channel.

This information was reported on the “Suspilne” website.

It is noted that Public Broadcasting will ensure the production of its own segment of the information marathon, which will be broadcast on the national channel Pershiy. However, in practice, this means that “Suspilne” will be broadcasting separately, outside of the marathon. Starting from May 21, additional content will appear on the Pershiy channel, including “Suspilne Novyny,” “Suspilne. Studia,” documentary films of its own production and investigations. At the same time, content sharing with all participants of the “Yedyni novyny #UArazom” marathon will continue.

“The Suspilne team is expanding the production of its own content on Pershiy channel as an integral part of the ‘Yedyni novyny #UArazom’ telethon. We are ready to strengthen broadcasting from our side, share high-quality documentaries, regional stories, relevant investigations and utilize the capabilities of Ukraine’s largest network of correspondents across the country,” said Mykola Chernotytskyi, Chairman of the Public Broadcasting Board.

Svitlana Ostapa, Chair of the Supervisory Board, described the new format as a “civilized divorce” in a comment to “Detector Media.”

“In my opinion, this is a civilized ‘divorce’ that has been achieved as part of the content production expansion. We received written guarantees from the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) that these actions will not violate the NSDC’s decision. The Public Broadcasting team is ready to resume round-the-clock speech on Pershiy. I hope we succeed,” said Svitlana Ostapa.

Previously, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), as part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) project, signed a statement urging Ukrainian authorities to review the telethon format and consider closing the project.

It should be noted that the U.S. State Department published a report for 2023 concerning human rights violations in Ukraine. The report claims that the telethon adheres to the government’s line when covering the Russia-Ukraine war. The report notes that the constitution and legislation provide for freedom of expression, including for the press and other media, but authorities do not always respect these rights.