On 3 May 2023, a group of journalists from Kremenchuk, Central Ukraine, addressed an open letter to local authorities, asking to ensure media access to a range of venues and events, such as the Kremenchuk city council and its sessions. The signatories of the letter said that access to a large number of events organized by local authorities had been restricted across Ukraine for security reasons since the start of Russia’s large-scale invasion, in February 2022, but that these restrictions were now being progressively lifted across the country. The journalists who signed the letter were: Oleh Bulashev, the editor-in-chief of newspaper Kremenchutska Gazeta, Olha Minchuk, the editor-in-chief of online media Kremenchutskiy Telegraf, Artem Kuzmenko on behalf of the journalists of “Program Plus”, an online publication, Alyona Malichenko, on behalf of the journalists of the Center for Journalistic Investigations “Poltavshchyna. Media Dokaz”, as well as Iryna Skrypachova, the regional correspondent of Espreso TV, a national Ukrainian TV channel.
The signatories of the letter cited the case of Poltava, the nearby regional capital, where journalists reportedly have access to officials from the regional military administration and to the regional council, where sessions by the regional and city council are broadcast online, and press conferences with officials are regularly organized. Similar arrangements exist in the city councils of Kyiv, as well as in the nearby major cities Zaporizhia and Kryvyi Rih, the signatories of the letter said.
“The journalistic community of Kremenchuk believes that this [situation] violates the Law of Ukraine ‘On Information’, which guarantees journalists the right to freely visit the premises in which authorities operate, open events organized by authorities, and to be personally received by officials in a reasonable time frame”, the journalists wrote in the statement.”At the same time, the Law of Ukraine ‘On Access to Public Information’ guarantees the right to access public information through access to meetings of collegial bodies, except in cases provided for by the law. All of this is reinforced by [the law] ‘On Local Self-Government in Ukraine’, which stipulates that council sessions are held publicly, ensuring the right of everyone to attend them, except in cases provided for by the law.”
The journalists from Kremenchuk who signed the letter claimed that according to legal experts, none of the provisions cited had been cancelled or suspended with the introduction of martial law in Ukraine. They also threatened to file a complaint with police for “obstruction of legal journalistic activities”, which is a criminal offence in Ukraine, if authorities do not react to their demands. Representatives of the city of Kremenchuk did not immediately provide an answer to the open letter.