On 13 December 2023, the city council of Mykolaiv, a major city in southern Ukraine, refused a request by local media outlet NikVesti to report from an upcoming council meeting in-person, reported the Institute of Mass Information (IMI), a Ukrainian press freedom group. According to IMI’s correspondent in Mykolaiv, the council’s internal rules specify that journalists are allowed to be present at council meetings even if these are held online, in the same council room as the head of the council, their deputies and the head of the regional military administration (even for online meetings, these representatives must be present on-site).
The Mykolaiv city council explained the need for journalists to be excluded from in-person presence by referring to martial law in Ukraine and the dangers created by Russia’s full-scale invasion (Mykolaiv is located less than 100 km from Kherson, which is on the front-line between Ukrainian and Russian forces), IMI’s correspondent said. However, the city council seemingly did not explain how the decision did not violate the body’s own internal regulations. Media lawyer Roman Holovenko added that journalists in principle regularly work in not fully safe environments in Ukraine, with some even working as front-line correspondents, and that there should be no limitations imposed on them for this reason as long as they assume full responsibility for their actions.