State run Rada TV channel providing parliament work coverage comes under scrutiny following its hyped reboot
State contracts database ProZorro shows that development of a ‘new concept’ and ‘studio’ alone for rebooted Rada TV channel cost taxpayers 15 million hryvnas.
New services contracts for Rada TV channel sent budget commission MPs scurrying to rewrite Verkhovna Rada goods and services spending to allow bigger funding Rada TV channel, said European Solidarity MP Valeriya Sumar.
The state run Rada TV channel has long worked and held all due broadcast licenses yet, as many critics point out in light of the recent reboot, there is still no specific legislation to regulate its status and operations.
It probably never bothered Ukrainian lawmakers. Until this Wednesday when the Rada TV channel set up its new studio right amid the Parliament hall. The same day a draft law on ‘State Concern of Television and Radio broadcast’ was tabled.
Institute of Mass Information judgment shows that ‘Rada TV’ official website lacks transparency about use of the funds coming from the public purse, and has no updates on changes in its executive side and newsroom. The biggest concern is that there is still no rulebook for editorial policies and mechanisms for public control and engagement.
The rebooted pariliamentary TV channel drew ire of lawmakers who fret about the costs of its reboot and cite inconveniences they have over having a regular TV studion in the parliament’s hallway.