From Consensus to Censorship: How Wartime Measures in Ukraine Are Eroding Press Freedom

As we near 30 months since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, we spoke with our Ukrainian partner, Human Rights Platform (HRP). Media lawyer, Oleksandra Stepanova, discussed growing concerns over the erosion of press freedoms and increasing state media control. She tells us how wartime restrictions, once largely understood as necessary, have since overreached – extending beyond wartime security needs, veering into censorship and obstructing access to crucial information. This worrying shift has also seen a sharp uptick in legal harassment of journalists aimed at silencing and intimidating them. Despite these challenges, HRP continues to offer crucial legal support to protect independent journalism and access to information.

Hello Oleksandra, thank you for speaking with us. Could you tell us a bit about the evolving landscape for journalists in Ukraine?

The situation has been changing continuously. After the full-scale war started, freedom of speech was oppressed and civil society put in a lot of effort to improve the situation. But unfortunately, we see that the government has not stopped putting pressure on journalists. While we understand that protection of the country is the number one priority and imposed martial law allows authorities to limit human rights to some extent, we also see that these limits are being broken regularly.

At the beginning of the war, the top concerns for journalists were gaining access to the territories, determining what information could be published and when, and navigating other practical issues of working in this new reality. Unfortunately, later we started to face completely different cases of pressure on journalists. These included issuing summons to investigative journalists after they published reports on high-ranking officials, surveilling journalists during their personal time, and detaining journalists for several days by officers of the ТЦК.

One major issue is reduced access to information. Based on HRP’s experience, nearly every second case we work on, involving access to public information, poses significant challenges for journalists. A lot of information has been removed from official websites and is not provided upon request. Authorities justify these restrictions by claiming that the disclosure of such details, like salaries, bonuses, and procurement records, could potentially compromise national security. This is only a brief summary of what journalists and civil society face on a daily basis in order to save and develop the democratic values for which we are currently fighting.

Additionally, it is impossible not to mention the TV Marathon* in Ukraine. Civil society believes that it is complete censorship.

*The TV Marathon in Ukraine, was launched shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, uniting major TV channels to offer continuous, unified news coverage and counter Russian disinformation. While it has been crucial for disseminating information during the conflict, it is facing widespread criticism for excluding opposition channels, raising concerns about media diversity and government propaganda and control.

Could you tell us more about the primary types of cases that HRP deals with currently compared with earlier in the war?

After the full-scale invasion we had a time when politicians, journalists, and all Ukrainians united – the only mission was to fight against the aggressor. It looked like a pause – journalists did not investigate and politicians did not sue them. In 2022, HRP had three cases of violation of journalists’ rights by Russia and our lawyers applied to the ECtHR against Russia. In 2023, when everyone realised that the war was not a sprint, but rather it has become an ultra-marathon, everyone started to resume their work. We then encountered an unprecedented situation where state bodies restricted access to most official information, using wartime security concerns to justify this. Naturally, journalists decided to find out what was being concealed. As a result, many cases HRP now handles involve defamation lawsuits, where high-ranking officials sue journalists for their investigative reporting and demand substantial compensation for alleged damages to their reputation.

For instance, ee face a lot of cases where a Deputy, whether from a local council or the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, sues a journalist for defamation. One notable case is from the Ivano-Frankivsk region. This case was particularly concerning as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP). Firstly, the Deputy threatened the Editor of an online media outlet and then he filed a lawsuit against both the media organisation and the Editor. The Deputy was not afraid to say publicly “It is time to close the tap” when commenting on this situation.

The media outlet had initially reported on a scandal involving the Deputy related to the allocation of forest land. Specifically, state-owned communal land was controversially transferred to the Deputy’s daughter for construction purposes. Following the scandal, the government pledged to protect the forest from deforestation. In response, the media outlet published an article to highlight the situation and inform the public.

Later, the media outlet published an article listing Deputies who had not signed a petition to ban a political party with alleged connections to Russia. The Deputy in question was named in this article and responded by filing a lawsuit against both the media outlet and its Editor-in-Chief.

HRP provided the media outlet with legal support. Unfortunately, the first-instance court ruled in favour of the plaintiff. HRP’s lawyer appealed against the decision to the appellate court, which overturned the decision of lower court, but, the Deputy went to the Supreme Court. We are now waiting for the decision of the Supreme Court.

Interested in this topic? 

Read more about HRP’s work here.

Read related articles on Russian Disinformation, freedom of expression in times of war or the abduction of Ukranian Journalist, Oleh Baturin.

Learn more through our free legal resources on defamation.

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