Principles of Participation of Mass Media and Information Agencies in Information Support for Elections

1. In the course of the election process, the mass media shall distribute information materials in response to requests from election commissions or regional or territorial representations of the Central Election Commission, on the basis of respective agreements.


2. Information agencies and mass media shall disseminate information on the course of the election process and on related events on the basis of principles of providing credible, complete, accurate, and objective information in an unbiased way.

Information agencies, mass media, when disseminating information about the election process, election-related events, shall not allow silencing respective information of public significance related to the said events, if it was known to them at the time of dissemination of such information. Information agencies and mass media shall be obliged to disseminate information about the elections in accordance with the facts, not allowing distortion of information. Mass media and information agencies shall attempt to obtain information about election-related events from two or more sources, and shall give preference to original sources of information.

Television and radio broadcasting organizations shall independently determine the amount of airtime to be allocated to the coverage of facts and events related to the election process. When placing such materials, television and radio broadcasting organizations shall be prohibited from providing a different attitude, or granting privileges, to certain electoral subjects.

Mass media shall provide a balanced coverage of comments made by candidates and parties (party organizations) that are electoral subjects at election-related events.

3. Television and radio broadcasting organizations shall be entitled to create and distribute live broadcasts with the participation of candidates or representatives of parties (party organizations) that are electoral subjects, their agents or authorized persons in the form of election debates, or discussions. Such broadcasts shall be organized as a cycle of broadcasts having the same format so as to ensure the compliance with a principle of equal conditions and equal access.

A television and radio broadcasting organization which intends to broadcast the said programs shall make public its proposal stating the format of the program, the time period within which consent must be given to participate in the program, and the cost of participation in such a program.

The format of the program (a cycle of programs) shall include the following: a procedure for determining the participants of a program with participation of two or more candidates or parties, with the consent of the participants, by drawing lots, etc.; the duration of the broadcast and the amount of airtime provided to each of the participants for their speech; the presence of other persons in the studio during the broadcast (experts, journalists, studio audience, etc.), their role and the procedure for how they are chosen or determined; regulations and code of conduct for the program participants; the topic of discussion and a procedure for how it is determined; conditions for dissemination of other information during the broadcast (results of opinion polls; results of interactive voting; statistical information; educational and background information; concert performances, etc.); other conditions for creating the program.

The cost of participation in the program shall be the same for all electoral subjects and shall be determined in accordance with the amount of air time provided to each of the program participants.

The amount of airtime provided to the program participants for their participating in a discussion or answering questions shall be determined in accordance with the same rules.

4. The National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine (in relation to electronic (audiovisual media) and the central executive body that implements the state policy in the information and publishing spheres (in relation to print media and news agencies) shall supervise the compliance with the requirements of this Code in terms of the participation of mass media and information agencies in the information support of elections, as well as in the conduct of election campaigning.

When exercising such supervision, it shall be allowed to use monitoring materials provided by nongovernmental organizations registered in accordance with the procedure established by the Law, the statutory activities of which include issues of the election process and its observation.

Should violations be identified as a result of such supervision, the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine and the central executive body that implements the state policy in the information and publishing spheres shall take measures in accordance with the Law.