Ukraine hits back at Russian TV onslaught

[dipsydoodle]

Ukraine's media regulator has ordered all cable providers to stop transmitting top Russian state-controlled TV channels, which have portrayed it as a country overrun by "neo-Nazis" and on the brink of chaos and collapse.

The Ukrainian National Council for TV and Radio Broadcasting instructed all cable operators on 11 March to stop transmitting a number of Russian channels, including the international versions of the main state-controlled stations Rossiya 1, Channel One and NTV, as well as news channel Rossiya 24.

It said it was acting in the interests of "information security". It was also responding to calls from the National Security and Defence Council, which on 6 March said the presence of Russian TV channels in Ukraine's "information space" represented a threat to "national security".

Russian TV's attacks on Ukraine have been relentless. As critic Yekaterina Bolotovskaya wrote on Russian website Gazeta.ru, they have been painting an "apocalyptic" picture of the country, embellished by "bellicose language" reminiscent of the height of the Cold War.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26546083

Ukraine, Russia Intensify War of the Airwaves

No shots have yet been fired in the fight over Crimea, but the television war has been intensifying.

At least one major Ukrainian television provider has moved to switch off Russian channels after the new government in Crimea shut down Ukrainian channels on the peninsula.

“We will suspend broadcasting Russian channels for some time, probably everywhere. But there is no official order to do that,” said an online support operator at Volya, Ukraine’s largest TV and Internet provider.

But the information blockade may not end there. Ukraine’s National Council on TV and Radio Broadcasting also held a meeting Wednesday with the country’s cable television providers to discuss the possibility of switching off Russian channels, a spokeswoman said.

On Tuesday, the media regulator told cable and satellite TV providers to block Russia’s TV, including state-run Russia 24 and Channel One. The council will make its final decision on a temporary suspension of broadcasting of four Russian channels on Thursday, Interfax news agency reported.

http://blogs.wsj.com/emergingeurope/2014/03/12/ukraine-russia-intensify-war-of-the-airwaves/

[jakeXT]

1. Banning something always sparks curiosity /nt

[reformist2]

2. Censhorship = "Hitting Back"? What they did is embarrassing, shameful, and telling.

It's also very telling about anyone who would support it...

[Duckhunter935]

3. does Crimea

allow Ukraine TV to be broadcast?

[dipsydoodle]

4. Probably not.

Just as bad as each other.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. No - they banned that a week ago

6th March:

3:57:

Russia's official rolling news channel Rossiya 24 is now broadcasting on the frequencies normally used by Crimea's largest private television company, Black Sea TV, Kiev-based Telekritika website reports.

14:48:

Ukrainian media officials say armed men accompanied by Russian state TV representatives have captured the state-run operator of television transmitters in Crimea. Via BBC Monitoring

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26463731

Two days before Russian forces began seizing control of Crimea, two Molotov cocktails, or petrol bombs, were thrown through the window of independent Black Sea TV. On Tuesday, the authorities cut the power off.

Alexandra Kvitko, the editor-in-chief, suggested the channel was paying the price for broadcasting a reality different from the only one accepted by the pro-Russia authorities.

By Friday, two other Ukrainian channels had gone off the air and had been replaced by Russian state channels, foreign reporters in Crimea said.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/03/07/uk-urkaine-crisis-osce-media-idUKBREA2611L20140307

http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/digital-broadcasts-of-ukrainian-television-channels-shut-off-in-simferopol-338960.html

[Comrade Grumpy]

6. The revolution will not be televised?

[geek tragedy]

7. or the invasion won't be. I'm sure as Ukraine is reasonably sure

columns of tanks from Russia won't blitz through its territory things will settle down.