Shuster’s political show cut off air, raising free-speech concerns once more
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/politics/top-political-show-cut-off-air-triggers-parallels-to-yanukovych-era-questi
Ukraine’s top political talk show Shuster Live was cut off the air on Ukraine’s leading Channel 1+1 right before the program was supposed to start.
The controversial decision of the channel’s administration has received a strident backlash from Savic Shuster, the show’s host, who compared the situation to late November 2013, when his show was canceled during President Viktor Yanukovych’s authoritative rule that ended on Feb. 22, 2014, with the EuroMaidan Revolution.
“This is an insult against the people, to say the least,” Shuster said. “I think this is an agreement between the owner (oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky) of Channel 1+1 and the president’s administration. I don’t know on what grounds and, more so, for what reasons.”
The Kyiv Post is still waiting for a response from the president’s spokesperson.
Instead of the show, Channel 1+1 showed Zimniy Vals (Winter Waltz), a Russian melodrama TV series.
“This is like Swan Lake in 1991,” Shuster said, reminding of the attempt of censorship control during the collapse of the Soviet Union, where the Soviet Communist Party wanted to take one last chance of restoring authoritarian control. The ballet Swan Lake was shown on television instead of the heated events in Moscow.
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Shuster Live, however, was broadcast at www.3s.tv, the show’s official website, and then, soon after being canceled on Channel 1+1, on channel 112.
During the show Shuster received a letter from Oleksandr Tkachenko, the general director of Channel 1+1, mentioning that Sushter Live does not have the right to broadcast the show on another channel, since it was not in the license agreement.
“We did not have in our agreement that you could broadcast us as you wish, and like some kind of trash, throw us from left to right,” Shuster replied. “Tkachenko, you of course are a colleague journalist but I am not your slave, I am not some sort of shit in your hands. Look into the mirror more often – maybe you will see more truth there.”
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Lyashko believes that the channel was pressured by the president’s administration because of his presence at the show. Lyashko was planning to defend Ihor Mosiychuk, a Radical Party member who was controversially stripped of immunity and arrested on Sept. 17 during a parliament session.
He said that the decision to cancel the program was a result of a deal between Poroshenko and Kolomoiskiy.
“An oligarch will go to the president, find an agreement, the president will give a command, and the oligarch closes down the program,” Lyashko said.
