"It is the stand of the media scene owners, not the politics that constitutes the main problem of the present-day mass media", Mykola Tomenko, Deputy Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, stated in the interview to Channel 5, commenting upon the results of the Ukrainian "Enemies of the Press 2009" anti-rating. "Unfortunately, this survey is too superficial, as the politicians influence the mass media, while their daily activity is determined by the owners and realized by the managers", M.Tomenko stated.
M.Tomenko believes that monopolization of television and radio space is fraught with danger to the freedom of speech. He named the ‘pool´ of Inter television channel where nine channels are under the influence of family of V.Khoroshkovsky, Head of the Security Service of Ukraine.
"The system of correcting news content has apparently been restored in Ukraine. It is obvious in case of newscasts, when the order and the content of news are strictly predetermined. It raises peril for the freedom of speech", the Deputy Chairman stated.
Mykola Tomenko commented upon the statement of the Party of Regions Press Service, reading that "the journalists should bear responsibility for the publication of the ‘irresponsible declarations of the politicians´. M.Tomenko considers it to be at least ‘strange.´ "Moreover, it has nothing in common with the effective legislation, pursuant to which the politicians and the officials shall bear responsibility for their declarations, while the mass media shall be concerned with the objectivity and balance of representation of different viewpoints in mass media", he stressed. However, M.Tomenko believes that such a statement of the press service can not but provoke anxiety, so it should be regarded as a ‘yellow card´ to those media that give the opposition representatives a possibility to express their opinion. Finally, the Deputy Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine stated that "such statements contradict the equity of statute and the letter of the law that regulates mass media activity in Ukraine."