Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed an authoritarian law that expands the government’s power to regulate media groups and journalists in the country, a report published by The Kyiv Independent said.
The law was signed on Thursday after protests from media unions and journalist associations that described it as an authoritarian move that would have a chilling effect on free speech.
As per the new law, the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council, a statutory body whose members are selected by the president’s administration and members of parliament, will have sweeping authority over controlling Ukrainian media organisations and journalists.
The body will have the power to effectively shut down unregistered news sites.
Last month, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine said the bill would undermine press freedom in the country.
In a statement released by the organisation, the union described powers vested by the bill as “clearly excessive” and said that it will oppose it. “No one has yet managed to tame freedom of speech in Ukraine. It won’t work this time either,” the organisation said.
However, this is not the first time that Zelensky has been accused of suppressing press freedom. He first tried to draft a new law to boost media regulation in 2019, the year he entered office.
The bill was enacted into law along with several other new statutes lawmakers claim are required in order to become eligible for European Union membership, which Ukraine applied for last year.
However, the bill that was passed for legislation on December 13, was watered down after strident criticism.
The earlier draft had accorded greater control to the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council to impose fines on media groups, cancel licenses from printed media and prevent online outlets from publishing restricted information.
