The Rada did not allow journalists to violate the curfew, but made committee meetings open
Kyiv • UNN
The Verkhovna Rada did not support the provision on free movement of journalists during the curfew. Instead, the parliament passed a law on the openness of parliamentary committee meetings to the media and the public.
The Verkhovna Rada passed in the second reading a bill that would have exempted journalists from liability for moving on the street during the curfew if they were performing the tasks of their professional activities, but this provision was rejected, but the draft law provides for making meetings of the Verkhovna Rada committees open to media workers and the public. This was reported by UNN with reference to the card of the draft law No. 11321 and MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak.
Details
“The Rada supported No. 11321 on amendments to certain laws of Ukraine to strengthen certain guarantees for media, journalists and citizens to access information. There were 286 votes in favor,” Zheleznyak said.
According to the draft law, journalists have the right to freely visit the premises of public authorities, public events held by them, attend events held via video conferencing, and be personally received by their officials and employees within a reasonable time.
The Verkhovna Rada committees must also inform the public about their activities, in particular by publishing their work plan, schedules of committee meetings, agendas of committee meetings, draft acts and acts adopted by the committees, minutes, transcripts of committee meetings and hearings, and video recordings of open committee meetings on their websites.
Agendas of committee meetings and draft acts scheduled for consideration at such a meeting are published no later than 24 hours before the committee meeting, and committee acts adopted as a result of preparing draft laws for consideration in the first reading are published no later than five business days after the committee meeting is completed.
Committees should provide live broadcasts of public meetings on their websites. Video recordings of the broadcasts should be made public no later than 24 hours after the end of the committee meeting and remain freely available indefinitely.
“Meetings and other events of the committees held in public are open to journalists, media workers, and representatives of public organizations. Journalists and media workers accredited by the Verkhovna Rada do not need additional accreditation to attend committee meetings,” the draft law says.
It is also envisaged that sessions of local councils should be held with the right of everyone to be present. The procedure for access to sessions is determined by the council in accordance with the law. Minutes of the council session are open, kept for an unlimited period of time, and published on the official website of the council.
Persons present at the council sessions have the right to make sound recordings, film, photo and video recordings in a manner that does not interfere with the meetings,” the draft law states.
However, it is worth noting that the draft law was radically rewritten for the first reading, and it did not address the provisions that were adopted in the first reading at all.
Prior to the first reading, the draft law was supposed to exempt journalists from liability for moving on the street during the curfew if they were performing the tasks of their professional activities.
In particular, in the territories where martial law has been imposed, journalists and media workers accredited to the Armed Forces of Ukraine or other components of the defense forces have the right to move freely during the curfew period in the course of their professional activities. Documentary evidence is a prerequisite.
However, in the version for the first reading, this provision was rejected by the committee, because, according to MPs, “the wording of the draft law could lead to corruption, when a practically legal way will be created for persons with journalistic accreditation to violate curfew restrictions throughout Ukraine, not just in the combat zones.
However, there are still provisions under which journalists will not be liable for disseminating information containing secrets specifically protected by law, if this information was not obtained illegally, and for disseminating information with restricted access if the court has determined that this information is publicly necessary.
Also, the media outlet will not be liable for readers' comments, provided that the media outlet has restricted access to such information within 3 days not only from the date of receipt of the relevant complaint or order of the National Council, but also from the date of receipt of the court's decision to open the relevant proceedings.
Recall
First Deputy Speaker Oleksandr Kornienko said that work is underway to get the draft law on openness of parliamentary committee meetings on the agenda of the Verkhovna Rada.