As elections approached, events on Donbas became less important for the daily news programs. Instead, weekly news programs paid little attention to this topic.

Two weeks before the elections, the amount of paid materials increased; “Opposition Block” became extremely active emphasizing on its stability, pensions, and warmth. “Inter” remained an anti-leader having the biggest amount of paid news.

Also, news presented a lot of black PR. On "Inter" and "1+1", black PR was daily and regular. STB, First National and 5th Channel remain free from “black PR”. For the first time, we spotted materials both in favor and against “Samopomich”. Political talk shows “Svoboda slova” and Shuster Live demonstrate "conciliatory" tendency in public communication between the political opponents, journalists, and politicians.

Daily news programs during October 13-18 (detailed monitoring)

“1+1” does not stop its war against Oleh Lyashko. Every day, Kolomoyskyi’s channel aired materials against the leader of Radical Party. Materials were aired without an actual informational cause and without presenting Lyashko’s position.

TSN also aired materials in favor of Kolomoyskyi’s protégé, an ex-deputy from “Party of Regions” Vitaliy Hrushevskyi as well as news in favor of “PryvatBank”.

 «1+1» presented some materials with features of paid news that consisted of unjustified comments of the candidates Serhiy Mishchenko, Oleh Syrotiuk, and Oleksandr Shevchenko.

«Іnter» has the most paid news. Starting on October 15, the channel does not only promote Lyashko, but also criticizes “Samopomich”. On October 17, there were two materials against Andriy Sadovyi and “Samopomich”. On October 18, Lviv city mayor was accused in corruption. “Inter” did not give Sadovyi a chance to respond.

“Podrobnosti” also air unjustified comments of the members of “Opposition Block”. Nestor Shufrych and Oleksandr Vilkul get the most attention. There were also comments by Mykhaylo Dobkin, Serhiy Larin, and Mykola Skoryk.

Every day, “Inter” had digest of paid materials in favor of “Sylna Ukrayina”, “Batkivshchyna”, “Opposition Block”, “Hromadyanska Pozytsiya”, “Zastup”, Radical Party, and Petro Poroshenko’s Block.

On October 13, “Podrobnosti” aired an unbalanced material that promoted Lyashko. There was no real informational cause for this video that was also used as anti-propaganda against close to Ihor Kolomoyskyi candidate Oleksandr Shevchenko. There was also a material about “Ukrnafta” to use as an anti-advertising of Kolomoyskyi. The material does not have balance of opinions.

“Inter” regularly does not titrate the candidates from particular political forces: Boryslav Bereza (who appeared on “Inter” two days in a row) is titrated as a representative of “Pravyi Sektor”, Oles Doniy is titrated as a deputy from a group “European Sovereign Ukraine”, Lyashko is titrated as unaffiliated deputy. The same problems are with titrating Nestor Shufrych (who appears on “Inter” regularly), Oleh Tyahnybok, and Viktor Chumak. The most commentaries were not justified and informative. Two times, “Inter’ helped the candidate from “Petro Poroshenko’s Block” Vitaliy Chudnovskyi who is close to the channel’s co-owner Serhiy Lyovockin by airing two negative materials about his main opponent in single-member district Anton Yatsenko.

On October 14, “Podrobnosti” aired a material with standards’ violations about Odesa oil plant. The video had evaluative judgments without balance and against Ihor Kolomoyskyi.

Without evidence, “Inter”, accused the candidate Nataliya Byanova in misusing administrative resources. In the video, there is no balance of opinions, and no position of the law enforcement agencies.

"Fakty tyzhnia" on ICTV repeatedly aired an agitation of “Opposition Block" and "Sylna Ukrayina”, “Batkivshchyna”, “Zastup”, and Petro Poroshenko’s Block. Traditionally, ICTV praises Leonid Kuchmawho is related to the owner and charity of Rinat Akhmetov. For the first time, ICTV aired materials in favor of "Samopomich”; for instance, the channel talked about “Samopomich” candidates passing a test on false detector. However, viewers did not see the confirmation that the answers of candidates during the test were indeed true. Another video talks about Lviv success using the comment of city mayor and the candidate of “Samopomich” Andriy Sadovyi.

On October 15, without balance of opinions,  ICTV accused Ihor Kolomoyskyi in schemes with Kherson oil plant. ICTV aired a paid material in favor of unaffiliated candidate Serhiy Poyarkov who is titrated as "activist and artist." The material about bribing voters in Donbas also uses unjustified comment of Poyarkov.

On October 18, “Fakty tyzhnia” aired a paid material about the candidate of "Pravyi Sektor” Boryslav Bereza. “Inter” aired the same material.

Channel "Ukrayina" continued its daily praise of the good deeds of the owner Rinat Akhmetov; for instance, it talked about humanitarian aid in Mariupol and conference for volunteers "Cooperation without Borders" with the commentary of a representative of Akhmetov Foundation Dariya Kasyanova. Also, “Sobitiya” advertised Akhmetov’s company DTEK. In addition, "Sobitiya” aired paid materials in favor of "Batkivshchyna”, “Hromadyanska Pozytsiya”, “Sylna Ukrayina”, and Radical Party. The channel invited “Opposition Block” representatives Yuriy Boyko, Andriy Cherkasov, and Oleksandr Vilkul. During the week, other materials also aired inappropriate comments of this party’s members. The guests were Yuriy Mamchur from “Petro Poroshenko’s Block” and Ostap Semerak from
Narodnyi Front". When talking about the conflict with 34th channel in Dnipropetrovsk, "Ukrayina" criticizes Ihor Kolomoiskyi again. On October 16, "Ukrayina" aired two videos against Kolomoyskyi. Also, “Sobitiya” aired a material against a candidate from "Samopomich” Semen Semenchenko.

During the week, STB had paid materials in favor of "Opposition Block”, “Hromadyanska Pozytsiya”, “Sylna Ukrayina”, and “Batkivshchyna”. On October 13, “Vikna” aired a material about resuming life in Luhansk region, built on the person of the Governor. In the material, there were five comments of Moskal. The channel also promoted “Medsanbat” of the channel’s owner Victor Pinchuk Foundation and visit of his father in law Leonid Kuchma. There are paid news features in the material about the Reanimation Reform Package that was signed by eight political forces.

First National had the material about the creation of the Public Council that will control the lustration. There, the candidate from “Samopomich” Yehor Soboliev was titrated as a head of public lustration Committee of Ukraine. His comment was not necessary, too. So far, the channel did not have any paid materials, so we assume that this is just a mistake, but editors should be vigilant.

5th Channel titrated the candidate from “Petro Poroshenko’s Block” Viktor Chumak as the Chairman of the Committee on Fighting Organized Crime and Corruption.

In general, the channels had 171 paid materials during a week. It’s much more than in the previous week (129). The undisputed anti-leader of paid news is "Inter" with 76 videos during a week. Then, there are "Ukrayina" (44), ICTV (27), "1+1" (13), and STB (9).

Also, among political forces, “Opposition Block” remains an undisputed anti-leader with the biggest amount of paid materials (36). Then, there are “Sylna Ukrayina” (16), “Batkivshchyna” (14), “Petro Poroshenko’s Block” (8), Oleh Lyashko’s Radical Party (6), “Zastup” (3), “Hromadyanska Pozytsiya” (3). For the first time, we spotted the paid materials in favor of “Samopomich” (2). Many paid materials aimed to discredit political opponents such as Oleh Lyashko and Radical Party, Ihor Kolomoyskyi’s team, and the party “Samopomich”. “Inter” and “1+1” are the most active “fighters”, and sometimes, “Ukrayina” and ICTV get involved in this fight, too. STB, 5th Channel and First National are free from black PR.

Weekly programs on October, 19 (detailed monitoring)

Weekly programs have much more paid news. The main topics were: Milan summit involving Poroshenko and Putin, riot of the troops, and disturbances near the Parliament. The newsrooms paid little attention to the elections.

The rebellion of national guards and the unrest near the Parliament were the topics that unites all channels. And all the newsrooms pointed to the Russian secret services being involved in organizing these protests. All materials centered on the comments by the head of Security Services Valentyn Nalyvaychenko and Interior Minister Arsen Avakov recorded under the same circumstances. The rest are the details that mimic the uniqueness and difference in plots.

TSN of "1+1" linked soldiers’ riot with the summit in Milan. The anchor Alla Mazur voiced this idea with reference to anonymous political experts. In the material, the journalist Olha Koshelenko uses the analogy of the biblical Last Supper and presents a negative image of Putin: "In Milan, Putin demonstrated his honor as he could presenting himself as a solid man on a large car with a bunch of guards"; "And there goes Putin on his “Mercedes”." The channel does not mention the restoration of control over the border, the agreed price of gas, drones from the OSCE, and the recognition of the elections in "DNR" and "FSC." Information about the drones presented separately with the comment of the President Poroshenko. The gas price was discussed in the studio with the Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

In the material about troops’ riots, TSN traditionally played on emotions, presenting the rebels as not-patriots. For this, the channel compared the troops with those who are now in a combat zone. Another incorrect comparison that was used by Ruslan Kharchenko, concerns the length of years served by the parents of these troops. This way, the journalist shows that the troops have no right to get angry since they served only one year and a half.

The material about elections was one of the last. In the material by Olha Kashpor, without balance of opinions, the journalist shows former Party of Regions’ deputies as violators, and pro-European patriots as pure.

"1+1" continued broadcasting  paid materials about Oleh Lyashko without any balance. In sharply satirical style, the channel described the attack on the leader of Radical Party in Ivano-Frankivsk.

"Fakty tyzhnia" on ICTV also presented Vladimir Putin in a negative context, using information about his reception in Serbia in the Soviet style, and him being lat for several meetings. In the material about the riot of soldiers, the journalist Serhiy Smalchuk uses only one sentence referring to MIA, and without any evidence, he indicates that the special services of Russia were involved. ICTV was the only channel that used the comment of the candidate Dmytro Tymchuk (№13 of “Narodnyi Front"). In the material of Volodymyr Sokolov about the "trumps" of the major parties before the elections, we spotted manipulations with sociology and citing unidentified experts as well as the lack of balance. In particular, journalist speaks more about some parties providing their representatives with the ability to comment while other parties are mentioned  with one or two sentences. Thus, there is no comment from “Hromadyanska Pozytsiya” and “Opposition Block”. Instead, the focus is on "Sylna Ukrayina". Referencing to the same unknown experts, journalist found Tihipko’s party to be the favorite among opposition forces.

In the material, “Ukrayina” did not mention the other agreements made by Ukraine in Milan such as the restoration of several checkpoints on the border with Russia, non-recognition of elections in "DNR" and "LNR" by the global community, and the use of OSCE drones to monitor compliance with peace. “Sobitiya” newsroom decided to analyze how the elections would be held in Eastern Ukraine. In another election video without the author, the newsroom combined political promotion with oligarchic. Paid news features against Kolomoyskyi are obvious from the words of the anchor Oleh Panyuta. The material is centered on the recording of the conversation between Dnipropetrovsk regional management although its authenticity is not confirmed. After biased comments of political experts, the journalist shows a comment of one of the oppositionists Yuriy Boyko.

This time, "Inter" had an exclusive interview with Zbigniew Bzezhynsky. Also, this is the only channel that does not separate Crimea from the rest of Ukraine and tries to present videos about the most important political events taking place on the peninsula.

When talking about the summit in Milan, Dmytro Anopchenko noticed an interesting detail that was left out by other channels: the forum’s owner was Russia’s friend Italy. In addition, the journalist notes that gas negotiations went not entirely smoothly. It is not clear whether Ukraine agreed on a price of $385 per thousand cubic meters or no.

The opinion on the results of negotiations by Dmytro  Anopchenko that takes into account the Italian factor is the only one among other channels that contradicts the official Poroshenko’s position. Anopchenko said that the Ukrainian delegation has not completed its mission fully. However, the author of the material does not say anything about the opening of the checkpoints on the border with Russia and OSCE agreements on drones. While covering the events near the Presidential Administration, "Inter" showed exclusive footage of unidentified young men in civilian clothes provoking and controlling National Guard troops.  In the report on clashes near Verkhovna Rada, "Inter" said that on October, 14, flags of “Pravyi Sektor”, “Svoboda”, and “Bratstvo” were spotted near the parliament.

Dmytro Anopchenko announced the results of a poll without specifying the sampling time frame, the number of respondents, and the customer. The presenter mentioned that the survey was conducted throughout Ukraine, but focused only on the results in the South-Eastern regions.

5th Channel was vague this week. It aired only four materials (usually, there are five of them). Two of them are referred to as “netlenka” on journalistic slang. In particular, this is the video about a truce that is being violated regularly on the East, and the video about the importance of changing the minds of the national army from the Soviet mindset. Although these topics are important, due to the lack of resources, the channel ignores other more important events of the week.

When talking about the summit in Milan, 5th Channel journalist repeated the mistakes of other journalists presenting either “parquet” or unimportant details that do not allow the viewers to understand the nature and results of the negotiations. The author does not say anything about the checkpoint at the Ukrainian-Russian border and the drones from the OSCE. She mentions gas negotiations by the end of the video. The topic of protests near the Parliament and the riot of the soldiers is the third (among four videos). The anchor Vitaliy Haydukevych - intentionally or not - uses pro-government rhetoric, after which the viewer can easily believe that it is necessary to prohibit almost all protests. After all, the anchor shows that all anti-government protests are beneficial for Kremlin.

The materials with signs of hidden political advertising:

“Fakty tyzhnia”, ICTV – 3:

“Meanwhile, despite the ceasefire, a number of Ukrainian soldiers dies every day in ATO zone”.

“Every political force running for the Parliament has its key trump”.

“And another topic that provided Russian media not only with a pretty picture, but a reason to talk about the threat of the third Maydan”.

“Sobitiya niedieli”, “Ukrayina” – 3:

 “Lustration started in the country”.

“The most alarming news of the elections campaign came this week from Dnipropetrovsk region”.

“There were two attempts during this week to block the work of the metallurgical plant “Zaporizhstal”.

“TSN. Tyzhden”, «1+1» — 1:

«Leader of Radical Party Oleh Lyashko is another candidate who spoke about an attempt to kill him in Ivano-Frankivsk”.

“Podrobnosti niedieli”, “Inter” — 3:

“Guest in the studio is Yuliya Tymoshenko from “Batkivshchyna” (3rd part)”.

“One more perspective on the tomorrow’s voting in the Parliament”.

“Guest in the studio is Yuriy Boyko from “Opposition Block” (2nd part)”.

«Chas. Pidsymky tyzhnia”, 5th Channel – 0.

Interviews with politicians (including the ones in the studio):

“Fakty tyzhnia”, ICTV:

Yuriy Lutsenko (“Petro Poroshenko’s Block”);

Arseniy Yatseniuk (“Narodnyi Front”);

Oleksandr Vilkul (“Opposition Block”).

“Sobitiya niedieli”, “Ukrayina”:

Yuliya Tymoshenko (“Batkivshchyna”);

Arseniy Yatseniuk, Ukraine’s Prime Minister (“Narodnyi Front”);

Yuriy Boyko (“Opposition Block”).

«TSN», 1+1:

Arseniy Yatseniuk, Ukraine’s Prime Minister (“Narodnyi Front”);

Serhiy Tihipko (“Sylna Ukrayina”).

“Podrobnosti niedieli”, “Inter”:

Iryna Herashchenko (“Petro Poroshenko’s Block”);

Mykola Tomenko (“Petro Poroshenko’s Block”);

Volodymyr Yavorivskyi (“Batkivshchyna”);

Yuliya Tymoshenko (“Batkivshchyna”);

Oleksandr Vilkul (“Opposition Block”).

Yuriy Boyko (“Opposition Block”).

Oleh Lyashko (Oleh Lyashko’s Radical Party) – twice;

Anatoliy Hrytsenko (“Hromadyanska Pozytsiya”);

Dmytro Yarosh (“Pravyi Sektor”);

Oleh Tyahnybok (“Svoboda”).

Talk shows Shuster-Live (October 13), and “Svoboda slova” (October 17) (detailed monitoring).

During the program on October 17, Savik Shuster keeps on allowing the candidates to promote themselves without asking them difficult questions. Even opponents and journalists tend to demonstrate "conciliatory" tendency in public communication. The desire of political forces to use the popular program a week before the elections for propaganda instead of serious discussion was obvious and predictable; and excessive number of guests guaranteed semantic confusion and difficulty with rational perception. Given that the main theme of the program was actually the so-called electoral corruption (especially various forms of vote-buying and other illegitimate means of getting electoral advantage), it was obvious that the program needed some representatives of law enforcement. The message - on behalf of the Interior Ministry – about the seemingly hundreds of offenses connected with the bribery of voters would give viewers the official point of view and the real picture of the criminal proceedings in this area. Moreover, such information could make a strong impression on the viewers, or, at least, on that portion of the citizens who decided to "sell" their votes. This, unfortunately, was not done. The politicians themselves did not mention concrete examples of political corruption, and talked about the topic in a shallow way, and that was the easiest way to avoid uncomfortable questions for the participants. Neither politicians, nor the moderator mentioned important questions about solving the corruption problem that could make the discussion more constructive.

The only remarkable thing about “Svoboda slova” with Andriy Kulykov (October 13) was the appearance of two politicians from the old regime who, alongside Tihipko and Boyko, show up on some channels from time to time. Their political forces do not depend on television appearances, and hope to win the rest of the voters on the South and the East using revanchist attitudes. That explained the content of their speeches since they focused on reforms and peace. Valeriy Khoroshkovskyi used the advice of his political technologists and learned how to avoid unpleasant questions. All of his rhetorical speculations regarding reforms or some sort of special merits for fighting corruption do not mean a thing and lack reasoning and concrete examples. They are being used simply to justify the guest’s presence in the program. Khoroshkovskyi appeared very vulnerable toward criticism. It was very strange that his political opponents did not use this opportunity to “push” not only him, but the entire party that is predicted high rates by some sociologists. In the conclusion, we want to note that recently, and not only on these talk-shows, we noticed some kind of "conciliatory" tendency in the public dialogue between political opponents, and between journalists and politicians. It appears as if the journalists who investigated violations of “former” politicians, lost their enthusiasm after becoming politicians themselves.

Monitoring of compliance with professional standards in the information services of Ukrainian TV channels was carried by NGO "Telekritika" with financial support by USAID, provided through the "Internews Network". The purpose of monitoring is to increase media literacy of Ukrainian society, motivate media to be just and responsible, respect professional standards, and improve the quality of media products.

Monitoring of compliance with professional standards in the information services of Ukrainian TV channels was carried by NGO "Telekritika" as a part of the project “Strengthening informational society in Ukraine” supported by Council of Europe. The purpose of monitoring is to increase media literacy of Ukrainian society, motivate media to be just and responsible, respect professional standards, and improve the quality of media products.

 Monitoring is an independent expert assessment of the NGO "Telekritika." All conclusions and opinions expressed in all monitoring publications may not necessarily reflect the views of Council of Europe.