Dear Mr. Zelenskyi,
On April 21, the second round of presidential electionin Ukraine will take place. During your election campaign, you made dozens of videos that became coverage opportunities for news and materials in media. You gave a few interviews to a number of chosen media before the first round of elections, but over the past few weeks you personally avoid direct and full-fledged communication with domestic journalists.
Our professional duty as journalists is to bring socially important information to citizens on time and in full. As you ignore our requests and entreaties for interview, we cannot perform in full the functions assigned to us by the society.
The media community and the civil society have a number of questions about your vision of further development of the country, as well as your openness and willingness to be accountable to the society that elects you. Our readers, viewers and listeners also ask questions that we cannot answer because we never talked to you directly.
We ask you to show respect for journalists and civil society, which was the engine of all reforms in the country since the Revolution of Dignity.
We urge you not to follow the negative practices of ignoring media requests which, unfortunately, have also taken place over the past 5 years, and to hold a press conference for the media before the official date of the debate (not later than on April 18) to ensure dialog with media representatives in particular and Ukrainians in general.
Prove that the principles of openness and transparency that you declare are not empty words and pre-election slogans.
Open appeal was signed by:
"Media for a Conscious Choice" Media Movement
UA:Pershyi (UA:PBC)
Ukrainian Radio (UA:PBC)
Hromadske Radio [Public Radio]
National News Agency of Ukraine - Ukrinform
Liga.net
Public Television of Donbas
NovoyeVremya
Radio NV
The Ukrainian Week
Opinion
Detector Media
Mass Information Institute
PylypOrlykInstitute for Democracy
Regional Press Development Institute
Internews-Ukraine
“Souspilnist” Foundation
Ukrainian Crisis Media Center
Ukrainian Press Association
"Po Toi Bik Novyn" Information Campaign
Photo: www.facebook.com/ze2019official
