Ukraine’s wartime television landscape has centered around the state-funded Telemarathon, drawing praise for unity and criticism for lacking media pluralism, transparency, and objectivity. This raises concerns amid Ukraine’s ambitions to join the EU.
Already before the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian government started a so-called “deoligarchisation” of Ukrainian society. This reform of the relations between the Ukrainian state and big business was, in Volodymyr Zelensky’s words, intended to cut Ukraine’s “oligarchs” from “concentrated media resources, opaque access to strategic assets and their “krysha” [literally: roof, or patronage] in the government.”
Until a few years ago, a handful of large media conglomerates, including the most popular television channels, radio stations, and print media outlets, determined the country’s news agenda and significantly shaped public debate. The five most important before 2022 were:
