Tetyana Kotyzhynska, president of the Ukrainian Association of Media Lawyers (second from left) opened the training for media Lawyers in Kyiv. Photo: IA/Ukrinform.

At a workshop in Kyiv, Ukrainian media lawyers received training to ensure better protection of media rights within the election process. The workshop was streamed live on the Internet

Under the title: "Media in times of Elections and relevant Case-law of the European Court of Human Rights" a workshop was organized by the Ukrainian Association of Media Lawyers with the support of IMS. The event, designed for media lawyers and media managers, was conducted in the view of early parliamentary elections which are likely to be held in Ukraine in 2009.

The Election process is traditionally a challenging time for journalists and media as their professionalism and ethical standards are being put to the test. At the same time, it is extremely important to ensure adequate protection of media rights in terms of elections as both media and journalists often become targets of politicians and political forces in the course of tough election competition.

Teaching the ins and outs of national and international law 

Training organizers succeeded in involve leading Ukrainian media lawyers and media experts to lead the sessions at the workshop. The event gathered advocates and experts from the Ukrainian Association of Media Lawyers, Media Law Institute, Independent Association of Broadcasters and Eastern European Institute of Media Problems.

Except for the national legislative regulation of media activities during the election process, the training covered a number of "hot" election topics such as: The nature of the right to free elections, the right to reply, freedom of political discussions and sarcastic language, commercial messages and other related issues as they are interpreted in the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights.

The trainers also reviewed and commented on the national court practice and decisions of the Central Election Commission adopted during the last parliamentary elections in 2007. Specific attention was given to the presentation of the activities and decisions of the Independent Expert Council on Media during the 2007 Elections and possible re-organization of this ad-hoc institution into a regular body providing expert assessment of debatable issues in media work and regulation.

Sharing through the Internet

Each participant received a package of training materials developed to improve media lawyers' understanding of the election-related media standards and how to assist in protection of media and journalists rights in the election process.

The training was streamed live on the Internet which enabled media lawyers from other regions, who did not manage to participate in the event, to follow the training sessions from office or home.