The Editor of the English language Kyiv Post was fired today after he refused to kill a story. The story was an interview with the Agriculture Minister of Ukraine Mykola Prysyazhnyuk about the lack of transparency and alleged problems with the distribution of grain export quotas. Business people linked to the Agriculture Minister and the president may be benefitting from the system. High members of government pressured the publisher not to run the story who then told the editor, Brian Bonner, to kill it. Today he ran it anyway. Right on, Brian!
The story in question can be seen here:
Only last month, Bonner courageously fought and won a libel lawsuit in London by Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash. In the past under such legal threats, the paper had capitulated and ran retractions and then positive stories. The paper had gotten significantly better under his direction.
According to an email from a reporter on staff: "The Kyiv Post editorial staff is protesting interference in its tradition of independentjournalism through owner Mohahammad Zahoor’s decision to fire chief editor Brian Bonner today over the publication of an interview with Agriculture Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk (vol. 16, issue 15, April 15, 2011. Hereinafter, the Kyiv Post editorial staff announces a strike, demanding to reinstate Brian Bonner as Chief Editor. We will continue writing and editing our articles, but will post no news or layout the paper for print. Later today, we will send out comments from Zahoor given to editorial staff in a phone conversation, which took place on April 15 along with more detailed information. "
Kyiv will be the location of the next Global Investigative Reporting Conference.
Drew Sullivan
Advising Editor - OCCRP
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