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IMI Issues Semi-annual Report on State of Freedom of Speech in Ukraine

July 6In its semi-annual report on the state of freedom of speech in Ukraine, the Institute for Mass Information (IMI) identified 112 cases of violations of freedom of speech from January to June 2020, which is four cases less than during the same period in 2019.

Of this number, 86 cases were related to physical aggression against journalists (compared to 88 during the same period in 2019), 61 cases of preventing journalists from doing their professional work (compared to 56 in 2019), 13 cases of beatings (nine cases in 2019), 11 cases of legal pressure (eight cases in 2019), and nine cases of threats (15 cases in 2019).

Kyiv and the surrounding region saw the highest number of violations of free speech, with 33 cases, followed by Odesa, Dnipro, and Kherson regions with ten cases each, and Poltava region with nine. In total, violations happened in 19 regions.

IMI conducted its freedom of speech monthly monitoring with the support of the USAID Media Program in Ukraine (implemented by Internews) according to the following criteria: physical aggression against journalists, censorship and access to information, economic, political, legal pressure, and cybercrimes against media and journalists. IMI monthly reports include cases of violation of freedom and prevention from professional journalistic activities. The monitoring methodology can be found at this link, and more about the monitoring can be found at IMI’s online Barometer of Freedom of Speech.

More on the website of the Institute of Mass Information in Ukrainian.