Orwellian 'Ministry of Truth'? OSCE lashes out at Kiev’s new ministry amid journalists’ outcry
Kiev’s decision to create a Ministry of Information is a clear threat to media freedom in Ukraine, said OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic. The government’s plans have also sparked a wave of fury from journalists. ● “Ukraine’s initiative to create a Ministry of Information is a clear threat to media freedom, this is not the way to counter propaganda
,” said Dunja Mijatovic on her Twitter account on Wednesday. Mijatovic also tweeted a link to an article called “Ukraine just created its own version of Orwell's 'Ministry of Truth’” citing the classic dystopian novel 1984. “In democracy, a ministry of information can never be an answer for anything related to media, free expression and safety of journos,
” she wrote. The media watchdog of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe added that she will bring up the issue at the meeting with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin in Basel on Thursday. The creation of a new so-called Ministry of Information Policy was approved by Ukraine’s Parliament on Tuesday. The parliament appointed Yury Stets - head of the Information Security Department of the National Guard of Ukraine, close ally of President Petro Poroshenko and former chief producer of the TV “Channel 5” owned by Poroshenko - to head the ministry.