Channel "1 + 1" Continues to Retail Disinformation about the Church

The information policy of the TV channel "1 + 1" towards the Church has nothing to do with journalistic standards. In most cases, the story of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on the resources of "1 + 1 Media Group" is based on rumors, fiction and speculation. Unfortunately, this level of the mass media has become a marker of the critical level of freedom of speech. Their political bias gives reason to assume that the management and major shareholders of "1 + 1 media Group" are interested in speculation on the church subject to manipulate the audience. The situation has become more bitter due to the fact that through propaganda in news pieces "TSN - News" and other resources of "1 + 1 Media Group" breed undisguised incitement of religious and sectarian strife, which, in its turn, leads to the destabilization of Ukrainian society through its separation and the creation of sources of social discord in some regions of Ukraine.

Although the UOC is a constant subject of information libel for the TV channel "1 + 1", coverage of church issues in August presents blatant evidence of the planned disinformation.

On August 14, a news piece "The officer in Marinka tells us why the militants harbor the war" went on the air. It goes about the situation in Marinka, Donetsk region. At the end of the story an Orthodox church was shown, and the journalist says that priests of the Moscow Patriarchate abandoned the church as soon as the Ukrainian Army went into the town. Without resorting to a detailed list of all the contradictions of the news item, which relate to the Church, it should be noted that according to the Donetsk Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, in the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Marinka the rector, Archpriest Sergius Geiko, regularly holds a church service. This can be confirmed by official representatives of the Donetsk Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, or directly by residents of Marinka. Therefore, the news item of TSN discredits the reputation of archpriest Sergius in front of millions of TV viewers. Besides, the reporters accuse the whole UOC of lack of patriotism for no reason, because they do not mention the name of a particular priest, thus generalizing the information. It results in manipulation of mass consciousness and imposition of stereotypes that such behavior is typical of the clergy of the Moscow Patriarchate in the Donetsk region.

However, it is a sheer libel in the news item about the events in Marinka that makes us feel outraged. The reporter didn’t mention other towns and villages and didn’t let us suggest that the submitted news footage was filmed not in Marinka. However, there is no such an Orthodox church in Marinka, Donetsk region, whose facade is shown at 2:21 of the news. The Kazan Church has a different architectural form (see the original photo of the Kazan Church in Marinka at: http://galleryua.com/photo/marinskij-rajon/12786-marinka/ ). This fact arouses suspicion about the verity of all the material presented in the news "The officer in Marinka tells us why the militants harbor the war." This poses a reasonable question about the identification of where and what was filmed and edited by TSN reporters.

It should be noted that the reporter never referred for comments to the official representatives of the UOC. Accordingly, all her statements were thoroughly based on her own, rather biased assumptions, obscure interests, and were not commented by the party, whose good name was marred.

On August 25 there appeared another fake on the TSN website: "Transcarpathian Monastery refuses the Moscow Patriarchate». It retailed misinformation of the press service of the so-called Carpathian diocese of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) that St. Nicholas’ Monastery of the UOC (MP) in Chynadiyevo, Transcarpathian region, went under the UAOC jurisdiction. Although on August 21 the Ukrainian Orthodox Church issued a flat denial of the misinformation on its official site (there is no St. Nicholas’ Monastery of the UOC in Chynadiyevo), the administrators of the TSN site didn’t take it into account for unknown reasons. Such actions should be regarded as intentional misleading of the readers by the information resource.

The next day, 26 August, another TSN news item was released: "In Ternopil Region Villagers Blocks the Road because of Religious Conflict”(http://tsn.ua/video/video-novini/na-ternopilschini-cherez-religiyniy-konflikt-selyani-perekrili-dorogu.html?ENGINE=1554). Even in the pre-news comments the TV presenter distorted the facts supposedly saying that the priest and officials didn’t let residents of Kolosova village, Ternopil region, pass into the "Kiev Patriarchate". Further on the reporter kept misinforming viewers, saying that the "Kiev Patriarchate" supporters have been waiting for the permission of the Ternopil Regional State Administration to register a new religious community for three months. But the truth is that no one prevents these farmers from going into "the UOC-KP." To do this they first and foremost need to apply for setting up a new religious community in the village of Kolosova. But the demands of the "rebels" (in the words of the reporter) are to re-register an existing community, changing its jurisdiction of the UOC for the so-called Kiev Patriarchate. And in their way stood not the priest with officials, but other residents of Kolosova, who, unlike those who were interviewed, are active members of a religious community. It’s against Ukrainian law to make a congregation change jurisdiction by force, without the consent of its members. The news presenter says nothing of that. She alleges that it is enough to calculate the votes in favor of the KP at the general meeting of the village in order to eliminate the village community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by going into schism. The supporters of the "UOC-KP" do not really care to have a parish of the Kiev Patriarchate in their village. Their goal is to liquidate the UOC parish.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has repeatedly appealed to the leadership of the TV channel "1 + 1" to stop misinforming the public by means of libel and speculation that defame the Church. No reply from Mr. Vladimir Tkachenko or other authorized persons has been reported so far.

Considering the scale of the audience of "1 + 1 Media Group" in conditions of social instability, regular disinformation in coverage of church issues in Ukraine constitutes a threat to the Ukrainian state. After all, the activities of these so-called mass media is alike a hybrid war, which is aimed at fomenting internal conflict and further destabilization of the situation in the country.

Source: the site of the UOC

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