The Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine cannot influence the broadcasting by TV channels of stories about unproven medicine, esoteric practices, numerology and psychics in the national telethon ‘United News’. The Ministry announced this in response to a request from the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
In their request, Interfax journalists asked whether the telethon allowed broadcasting stories promoting unproven medicine, esoteric practices, numerology, psychics, fortune tellers, tarot cards and feng shui.
‘We would like to inform you that the Ministry cannot influence the professional activities of journalists and the editorial policy of the media, in particular, regarding stories about alternative medicine, esoteric practices, numerology, psychics, etc. created by TV channels whose programmes are broadcast during the United News marathon,’ the Ministry said in a response.
In September, a petition was posted on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers demanding a ban on broadcasting psychics and other representatives of pseudo-scientific esoteric movements on the air of the telethon and in news broadcasts. However, in three months, this petition collected only 2,000 signatures out of the required 25.
According to the KIIS, as of March 2024, almost half of Ukrainians believe in astrology, tarot or psychics. In particular, 35% of Ukrainians believe in astrology, 25% believe in psychic abilities, and 15% believe in tarot. At least 43% of Ukrainians believe in at least one of these.
