German Ambassador to Ukraine Anka Feldgusen told European Pravda that the EU has unofficially called on Ukraine to move away from the "single news marathon" format on television and give viewers a choice.

In particular, there is constant communication between the EU and the government of Ukraine regarding the disconnection of channels Pryamiy, Espresso, and Channel 5 from the digital airwaves and the transition of the Ukrainian information space to a more open format.

"Maybe not publicly, but we talk about these things with the Ukrainian government all the time. We have a common goal: for Ukraine to remain democratic even during the war. Information warfare is indeed a component of modern wars, and I understand that you have turned off pro-Russian TV channels," Feldgusen said in the interview with European Pravda.

To the journalist's clarification that not only the pro-Russian ones were disconnected, the ambassador replied: "Yes. And we discussed more than once that we need to move to a more open space."

When asked if it is not about having a "single marathon" in Ukraine, but different channels, Feldhusen answered: "For example, yes. Because people should have alternative sources of information. It seems to me that all your political forces are now patriotic. Everyone wants Ukraine to win. Maybe there are different views, but still everyone is a patriot. And people should be given the opportunity to choose what they want to watch."

There was no clarification question whether the EU believes the channels can support 24/7 broadcasting and news production on their own given the current state of the advertising market.

On February 24, since the beginning of Russia's large-scale aggression against Ukraine, the leading broadcasters united in a joint marathon called United News. It was launched by the newsrooms of four commercial media groups (1+1 media, Media Group Ukraine, Starlight Media and Inter Media Group), as well as public broadcaster Suspilne and government-run Rada TV.

After Rinat Akhmetov left the media business, Media Group Ukraine withdrew from the production of the TV marathon.

The Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko stated that the joint telethon United News on Ukrainian television will continue until the victory in the war with Russia. Tkachenko does not see the prospects of joining the production of the national marathon of channels from the "Poroshenko pool", because in the negotiations with them "it was not possible to reach a compromise".