Battle of the memes

IN LATE 2013, early in the Maidan demonstrations, Savik Shuster, one of Ukraine's most influential television hosts, made the mistake of inviting opposition leaders onto his talk show. Mr Shuster's network, whose owners were aligned with Viktor Yanukovych, then the president, promptly dropped Mr Shuster's programme "Savik Live". It was picked up by Channel 5, a station owned by a western-leaning oligarch named Petro Poroshenko. Last month, Mr Shuster again found himself under pressure—this time, he says, from Mr Poroshenko, who is now Ukraine's president.

Mr Shuster's offence was to invite on air a Russian journalist who criticised the Ukrainian government for killing civilians in a "fratricidal war". Ukraine’s National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting issued him a warning for violating a law against war propaganda and incitement of hatred. In today's atmosphere, Mr Shuster says, his attempt at bringing balance to the discussion proved a step too far: "There are now people who shouldn't be on the air, and things that shouldn't be discussed.” As one of his other guests, a deputy from Mr Poroshenko’s party, remarked later in the show: “Today, an information war is being waged against Ukraine…Our task is to be united, to comment as one.”