What the United News Marathon and Suspilne’s Pershyi Channel broadcast looked like on May 12–13, 2026 — summary

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Coverage of the week’s main topics; representation of parliamentary factions and groups in guest studios; instances of political PR, as well as Russian narratives and toxic media figures in the telethon; and violations of the core standards of information journalism—in brief.

The United News telethon was launched on February 24, 2022. Detector Media began monitoring it on March 21 of the same year using this methodology. In January this year, Detector Media refined and expanded this methodology in response to comments and suggestions from the editorial teams participating in the telethon. The author of the monitoring is Ihor Kulyas, a media trainer and the creator of Detector Media’s core monitoring methodology. 

From March 2022 to September 2024, the monitoring focused on recording and analyzing broadcast schedules of different channels, the main content produced by editorial teams (reports, live feeds, studio discussions), violations of journalism standards, instances of political PR, representation of parliamentary factions and groups, Russian narratives and toxic media figures, and topics ignored by the telethon.

On May 21, 2024, Suspilne’s Pershyi Channel left the telethon and began independent 24/7 broadcasting. This change is not fundamental for monitoring purposes. The work of Suspilne’s news editorial team continues to be evaluated as before, using the same methodology as before the telethon. 

Since October 2024, the monitoring format has changed. It now focuses on analyzing coverage of major socially significant topics in the telethon and — for comparison — on Suspilne’s Pershyi Channel. It tracks how key daily and weekly topics are covered, representation of MPs from different factions, instances of political PR, and the presence of toxic media figures and Russian narratives. Read more about the new monitoring format here.

Starting in 2026, the Rada channel is no longer broadcasting as part of the national telethon.

And here you can read the full review of the reporting period.

On May 12–13, the largest number of battles took place in the Pokrovsk, Huliaipole, and Kostiantynivka sectors of the front. On May 13, the intensity of enemy actions in the South Slobozhanskyi sector increased sharply. In the United News telethon, the channels collectively devoted the most attention to the most active Pokrovsk sector, while subsequently focusing on less active sectors. In the broadcasts of Suspilne’s Pershyi channel during the reporting days, very little attention was paid to the front overall. The Pokrovsk and Huliaipole sectors were mentioned most frequently.

The most important domestic political topic of the reporting days was the court’s selection of a preventive measure for former Head of the Presidential Office Yermak. The course of these events was covered by Suspilne’s Pershyi channel in a high-quality, comprehensive, and timely manner, with a high-quality, controversial discussion of this extraordinary event. The United News telethon covered the topic in very different ways. The Inter and We Are Ukraine channels reported the facts very cautiously and in a limited manner, avoiding expert discussions of them. The 1+1 channel covered the topic in a report-based format with manipulative elements. The expert discussion of the topic, meanwhile, was formal, featuring “trusted” experts loyal to the authorities. ICTV and STB covered the topic correctly, but extremely briefly.

During the reporting days, the largest numbers of civilians killed and injured in enemy attacks resulted from strikes on residential buildings in Kryvyi Rih on May 12 and in Rivne and Dnipropetrovsk regions on May 13. Most of these events were covered in roughly the same way by both the United News telethon and Suspilne’s Pershyi channel.

In foreign policy, the key developments during the reporting days were the end of the three-day “ceasefire” due to Russia’s renewed attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, statements by U.S. President Trump about the alleged approaching end of the war in Ukraine, the beginning of Trump’s visit to China, and President Zelenskyy’s participation in the Bucharest Nine summit. In covering these events, Suspilne’s Pershyi channel devoted more attention to expert discussion than the United News telethon.

During the reporting days, the United News telethon recorded the highest number of serious violations of the standards of reliability and separation of facts from opinions. In the broadcasts of Suspilne’s Pershyi channel during these days, the standards of reliability and separation of facts from opinions were also violated most frequently.

During the week of May 11–17, the “parliamentary” guest studios of the United News telethon were dominated by representatives of the Servant of the People party. Representatives of the opposition factions Batkivshchyna and European Solidarity were not invited. In the broadcasts of Suspilne’s Pershyi channel that week, representation of both the governing and opposition factions in discussion studios was balanced.

During the two analyzed days, there were only two instances of political PR in the United News telethon. There were no instances of PR in the broadcasts of Suspilne’s Pershyi channel.

SITUATION IN DIFFERENT SECTORS OF THE FRONT:

During the reporting days, the largest number of battles once again took place in the Pokrovsk sector of the front (32 and 36 combat engagements per day, respectively). The intensity of fighting also remained high in the Huliaipole sector (16 and 32 combat engagements), while the Kostiantynivka sector remained the third most active (31 and 14 combat engagements per day). On May 13, the intensity of enemy actions in the South Slobozhanskyi sector increased sharply, with 22 combat engagements recorded there. In all other sectors of the front during the reporting days, the number of combat engagements did not exceed 8 per day.

In the United News telethon, the channels collectively devoted the most attention to the most active Pokrovsk sector, from which they produced three frontline reports and about which they spoke with two guests. They also focused on less active sectors—the Kupiansk, Lyman, and Orikhiv sectors. Among the most active sectors, very little attention was paid during these days to the Kostiantynivka sector (there was only one discussion).

The channels that devoted the most attention to the front during these days were 1+1 and ICTV/STB. Most often, the telethon discussed the frontline situation with spokespersons of various Defense Forces units (8 times) and with frontline soldiers (7 times), while military experts were invited 4 times. War correspondents worked very actively during the reporting days: 1+1 aired two frontline reports, ICTV and STB aired three, and correspondents from Inter and We Are Ukraine each produced one frontline report.

In the broadcasts of Suspilne’s Pershyi channel during the reporting days, very little attention was devoted to the front overall—one report and eight guest studio discussions over two days. Among the frontline sectors, somewhat more attention was devoted to the Pokrovsk and Huliaipole sectors (two discussions each), as well as the Sloviansk sector (one report and one discussion). Other sectors of the front received, at best, one guest studio discussion each. Most often, discussions about the front were held with spokespersons of Defense Forces units (4 times), while frontline soldiers and military experts were invited twice each. One frontline report was produced.

DOMESTIC POLITICS:

In my opinion, the most important domestic political topic of the reporting days was the number one topic of the entire year, or even the number one topic of the prolonged tenure of the current authorities: on the evening before, former Head of the Presidential Office Andrii Yermak received a notice of suspicion from NABU and SAPO, and during the reporting days, court hearings were held to determine a preventive measure for him.

The course of these events was covered by Suspilne’s Pershyi channel in a high-quality, comprehensive, and timely manner. In addition, the channel provided extensive and high-quality expert discussion of this extraordinary event. Moreover, Pershyi this time brought the concept of discussion-based talk studios to its logical perfection: not only did it organize political discussions of the topic whenever possible (although politicians from the authorities were not particularly eager to discuss it), but even at the expert level, it brought together on air a high-quality impartial expert and a conditional expert who was maximally loyal to the authorities. The Yermak topic was clearly and logically the top story on the channel during these days.

In the United News telethon, however, coverage of the topic was, at the very least, chaotic, as it varied greatly across the broadcast slots of different channels.

On May 12, Inter managed to report only the factual basis of the story in its 6 a.m. news bulletin, and then effectively “forgot” about the topic until noon.

1+1 covered the topic rather comprehensively in a report-based format. At the same time, the channel’s journalists, first, manipulated facts and, second, provided manipulative assessments (specific examples of these manipulations are given later in the text). The expert discussion of the topic was purely formal, featuring “trusted” experts loyal to the authorities and promoting manipulative “expert” assessments (examples are also provided later in the text).

In its evening slot that same day, We Are Ukraine limited itself to merely stating the facts. The topic occupied positions far from the top of the news agenda, and it was not discussed at all in the guest studio, even with a media figure closely connected to the subject—Presidential Office adviser Podoliak, who had previously also served as an adviser to Yermak himself.

On May 13, 1+1 continued its manipulative coverage of the topic. ICTV and STB, meanwhile, covered the topic correctly but in an extremely concise manner.

CONSEQUENCES OF ENEMY SHELLING AND BOMBING OF CIVILIAN OBJECTS:

The most devastating enemy aerial attacks on civilian infrastructure were the strike on a residential building in Kryvyi Rih on May 12, where two people were killed and four others, including an infant, were injured. On May 13, during a massive combined enemy attack, a strike on a residential building in Rivne Oblast killed three people and injured six; in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, four people were killed and three were injured.

Most of these events were covered in roughly the same way by both the United News telethon and Suspilne’s Pershyi channel—through brief reports and the involvement of guests. Overall, Suspilne’s Pershyi channel was more prompt than the telethon. Only correspondents from Suspilne’s Pershyi channel reached the Dubovykivska community in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. In addition, on May 13, there were 23 strikes on Ukrzaliznytsia facilities. Suspilne’s Pershyi channel discussed the consequences of this attack with the head of Ukrzaliznytsia.

UKRAINE’S FOREIGN POLICY AND WORLD POLITICS:

In foreign policy, the important developments during the reporting days included statements by the Ukrainian leadership regarding the end of the three-day “ceasefire” due to Russia’s renewed attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, statements by U.S. President Trump about the alleged approaching end of the war in Ukraine and his denial of any agreements with Russia regarding Ukraine surrendering territories in the east, and the beginning of Trump’s visit to China on May 13 (although his talks with Xi Jinping were scheduled for the following day). Meanwhile, President Zelenskyy was participating in the Bucharest Nine summit. In covering these events, Suspilne’s Pershyi channel devoted more attention to expert discussion than the United News telethon.

Topics and events that were not mentioned on the United News telethon but were mentioned on Suspilne’s Pershyi channel:

At a meeting of the parliamentary Temporary Investigative Commission, a co-owner of Fire Point spoke about Mindich’s attempts to acquire a significant stake in the company (May 13).

Neither the United News telethon nor Suspilne’s Pershyi channel reported:

United News Telethon:

In the broadcasts of the 1+1 channel, the most frequent serious violations of the reliability standard were purely abstract pseudo-attributions. Many facts were presented without references to sources. The most frequent serious violations of the accuracy standard this time were purely factual inaccuracies (at times, these inaccuracies appeared manipulative). The most frequent serious violations of the standard of separating facts from opinions were journalists’ emotional assessments in news reports. There were also many unnecessary attribution and attention-enhancing markers in news stories. Journalists in news broadcasts allowed themselves to make jokes (and these jokes were also entirely manipulative). There were also many unauthorized opinions expressed by guest studio hosts. Most of the serious violations of the completeness of information standard involved insufficient presentation of experts’ qualifications. A great many violations of the accessibility standard consisted of words and abbreviations that were unclear to a significant part of the audience.

In the broadcasts of ICTV and STB, the most frequent serious violations of the reliability standard were generalized and vague pseudo-attributions of subjective opinions. Many facts were also presented without any references to sources. All serious violations of the accuracy standard were mismatches between the visuals and the text in BZ segments. All serious violations of the standard of separating facts from opinions were journalists’ emotional assessments in news reports. All serious violations of the completeness of information standard involved insufficient presentation of experts’ qualifications. All serious violations of the accessibility standard consisted of words that were unclear to a significant portion of the audience.

In the broadcasts of Inter, the most frequent serious violations of the reliability standard were generalized and vague pseudo-attributions to sources of factual information. All serious violations of the accuracy standard were mismatches between the visuals and the text in BZ segments. The most frequent serious violations of the standard of separating facts from opinions were journalists’ emotional assessments in news reports. All serious violations of the accessibility of information standard involved journalists’ use of words and abbreviations that were unclear to a significant portion of the audience.

In the broadcasts of We Are Ukraine, the most frequent serious violations of the reliability standard were the presentation of facts without any references to sources. All serious violations of the accuracy standard were mismatches between the visuals and the text in BZ segments. All serious violations of the standard of separating facts from opinions involved journalists’ use of emotional assessments in news reports and in the news elements of guest studio programs. The most frequent serious violations of the completeness of information standard were the absence of natural background sound in visuals used in BZ segments and reports. All serious violations of the accessibility of information standard involved the use of words and abbreviations that were unclear to part of the audience. There was one serious violation of the timeliness standard: a report was aired more than a day after the event had occurred.

Suspilne’s Pershyi Channel

The most frequent serious violations of the reliability standard were generalized and vague pseudo-attributions of subjective opinions. The most frequent serious violations of the standard of separating facts from opinions were unnecessary attribution and attention-enhancing markers in news reports. Most of the serious violations of the completeness of information standard involved insufficient presentation of experts’ qualifications. The most frequent serious violations of the accessibility of information standard involved the use of words and abbreviations that were unclear to a significant portion of the channel’s audience.

Members of Parliament in the United News Telethon:

Members of Parliament were invited to the United News telethon 7 times during the reporting week (the previous week, there were 6 invited MPs). The broadcasts featured 6 representatives of the ruling Servant of the People faction (almost 86% of all parliamentary guest appearances) and one representative of the Holos faction. Representatives of the two other opposition factions—Batkivshchyna and European Solidarity—were not invited to the telethon.

The Presidential Office was represented in the telethon once each during the week by: Presidential Office adviser Mykhailo Podoliak (16 minutes on We Are Ukraine), Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Iryna Mudra (12 minutes on the same channel), sanctions commissioner Vladyslav Vlasiuk (9 minutes on Inter), and Presidential Office adviser Serhii Leshchenko (7 minutes on We Are Ukraine). Overall, the Presidential Office received 44 minutes of airtime in the telethon during the reporting week.

Members of Parliament on Suspilne’s Pershyi Channel:

During the week, Members of Parliament appeared on the public broadcaster’s air 27 times (compared to 28 appearances the previous week). Representatives of the ruling Servant of the People faction were invited to the channel 12 times. On one occasion, regarding the important topic of the criminal prosecution of Mr. Yermak, representatives of Servant of the People were invited to join a discussion studio together with representatives of European Solidarity (Oleh Syniutka participated) and Batkivshchyna (Valentyn Nalyvaichenko participated), but they declined. The host stated verbatim:

“We also contacted Yuliia Poliachuk, the press secretary of the Servant of the People faction, asking that one of the faction’s MPs join us specifically to discuss this topic. Unfortunately, there was no response whatsoever to our request.”

Representatives of the parliamentary opposition appeared on air a total of 14 times (5 appearances each by representatives of Batkivshchyna and European Solidarity, and 4 appearances by MPs from Holos). On another occasion, according to the host:

“We were also expecting MP Inna Sovsun, who opposes the new version of the Civil Code, to join us on air. Unfortunately, she was unable to participate today, but Suspilne is ready to provide airtime…” (This was during a studio discussion featuring Servant of the People representative Ihor Fris.)

In addition, representatives of the Dovira parliamentary group appeared on the channel twice. In the discussion-based guest studios, the balance between representatives of the authorities and the opposition was clearly maintained.

During the two analyzed days, there were only two instances of political PR in the United News telethon, both on ICTV and STB. On May 13, they twice aired a report about the work of the “Povernennia” mental health centers founded by Viktor and Olena Pinchuk. The report included such evaluations as: “this is accessible, high-quality and humane psychological assistance,” “the space is equipped with technological perfection,” and “at the Center, I felt support and relief,” among others.

There were no instances of negative political PR in the telethon.

There were no instances of political PR in the broadcasts of Suspilne’s Pershyi channel during the reporting days.

There were no Russian propaganda narratives or toxic media figures in the broadcasts of either the United News telethon or Suspilne’s Pershyi channel during the reporting days.