BBC News | READ YOUR COMMENTS | Killing the Story: Your comments

For whatever reason, Tom Mangold forgot to mention the fact that most of Ukraine's bureaucrats and political elite learned their trades under the old Soviet system, where corruption, murder and intimidation of journalists were rife. However, not a single Soviet apparatchik has ever been prosecuted for human rights abuses. It would, therefore, be wrong to associate Ukraine's fledgling independence and democracy with the criminality described in the programme. The fact that these matters can be reported on and discussed openly speaks volumes. However, the programme left the impression that the maltreatment of journalists was, in some way, a product of independence and democracy rather than being the continuation of an evil tradition central to the old Soviet system. I fear that Tom Mangold's efforts will be used by opponents of independence and democracy as an excuse to promote their own imperialist and totalitarian agendas.
Anon

Tom Mangold's explanation and interview with participants was very clear and concise. His interview with Kuchma showed the guy up to be the chancer he obviously is. I work for a organisation which promotes freedom of expression, a difficult notion to sell here at home. Programmes like last Sunday's show the dangers many of the independent journalists face in parts of the world where the government seeks to curb free expression.
Pauline Phillips

While undoubtedly the former eastern bloc politics can be dubious, we as westerners can become complacent when subjecting other systems to scrutiny. We tend to be of the opinion that all people are free to rise to any position and succeed at any enterprise. If it is true that one group has, through business success, actually come to control the vast majority of major TV and media interests in the US, should we not be asking probing questions? Do democracies rely on a free and unbiased press? If yes, then how do we guarantee that the media is indeed up to the ideal? Would democracy be better guaranteed if the ownership and control of the media reflected the ethnic and religious diversity within that nation? I think we are mature enough in the west to be subjecting our own systems to some real scrutiny.
Clive Beere

Clear coverage, very good. But Mangold might have made better use of the protestations of innocence of Kuchma and the protection of the President by his Prosecutor-General. Finally, it is not "the Ukraine" but "Ukraine". We do not refer to Germany, France, and Denmark with the preceding "the". This is a bad habit from Russian and Soviet times when Ukraine was treated as a non-country, a non-peoples, a non-replublic.
Nestor Gayowsky

Well done Tom Mangold, clearly the West should be putting pressure on Kuchma to explain or resign. It is ridiculous to hear the police say that they have concluded one year later that they think Gongadze was murdered! What a cover-up!
Alan McClean

I am well aware of the goings on within the corrupt and crooked administration of Leonid Kuchma. I was, however, hoping that Tom's programme would include a few interviews with western leaders as to what they are doing about it all. The IMF, the World Bank and the EBRD have poured billions of dollars into this country with little or no hope of any of it being repaid. Why? A follow up would be very appropriate. I would like to hear from the great leaders who squander so much of the west's hard earned money.
Brian H. Lait

Georgy Gongadze and his brave colleagues have paid the ultimate price, for attempting to provide ordinary people with the hope that the dishonest and corrupt will not escape exposure and punishment

Michael Barratt
I worked for many years in USSR foreign trade and with regret witnessed those in positions of authority steal assets both before and after the break-up of the former Soviet Union. The dishonest have apparently prospered, while the honest have in effect been punished for their honesty. Georgy Gongadze and his brave colleagues have paid the ultimate price, for attempting to provide ordinary people with the hope that the dishonest and corrupt will not escape exposure and punishment. While there are heroes like Georgy Gongadze and Major Melnychenko all is not lost, they shine as beacons for the less brave but honest men and women both in Ukraine and in the other former USSR Republics.
Michael Barratt

I watched Correspondent tonight. I have never seen this program before as I hardly watch TV as most of it is a waste of time. However, this program was enough to justify your TV licence and I commend the courage of reporters. Doesn't anyone higher up in the BBC establishment realise that programs like this are worth screening more than just the once? Having seen this program I shall definitely be watching next weeks which definitely should be shown more than just the once. Once again thanks for reporting as it should be.
Michael Gilbert

An excellent reading of the corruption which now exists in the Ukraine due to their peculiar system. In 1991, my Mother and I happened to arrive in Kiev on the day of Gorbachev's coup d'etat, for a brief visit to my brother, Nestor Gayowsky, who was the Canadian Charges d'affairs at the time. Ukrainian Independence began in a very naive and hopeful way. It is sad to think that it has become quite corrupted in such a short time. The oligarchs look after themselves (as usual).
Anon

This is a disgrace to the memory of those who gave their lives for this independence

Yaroslaw Tymchyshyn

As a Ukrainian, who was born in this country, waged a war of sorts to help Ukraine gain independence, I was appalled by the findings of your programme. I have been to Ukraine seven times and have no problem in believing the facts uncovered, but am totally ashamed with the corruption and crime, which is carried out with the blessing of President Kuchma. This is not the Ukraine I wanted to see or worked so hard to have. This is disgrace to the memory of those who gave their lives for this independence, and a smirk on the good name of Ukrainians world wide.
Yaroslaw Tymchyshyn

Why did tonight's "documentary" have to be dumbed down with these infuriating B-movie sound effects and intrusive music designed to ruin the continuity and give the impression that words and language are insufficient on their own? Can you not give the public the credit for an ability to think during any spaces ? The correspondent series is superb when presented intelligently and simply. For heaven's don't mess up a straight piece of journalism with trash.
Alastair Black

Many thanks for the impressive and shocking programme this evening. Congratulations to Tom Mangold on his forthright and brave enquiry. Why haven't we heard more about this - or have I just missed it? I wish one had the confidence, given its track record, that the FBI was conducting a vigorous and impartial investigation and would go public with its evidence once obtained. However, it is not enough to expose corruption and injustice. I do hope you will pursue this important topic so that international pressure can be applied to the Ukraine administration, which had frightening overtones of Milosevic.
Maurice Plaskow

How ironic that a programme hidden away on BBC2, Sunday evening, and with no prior promotion was called "Killing the Story"

Anon

Tom Mangold's programme on Ukrainian corruption was simply superb. (Warning - clich� alert!) Worth the licence fee alone. How ironic that a programme hidden away on BBC2, Sunday evening, and with no prior promotion was called "Killing the Story", especially when the BBC sees fit to fill every gap it can find with ludicrous right-on skits involving rooftop gymnastics and dancing wheelchairs, not to mention endless plugs for no-brainers like Eastenders. Well done to all involved in tonight's Correspondent, and shame on the powers that be for not recognising its importance and giving it the backing it deserved.
Anon

Have just watched your excellent programme on the corrupt regime in the Ukraine, an area I had very little knowledge about previously. Glad to see Tom Mangold still at the front line of investigative journalism! Keep up the good work, Correspondent programmes are always enlightening and the courage of BBC repoters never fails to impress.
Anon

Thank you for your revelations on the Ukraine's evil president. The Private eye has been exposing him for ages. It is a pity that programmes like this cannot put out an archive of material from many sources to show the whole picture of the world of international mafia involvement instead of snapshots like this.
K T Roberts

A great programme tonight about the Ukraine. In the good old days, so much of BBC2's output was of this high a quality. What is happening to the BBC? Anyhow, thank you to Tom Mangold and the Correspondent team. Let's hope the man on the run lives to a great old age - the excellent journalists and courageous politicians too.
Anne Millar

I'd thought pertinent facts about contemporary Ukraine were unfilmable

Anon
Congratulations. I'd thought pertinent facts about contemporary Ukraine were unfilmable. Many thanks to Mangold et al
Anon

I thought your programme on corruption in the ukraine was terrific.
Anon

I watched your programme with great interest tonight about the corruption in the Ukraine. Thank god there are still some men of honour with guts in the world. There is hope for civilization yet but it would appear it won't be found amongst the politicians. Keep up the good work the truth is priceless.
Anon


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