To protect Volyn journalists from the risks and dangers associated with carrying out their professional activities, the Volyn regional representation of Viktor Yushchenko's bloc "Our Ukraine" insured the life and health of 20 media representatives. Some of them were recommended by the Regional Union of Journalists of Ukraine. The statistics of freedom of speech violations for 2003, according to the monitoring results of the Institute of Mass Information, indicate the strengthening of negative trends in this sphere. According to the head of the Volyn representation of the "Our Ukraine" Bloc, People's Deputy of Ukraine Volodymyr Bondar, "during the past year, Volyn journalists also felt the problematic nature of their activities. The troubles with the state of freedom of speech in Volyn were evidenced by the refusal of a live broadcast to People's Deputy of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko on the "Avers" TV channel, administrative pressure during the subscription campaign, smoke bombs thrown into the windows of opposition journalists, and cars burning." The year that has begun will be extremely difficult politically. "Editors and journalists will feel this difficulty especially acutely, because it is precisely they who will to a large extent have to influence the choice of citizens," believes the People's Deputy. In democratic countries, the media are called the fourth estate, since by their very nature they should focus primarily on the interests of society and in no way work to please the authorities. Thanks to the media, many problematic issues of society are resolved, because the press and television form public opinion, including about the authorities, and therefore remain in opposition to them. According to Volodymyr Bondar, "in Ukraine, the press is not capable of fulfilling its main function — to reflect life as it is. In order to protect themselves from criticism, the authorities try to influence the media through forceful mechanisms or bribery, thereby committing violence against journalism." According to Bohdan Shyba, who was the initiator of the journalists' insurance campaign: "The Volyn representation of 'Our Ukraine' understands that insurance cannot solve the problems related to freedom of speech, but we are trying to move from words to concrete actions that depend on us, and to protect journalists from possible troubles. 'Our Ukraine' will solve the problem of freedom of speech as part of reforming the entire system of power."