03.12.2003

 

Briefing report: “The Practice of Journalism in Ukraine”

Ten journalists from Luhansk region, Ukraine speaking at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)

The International Visitors Council of Greater Kansas City, Missouri is sponsoring ten journalists from Luhansk, Ukraine as part of the State Department’s “Community Connections” program.  The journalists have toured newspaper headquarters and visited government and independent enterprises in order to understand the way media operates in this country.  The journalists are members of the Luhansk branch of the newly-formed National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (a previous version was dissolved), which provides legal support to journalists who choose to be a part of it, but is not a labor or trade union per se.

The journalists represented a range of media outlets, and included one newspaper owner (former journalist and lawyer) and editors from regional and Kyiv-based papers, as well as a radio broadcaster from a state-supported station in Luhansk.  All agreed that the level of independence of a journalist or his employer is contingent first upon money, and perhaps then upon political influence.  In Ukraine, as in the United States, newspapers and other print media are particularly vulnerable to shifts in the economy.  In this country, “independent” newspapers rely almost entirely on advertising revenue.  In Ukraine, a different set of economic difficulties confront newspapers:  advertising revenue is a smaller share of total revenue, with the bulk of support coming from subscriber fees and newsstand sales.  Meanwhile, the price of production is comparable to that of news media in Western countries, and as taxation and interest rates on loans are very high, it is very difficult to make a profit from newspaper production, and even to cover basic costs.  In addition, clumsy bureaucratic procedure hinders business registration and operation.  As a result of the greater challenge to news media production, the line between sheer economic and political influence over the media is unclear, said the journalists.  However, the radio broadcaster noted one or two cases in the last election where state-run presses refused to print opposition or “independent” papers for political reasons.  He and the other speakers described such events as inevitable at election time.

The journalists acknowledged that self-preservation and making money usually takes precedence over journalistic bravery.  Serhiy Davidov, who started his own small business newspaper in the late 1990s said that he started his paper with the intention of running strictly business-related news, and that he soon realized he would have to infuse some of his own bias into the reporting and production.  He said that while he doesn’t strive to be a political independent, he has refused to run self-aggrandizing, even slanderous content supplied by a political candidate, and was in consequence threatened by this candidate.  Others referred to colleagues that had been killed for political reasons, and said that it is generally harder to be independent when working for small regional papers because the politicians “know where you live”. 

Nonetheless, the journalists insisted that the situation for journalists in Ukraine is improving, pointing to progress in society’s grasp of market economics; Mr. Davidov pointed to a lack of “good managers” as a major obstacle to newspaper success.  Ukraine’s President Leonid Kuchma sponsored a conference for small business owners in mid-2002, and the journalists said that while they will not be able to take what they have learned in the United States to “start a revolution” in Ukraine, they feel optimistic they can employ in Ukraine some elements of the journalistic and business practice to which they have been exposed in the United States. 

Briefing summary by Sarah Hutchison, NCSJ Program Assistant