In this phone interview with INMA, Oksana Brovko, CEO of the Association of Independent Regional News Publishers of Ukraine, shares insights on how the war has affected local journalism and news media industry in Ukraine and what can be done to support them.

Greg Piechota, INMA: Are you safe?

Oksana Brovko: It’s hard to say. In Ukraine, safety depends on your location — whether you’re on the front line or in the Carpathian Mountains [in Western Ukraine]. Everyone feels unsafe when sirens ring. It’s really hard when your children must huddle in cold, dark basements.

This uncertainty of what could happen in a matter of seconds is overwhelming. Still, I feel motivated. What I am doing is not just important to me and our members, but to our country and my children’s future. So, despite the bombs, I am not leaving the country.

Oksana, we are meeting one year after the start of the invasion. How has the war affected the journalism and news media industry in Ukraine?

Today is the day 364. I am counting each day. People and businesses have learned how to live under attack. It’s a life near bomb shelters, without electricity, and infrequent access to the water or Internet.

The media market is in big trouble. The advertising market has been destroyed, and subscription revenues have fallen, too. Many people migrated out of Ukraine or to other regions within Ukraine. Most of the media in occupied territories are closed, and journalists and their relatives have had to leave to avoid arrest. Media brands in occupied territories have been stolen by Russians, who use them for their propaganda. 

In the front line, many newsrooms have been destroyed, and journalists have had to move out because Russians had targeted their offices and personal addresses with shelling.

This year has been very difficult for us in the media, both physically and psychologically. One example: Do you know that most local newsrooms have a new beat that is coverage of military funerals? It is important to tell stories of our heroes, but at the same time, it’s one of the most draining jobs, and journalists who do it require mental health assistance.

If there’s no revenue, how are these publishers surviving?

We can survive thanks to great support of media organisations in the West. 

Right after the war began, our colleagues from Poland reached out and told us that they are eager to help together with Scandinavian publishers. They set up the Ukrainian Media Fund and have been helping us since then. 

In the beginning, we focused on relocating media infrastructure and people to safer places. We got new equipment as many newsrooms lost everything — from laptops to bulletproof vests. 

As Russians bombed power plants, portable power generators were needed. We received assistance also from governments, media groups, and individual donors from across Europe and the United States. 

All this help meant a lot because the war doesn’t destroy you only physically, but mentally. Your solidarity showed that we were not alone.

Tell me more about your members, local news publishers from all over Ukraine. How are they doing?

Most of the regional and local media outlets keep doing their job. Private and independent media publishers are doing better than those previously funded by local governments. Funding for municipal newspapers or broadcasters stopped and many closed. 

Some of the independent publishers moved their servers and printing presses to Western regions of Ukraine, further away from the front line. Many decreased the circulation of print editions because newsprint is more expensive but also because many people emigrated.

Local newsrooms are reporting about migrations, safe routes, electricity blackouts, where to get clean water or medical supplies. Topics are very different from the ones before the war.

Many newsrooms are publishing on Telegram channels, a social network that has become the key source for official and unofficial information since the war started. Telegram works even if your mobile Internet speed is very low. 

On one side, it’s an opportunity for publishers to reach wider audiences, but on the other side, publishers’ journalism is competing on Telegram with rumours by anonymous bloggers or fake news by Russians.

How can Western publishers help you today? 

Today, we need financial support for funding journalism. The current revenues do not cover the cost of their salaries, however low they are, and if journalists cannot simply feed their families, they won’t be able to continue their work. 

I am so glad that our donors understand this, and we have already received funds that we could distribute across Ukraine. I am afraid this support will be needed until the end of the war.

As a nation at war, we also need international media to continue the coverage. People are getting tired of the news from Ukraine, but we need the world to know what is happening here. It’s not just our war. We just pay the price from being on the front line. It’s our common fight for freedom and security.

Thank you very much. Oksana, stay safe and strong.

Oksana Brovko, together with Thomas Mattsson of Bonnier News, one of the founders of the Ukrainian Media Fund, will deliver a keynote at the INMA Media Subscription Summit in Stockholm on March 9.

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