THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
Constant alarms, shelling, and power outages – all this poses professional challenges for journalists of Ukrainian publications in wartime. How to overcome challenges? These issues were raised by the First Secretary of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), Lina Kushch, during a visit to Lviv.
The meeting took place at the Journalists’ Solidarity Center (JSC) of the NUJU in a cozy atmosphere. Lina Kushch emphasized the importance of continuous professional development, adaptation to new conditions, and the courage to apply for grant programs, which today are a real resource of support for the media.
The coordinator of the Dnipro JSC, Nataliya Nazarova, spoke about the challenges faced by newsrooms from front-line regions, in particular the Dnipropetrovsk Region. She emphasized the importance of internal solidarity of the media community and mutual support between regions.
For example, the Lviv Region today acts as a reliable region for journalists, offering safe coworking and proper working conditions. Coordinator of the Lviv space, Nataliya Voitovych, noted that the JSC is open to colleagues from different regions and is ready to help not only with the workspace, but also with organizational issues.
Lina Kushch separately emphasized the importance of feedback from journalists from the regions. It is this feedback that allows the NUJU to adjust its activities and reasonably appeal to international partners for additional support.
Other participants in the meeting also joined the discussion. In particular, the editor of the portal ‘Western Information Front’, Yurii Skolozdra, noted that in times of war, the authorities and journalists must act more coherently to ensure high-quality communication with society.
“The number of print media, especially at the regional level, is decreasing. There is a need for financial support even to switch to an online format,” added Yurii Borutskyi, the founder of ContentMedia.
In conclusion, Lina Kushch emphasized the need for continuous professional development and the exchange of experience between regional unions. Understanding current challenges and jointly finding solutions is critically important because it is regional media that remain closest to the needs of local communities and play a key role in covering their problems.
The network of Journalists’ Solidarity Centers is an initiative of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, implemented in collaboration with the International and European Federations of Journalists and UNESCO, and with the support of the People of Japan. Our primary goal is to assist media professionals working in Ukraine during the war. The Centers are active in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Lviv, and Ivano-Frankivsk. The project is part of UNESCO’s broader efforts to support the Safety of Journalists and Freedom of Expression in Ukraine.
Contact the Unified Western Ukrainian JSC Lviv-Chernivtsi at 097 907 9702 (Nataliya Voitovych, the coordinator of the Lviv JSC, Volodymyr Bober – assistant). The Center’s address is 5 Solomiyi Krushelnytskoyi Street.
Viktoriya Lutsiuk
Dariya Markova
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