THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
“During my recent visits to the United States and Poland, I tried to communicate with as many partners as possible to encourage them to support Ukraine,” NUJU President Sergiy Tomilenko emphasized during an online meeting with the Union‘s representatives on Thursday.
The NUJU leader noted that during the trip in his hands, he constantly held local newspapers from the de-occupied territories. Those were the copies of publications that resumed their publishing with the support of the NUJU. Sergiy Tomilenko worked to attract as many financial donors as possible to further help Ukrainian media and journalists.
“I wanted to convey to foreign partners the fact that today in Ukraine, the absolute majority of journalists are more likely to volunteer on the information front than to earn money, and the world’s duty is to support the industry. We are not asking for eternal support Ukrainian media would eat up, but for the provision of donor funds so that our media can take a breather and return to earning money on the market in a year or two,” Sergiy Tomilenko said.
According to the NUJU President, he found understanding and willingness to help in many of his interlocutors.
In addition, Sergiy Tomilenko called on foreign partners to join the fight for the release of UNIAN journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, Crimean Tatar citizen journalists Vladyslav Yesypenko, Iryna Danylovych and other imprisoned colleagues from Russian prisons.
Besides, during the visits, Sergiy Tomilenko emphasized the responsibility of Russian propagandists for inciting enmity and ideologically and emotionally preparing Russians for the approval of war.
“Russian toxic propaganda became the first stage of the war, during which Russians were pumped up with hostility. And when rockets flew to our land and tanks invaded, they were already ready to accept it,” said Sergiy Tomilenko.
Today, the NUJU has a significant international reputation, acquired primarily thanks to the fact that it clearly demonstrates which editions it supports with foreign funds and what background they have. So, there is reasonable hope to expect such support to continue, added the President of the Union.
As earlier reported, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, Sergiy Tomilenko visited the United States, where he took part in the New York screening of Mstyslav Chernov’s and Yevhen Maloletka‘s documentary 20 Days in Mariupol, spoke at an event at the UN General Assembly, the UNESCO Global Conference, held a number of important meetings, and on the way home he met in Warsaw with a well-known journalist and public figure, a friend of Ukrainian journalists, Joanna Krawczyk.
The participants in the meeting approved the activities of the NUJU’s central office in the direction of international cooperation to support Ukrainian journalists and the media, the release of Ukrainian media workers captured by the Russian occupiers, and the appropriate punishment of Russian propagandists.
The head of the Kirovohrad regional organization of the Union, Petro Melnyk, cited specific examples of colleagues (in particular, the editor of Silske Zhyttia, Kateryna Matko), who say that they were ready to leave journalism, and only the NUJU’s support helped them stay in the profession.
NUJU Secretary/editor-in-chief of the Obrii Iziumshchyny newspaper, Kostiantyn Hryhorenko, emphasized the importance of the local press, which in many front-line territories, including Izium, still remains almost a non-alternative source of information and a way of resisting Russian propaganda. The head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional organization, Oleksii Kovalchuk, noted that the local press in the front-line territories is in a very difficult condition, and newspapers that were successful before the war continue to shut down.
And the head of the Cherkasy regional organization of the NUJU, Tetiana Kalynovska, added that the current situation in Ukraine is such that “except for the Union and its partners, we cannot expect help from anywhere” because the business that traditionally helped the media is now suffering on its own. If there is an opportunity to allocate funds, the representatives of business reasonably decide that it is better to help the front.
Summarizing the discussion, Sergiy Tomilenko added that the fact that the NUJU has the opportunity to help a large part of Ukrainian media and journalists is mainly thanks to its international partners.
“Today, the hope is on them, on international journalistic solidarity,” said Serhiy Tomilenko. “We should develop our Journalists’ Solidarity Centers and help journalists from all regions of Ukraine. And also strengthen English-language communication, conveying our problems and achievements to partners.
Also, on the initiative of NUJU First Secretary Lina Kushch, they discussed the aspects of this year’s celebration of Journalist’s Day and preparations for this holiday.
“It is important to support fellow journalists and the media, to show the importance of their work in the conditions of a large-scale war,” said Lina Kushch. “During public events (meetings, media appearances, mini-exhibitions, presentations, etc.), it is important to make the work of journalists visible. It is also necessary that on this day, the families of the fallen colleagues, journalists who go to the front line, fight as part of the Armed Forces, feel the attention of the entire journalistic community to them.”
NUJU Information Service
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