Ukraine: Journalists On The Front Line book presented in Kyiv

The Ukraine: Journalists On The Front Line book comprising almost 500 pages, prepared with the direct participation of the Kyiv regional organization of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), was presented at the Ukrinform news agency on May 17.

The book is about journalists who, during the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, defend Ukraine, performing their professional and civic duty: some holding a pen and some – with weapons in their hands. The book contains journalistic materials created in the genres of interviews, sketches, reviews, and photographs. A separate section contains materials to commemorate journalists killed during this war.

“There is no such a newsroom or a mass media company in Ukraine that would be untouched by this senseless, bloody war,” said Mykhailo Soroka, the head of the Kyiv regional organization of the NUJU, introducing the book. “Many of our colleagues fought in the hybrid war of 2014-2022 and continue to fight now… Other journalists chronicle these tragic events daily and nightly. And later, these events will be studied, including through this book.”

One of the book’s editors, Alla Maliienko, a deputy head of the Kyiv organization of the NUJU, noted that writing about colleagues who do heroic deeds is important.

“Journalists are people of a strange ‘blood group.’ In an emergency, many flee, but journalists and cameramen are magnetized to such places. What drives these people? The desire to provide true information…” said Alla Maliienko. “When we were preparing this book, there was no surprise at the actions of ordinary Ukrainians and our colleagues. There was only admiration for our young colleagues who wear bulletproof vests, and nothing can hold them back.”

According to Yurii Bondar, another editor of the book/head of the Social Communications Department of the Educational and Scientific Institute of Journalism of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, the authors of the book sometimes lacked time to work on it as they had constant business trips, had to volunteer or be on military service participating in hostilities. Therefore, the preparation of the book lasted longer than planned.

NUJU President Sergiy Tomilenko, for his part, emphasized that the release of the book, which is the chronicles of Ukrainian journalism, heroism, and courage of Ukrainian journalists, is an important event.

“This document confirms that the majority of Ukrainian media and journalists are today at the forefront of Ukraine’s defense. Some are protecting us in the trenches… Some – in their newsrooms, some are volunteering,” noted Sergiy Tomilenko.

The NUJU President recalled that since the beginning of the full-scale war, more than a third of Ukrainian mass media, mainly local ones, have suspended their work or been shut down. But, against all odds, journalists continue to fulfill their professional duty.

“Today, it is the media and journalists that give everyone a chance to have their story heard and approach justice,” said the head of the Union.

The just-published book was a kind of continuation of the publication published in early 2022 and called Journalists At War (edited by Mykhailo Soroka), which contains stories about the events of the so-called hybrid war, starting with 2014.

NUJU Information Service