‘I have experienced firsthand how important journalists are in wartime,’ editor-in-chief of an Izium newspaper

Starting as a district newspaper, today’s Obrii Iziumschyny is a truly multimedia publication that uses, in addition to the district newspaper, a range of platforms to provide readers with the information they need. ‘In 2022, the paper newspaper did not come out for 6 months, and if we had relied only on it, if we had not had a website and social media, we would have completely lost our audience during this time,’ says the editor-in-chief of the publication, secretary of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine Kostiantyn Hrygorenko, an ardent supporter of convergent journalism.

In the early morning hours of February 24, 2022, Kostiantyn was woken up by a phone call from his daughter, who lives in Kharkiv. ‘Dad, they’re shooting at us! And very loudly!’ she said into the phone.

On that day, the editorial staff was preparing the next issue of the newspaper, and it was completed. The outbreak of war was the main topic of the issue. After that, the paper newspaper went on hiatus for many months, but this did not mean that the team stopped working because there was still a website and social media. The journalists collected information, checked it, and disseminated it through the available platforms. Moreover, even after they had to leave Izium, these resources did not stop.

– A fierce bombardment of the city began. Russian missiles were destroying Izium. Once they hit a high-rise building. We went to the scene that day, recorded a report with photos and videos, talked to people, but we could not publish the next issue because the shelling did not stop for a moment, – says Kostiantyn Hrygorenko. All possible weapons «were flying». The most terrible were airplanes and air bombings. There was also artillery, Grads, self-propelled artillery systems, and tanks.

The town was enveloped in darkness, and all the benefits of civilization disappeared. One day, his wife received a message on her phone from her friends: unknown people were asking who Kostiantyn Hrygorenko was. Then the woman insisted on leaving Izium.

– On March 5, my wife and I were forced to leave the city; on March 6, the part of Izium where we lived was occupied, and on the night of March 7, the bridges on the outskirts of the city were blown up, – says Kostiantyn. – At the time, I had doubts about whether I was doing the right thing by leaving for the West, but later I realized that I was. After all, at least I still have the opportunity to continue my journalistic work, to inform the community about what is happening in various ways.

The family found shelter in the Lviv region at the editor of a local newspaper, Mykola Ivantsiv, in the town of Busk. Having recovered from the emergency move, Kostiantyn resumed filling the website and social media with content. At a certain time, certain people in occupied Izium came to places where at least some mobile communication was and told the editor about events in the city. In addition, Kostiantyn kept in close touch with journalists in the territories neighboring Izium.

In the Lviv region, Kostiantyn Hrygorenko began conducting training for fellow IDPs.

– Since 2015, I have been a media trainer and consultant for the Council of Europe’s media programs in Ukraine. I participated in the programs, conducted training sessions with editors of communal media, and conducted educational work on media reorganization. Thanks to the Lviv Journalists’ Solidarity Center of the National Union of Journalists, I was able to conduct three seminars for colleagues-editors of regional newspapers (in Lviv, Chernivtsi, and Ivano-Frankivsk). I shared my experience of physical and digital security: I was told not by the European Union’s books but rather by my own example. I told how we managed to communicate during our stay in Izium and later when I changed my place of residence.

The Defense Forces of Ukraine liberated the town of Izium from the occupiers on September 10, and the editor was home soon after. First, for a short time, then he returned for good.

– Our editorial office is located in an old architectural building with a large hall that survived the Second World War… In early March 2022, explosions blew out windows and doors, and damaged the roof,” says Kostiantyn Hrygorenko. – During the Russian occupation, the invaders lived in our building for five months. All computer equipment was looted. We had a modern video studio with expensive equipment, which was also stolen. They even took cables, sockets, and new switches…

On September 10, 2022, Izium was released, and a week later, Obrii Iziumschyny published its first issue after a long break. That issue was funded by the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting, and the next issue was funded by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine.

– To be honest, I did not expect that we would succeed so quickly, but my Lviv colleagues helped me a lot; they engaged layout designers, and we printed about 5,000 copies, which were delivered to the residents of Izium by volunteers on September 16. This issue was very important not only from the point of view of «big» politics but also of local life. Imagine the feelings of people when they received their Ukrainian newspaper after six months of daily massive Russian propaganda, – says Kostiantyn Hrygorenko.

Певний час газету роздавали людям безкоштовно разом із гуманітарною допомогою. Тоді в місті ще не було ані телебачення, ані інтернету. Відтак – перейшли до продажу газети.

For some time, the newspaper was distributed to people free of charge along with humanitarian aid. Back then, there was no television or Internet in the town. Therefore, we started selling the newspaper.

The editorial office has begun renovating its premises and is renting a small room for the time being. The newspaper is published regularly; the website and social media are being updated. In addition, the editors are preparing an almanac of their own publications from the occupation period about the life of Izium in those days. The almanac will be paper but with QR links to digital video and audio content. Obrii Iziumschyny is looking for new ways to reach the reader. For example, a combined edition of the newspapers Slobidskyi Krai, Obrii Iziumschyny, Visnyk Kupianschyny, and the Blyznyuky publication Nove Zhyttia was recently launched. This kind of digest is distributed free of charge to residents of frontline communities and the military. Obrii Iziumschyny has started to receive advertising revenue, and the editorial staff is finding opportunities to earn money through digital platforms and printing orders.

– You know, I was once asked if, after everything I’ve been through, I would like to quit my job. But now, as never before, I am very proud to be in this profession because I have experienced firsthand how important journalists are, especially in wartime. Earlier, when I lived 50 kilometers away from the war from 2014 to 2022, I didn’t feel it so keenly, but now when my town is mutilated and destroyed, when I know how my fellow citizens were abused, I perceive everything completely differently. I am confident that the profession of a journalist will be among the top five or even three in terms of public trust in the future. This is a very responsible and very important mission, – the journalist summarized.

Kostiantyn Hrygorenko says that the National Union of Journalists, IREX, the German Marshall Fund, the International Media Organization IMS, the Academy of Ukrainian Press, the Ukrainian Media Business Association, and other benefactors helped the publication survive.

– Their support helped us to resume publishing the printed version of our publication, gather and engage the staff that had been under occupation for 6 months, and restore all digital platforms, – says Kostiantyn Hrygorenko.

This story about the media was created by the NUJU in the frame of the project «Improving Ukrainian Media Resilience in Ukraine», financed by Swiss Solidarity and implemented with the support of the Swiss non-profit organization Fondation Hirondelle and the Institute for Regional Media and Information (IRMI, Ukraine). Fondation Hirondelle and IRMI implement a project of institutional support for Ukrainian media editorial offices in the east, north, and south of our country, with an emphasis on the local press. They also launched a 10-month support program for 18 media.