‘If there is no newspaper, how can we look people in the eye?’ editor-in-chief from Mykolayiv region

The war and systematic shelling forced the staff of the Narodna Trybuna newspaper, which has been published in the village of Bereznehuvate in Mykolayiv region since 1930, to suspend its publication. Due to difficult life circumstances, at the beginning of the war, the editor-in-chief Svitlana Lukashenko with her family had to leave for Western Ukraine; and other editorial staff members had also to survive themselves… Today, when the frontline retreated from Mykolayiv region, the newspaper staff finally has the opportunity to return to their favorite work.

…The issue of Narodna Tribuna was ready to be sent to subscribers when the war broke out. Therefore, the last prewar issue of the publication was dated February 24, 2022.

“Throughout my tenure as editor (since 2003), we have been publishing under any circumstances,” says Svitlana Lukashenko, “We had very big plans and hopes, as well as confidence in the future, because we signed a contract to cover the activities of local governments for a significant amount of money. However, unfortunately, our readers never saw that memorable issue from the last Thursday in February, because the area was already under Russian fire. ”

The enemy was destroying neighboring villages, rockets were flying more and more often, and the sounds of explosions were very close. The Russian army already occupied the neighboring Snihurivka.

The terrible countdown of the first civilian casualties in the Bereznehuvate community began. One day in March, a missile hit a local school, one of the best in the area. Svetlana Lukashenko’s house is only a few dozen meters from this institution, so the journalist could not stay there any longer. After that, everything was a blur: she had to evacuate and rescue her daughter and two-year-old granddaughter, who had fled from the shelling in Mykolayiv.

“We left for the world, leaving everything behind. But, as they say, the most precious thing can be taken away just by taking your hand…” Svitlana Viktorivna recalls sadly.

Her departure from Bereznehuvate forced her to suspend her journalistic activities.

“We must pay tribute to our subscribers (there were about two thousand of them at the beginning of last year): as soon as the front line receded and it became calmer, they called, wrote, and demanded to know when the newspaper would be published. They didn’t want their money back, no; they wanted to know if there would be a newspaper…” tells with emotion Svitlana Lukashenko, “They were waiting because they needed the printed word, stories, news from Bereznehuvate area, what was happening in the neighboring village. They wanted to know what the authorities were doing in the current difficult conditions and what they planned to do at the local level…”

Such appeals from ordinary people, who had gone through and are still going through difficult times, prevented the staff from liquidating the newspaper. The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, GREEN COOP and Japan Offspring Fund helped revive it by allocating funds sufficient to print three issues of Narodna Trybuna in February, March and April 2023.

When the first issue came out after almost a year’s break, people cried with joy and interrupted Svitlana Lukashenko’s phone with calls.

“Today, the journalists’ dream has come true. We can tell the residents of the Bereznehuvate community about the realities of today’s life and support them with at least a kind word thanks to the assistance of the Union and personally its leader Sergiy Tomilenko,” Lukashenko said.

Now Svitlana Viktorivna is back in Bereznehuvate. She says that when she returned to the village, she was afraid that subscribers would demand a refund for the issues they had not received. Nevertheless, everyone was very understanding.

“They asked for one thing: let the newspaper exist!” says the editor.

“The newspaper is run by a small team, only three people,” she tells, “But all of them are dedicated to their work.”

“Readers are happy to see the newspaper revived. They are waiting for the newspaper… But now its publication is under threat again,” says Svitlana Lukashenko. “We failed to conclude an agreement on covering the activities of local authorities – in a community where a large part of the villages has turned into a wasteland; it is not a good time for a newspaper as they say. It is impossible to count on readers’ money today, as well as on advertising. I tried to find some sponsor to publish at least the May issue, but so far I have not succeeded,” says the editor.

There is another problem: because of the hostilities, the newsroom has been completely deprived of any office equipment or computers. No laptop, no printer, not even a printer cartridge…

“People are waiting for the newspaper. So I don’t want to close it. On the contrary, it would be worth increasing the circulation a bit to cover those unfortunate destroyed villages. Four villages were completely wiped off the map, I feel sorry for those people,” says Svitlana Lukashenko, “However, we do not lose hope, and we hope for the best. If there is no newspaper, how can we look people in the eye?..

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 newsrooms 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.