On the verge of survival: only printed newspaper in border Vyshhorod District may disappear from the Ukrainian media field

The enemy entered the territory of the Ivankiv Community in the Kyiv Region on the first day of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the employees of the Trybuna Pratsi newspaper experienced all the horrors of the occupation in February – March 2022. And even after the occupiers broke into the newsroom through a barred window, it was left without office equipment: the invaders stole it.

But, as soon as energy supply, mobile communication, and the internet were established after the de-occupation, Trybuna Pratsi resumed its paper output. Its first issue in the liberated territory, together with the issue for February 24, reached readers on April 22, 2022.

Trybuna Pratsi after de-occupation and restless Pavlo Smovzh

“Unfortunately, the Ivankiv Town Council, with which business relations were not easy before, did not renew the agreement to cover the council’s activities in the second half of 2022,” says Pavlo Smovzh, the editor and now sole publisher of the newspaper. “With reference to a lack of funds, the Vyshhorod District Council and the District Military Administration also refused to enter into such agreements. Although this form of support for denationalized print media is provided for by law, this law is simply neglected both in the community and at the district level. Don’t local leaders understand the role of the press in restoring life in the liberated territories?!”

Left as the only journalist in the newsroom and alone with the problems of the existence of the newspaper, to which he gave almost his entire journalistic life, Pavlo Smovzh decided to fight for the newspaper. And with efforts known only to him and his closest entourage, he single-handedly published eleven issues of the newspaper in the first place after liberation from the russian occupiers: six – on eight pages and five – on four pages.

Trybuna Pratsi was published weekly, according to the usual schedule – on Thursdays. However, during these two or so months, the newsroom incurred a debt for salaries and taxes in the amount of UAH 72,000. There were no promising prospects, so the editor made a difficult decision: to stop publishing the newspaper from July 1, 2022. He informed the tax inspectorate about this in writing, in the last issue, he informed readers. The accountant and the computer typesetting operator, who worked even after the de-occupation, resigned on the last day of June and registered at the employment center as unemployed.

By the way, the Vyshhorod District newspaper Slovo has not yet resumed publication in printed form. Thus, Ivankiv’s Trybuna Pratsi became the only periodical printed for the entire Vyshhorod District.

But full of energy, Pavlo Smovzh did not give up. By the end of last year, he managed to pay the arrears for salaries to former employees of the newsroom, as well as for taxes. This became possible when I managed to settle debts with the editors for the publication of some materials, the Ivankiv settlement council, and previous advertising customers.

And he also had to add a certain amount of money to the editor… from his own pension.

And only after that, he closed the editorial bank accounts.

Rescue grant for the restoration of the newspaper

In the process of searching for a way out of such a situation, the support of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) and its President, Sergiy Tomilenko, was very timely. It was thanks to him that a gift from overseas was brought to the Trybuna Pratsi newsroom – a computer from the American newspaper Washington Post. And the Union promptly allocated material assistance to Pavlo Smovzh. It strengthened his faith that everything would be fine.

In January 2023, Pavlo Smovzh took advantage of the opportunity provided by the Academy of the Ukrainian Press to receive a grant from foreign donors for the resumption of the publication of the newspaper. And when his application was approved, he started publishing his newspaper as an individual entrepreneur.

So far, a total of 42 issues of Trybuna Pratsi have been released.

Regarding the “anniversary,” which was small under normal working conditions and very significant during the ongoing war, Pavlo Smovzh reported at the time on the Trybuna Pratsi Facebook page:

“We are getting closer, friends, to the intermediate “round anniversary” – the 40^th issue of Trybuna Pratsi this year! In general, its regular issue has serial number 10828 (!) from the founding of the Ivankiv district newspaper Chervonyi Promin on January 20, 1932.

By the way, Chervonyi Promin became the Trybuna Pratsi in March 1963.

Now is the first period in the newspaper’s history when it is published by only one journalist for the whole year. (This is true, for the information of the most interested: if you did not know or forgot…)”.

But, unfortunately, everything good (as well as bad) also has the property of ending: in October, the validity of the mentioned grant came to an end. And again, the editor-publisher began to look for opportunities to continue publishing the newspaper.

And once again, friendship and mutual understanding came to the rescue that the residents of the community cannot be left without Trybuna Pratsi. One of the good friends of the newspaper and Pavlo Smovzh promised to support the newspaper financially for some time. But because of his modesty, he asked not to tell the readers the name of the supporter.

So, in November, the newspaper’s publishing continues. Instead of four numbers, only three will see the light of day. The editor lives in the hope that “it will last” until the end of this year.