THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
Tetiana Kalynovska, the board chairperson of the regional organization of journalists, tells how media workers of the Cherkasy Region work and what they live and worry about.
Priorities.
In 2023, the Cherkasy Regional Organization of Journalists united 588 people, including 96 members under the age of 30. During the year, four new members were admitted to the ranks of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU).
In accordance with the action plan under martial law in 2023, the meetings of the secretariat considered the issues of the participation of the regional union in the events and projects of the NUJU, the safety of the media, the admission of journalists as new members of the NUJU, the request to award members of the union with state and journalistic awards, the nomination of journalists’ books for literary and artistic awards.
There is an operative working group for coordination of the work of the regional organization and local branches in the conditions of martial law and for maintaining contacts with the central office of the NUJU, which is headed by the board chairperson of the regional organization Tetiana Kalynovska. Managers and employees of media newsrooms are provided with consultations on the activities of enterprises in conditions of martial law.
Attention is focused on the dissemination of objective information from official sources by the Cherkasy mass media on joint countermeasures against disinformation and fakes. Legal and practical assistance is provided in the registration of printed publications in accordance with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine On Media.
Most media organizations working in the current special conditions combine their main work with volunteer activities. Television and radio operators from the first days of the full-scale invasion joined in alerting the population about alarm signals. The newsrooms of regional newspapers publish additional issues and hand them over to compatriots at the front.
With the assistance of the NUJU office, broadcasters of all-Ukrainian TV channels, employees of Cherkasy TV and radio company, online publications, and newspapers who travel to the troubled territories of the East and South receive the PRESS-branded body armor, field and tactical first aid kits of the IFAK standard, handed over from the Swedish human rights organization, Civil Rights Defenders. With the assistance of the regional organization, journalists affected by the war are provided with the necessary help and support – legal, informational, material, and psychological.
In defense of Ukraine.
During the russian-Ukrainian war, Cherkasy media people stood up for the defense of Ukraine in the ranks of the Armed Forces, approaching Victory with weapons in hand and demonstrating courage and courage.
Members of the union are actively involved in fundraising to help media workers mobilized to the army. The demobilized who need treatment and rehabilitation are not left out. We also support the families of the victims.
Unfortunately, in 2023, we lost three colleagues of ours – defenders of Ukraine we worked with during peacetime. A Cherkasy cameraman of the Inter TV channel, Pavlo Tymoshenko, who was killed on the front line near Vuhledar on February 5, 2023, was added to the heavenly army; Volodymyr Mukan, who before the war worked for Hazeta Po-Ukrayinsky, Kraina magazine, Gazeta.ua internet portal, was killed while performing a combat mission in Bakhmut on April 29, 2023; photojournalist, long-term employee of the newsroom of the Nasha Vira newspaper, Roman Chornomaz, captured on camera mass shootings on Instytutska Street on February 20, 2014. From the first day of the war, Roman became a sniper and joined the Svoboda battalion. He fought in the ranks of the rapid response brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, Rubizh. He was killed in a battle near Kurdiumivka on the Bakhmut Axis on June 13, 2023.
In 2022, we also lost three journalists at the front. They were Oleksandr Kutsokon (callsign Ars), a student of the Cherkasy National University, who worked in the press service of the Azov steel regiment. He was killed defending Mariupol on March 22, 2022; Yevhen Starynets, ex-manager of Suspilne Cherkasy branch, was killed in the battles for Popasna in the Luhansk Region on April 30, 2022; Serhii Morenko worked for a long time in the Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi newsroom of the Nadrossia newspaper. On August 20, 2022, he was killed during his military service.
Awards
The professional and public merits of Cherkasy media workers won state recognition. At the request of the NUJU, on the occasion of Journalist’s Day-2023, a journalist of the Suspilne. Cherkasy, Viktoriya Khamaza, who, together with her colleagues, collected over UAH 10 million for the Armed Forces, was awarded the state award – Order of Merit of the III degree.
On the eve of the professional holiday / journalist of the Cherkaskyi Krai newspaper, Vasyl Marchenko, was awarded a certificate of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
On the Day of Radio, Television and Communications Workers, the director of the Ildana TV and radio company / the deputy board chairperson of the Cherkasy regional organization of the NUJU, Valentyna Dushok, was awarded a certificate of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
Tetyana Kalynovska, the editor of the Cherkaskyi Krai newspaper, was awarded a diploma by the Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Serhii Nayev.
Media workers of the Cherkasy Region, who continue to work in the conditions of a full-scale war and make a significant personal contribution to the information front of Ukraine, were awarded the Letters of Thanks of the Cherkasy regional organization of the NUJU.
Among them are Ruslan Petrenko, director of the Ildana TV and radio company; Maksym Maslak, TV director of Ildana TV station; Larysa Sokolovska, a journalist of the Cherkaskyi Krai newspaper, writer, and a member of the NUJU; Liliya Puhach (Blyskavytsa); NUJU members Andrii Hlushchenko and Liubov Dyachenko-Lysenko, the head of the Smila organization the NUJU / deputy director of the Media-Center municipal company Yuliya Kharchenko; director of Gazeta Smila Serhii Vadaniuk; the head of literary and artistic association Tiasmin Anatolii Horbivnenko; and director of Media-Center municipal company Liudmyla Skorokhod.
Events, meetings, professional competitions.
Throughout 2023, the Cherkasy regional organization of the NUJU‘s Cherkasy is decorated with banners with photos of photojournalist Ihor Yefimov #У_вийны_жиноче_обличчя [#War_has_woman_dace]. They were created as part of a joint art project of the Cherkasy territorial defense unit and the Department of Education and Humanitarian Policy of Cherkasy. The photos show fifteen women and young ladies serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Twelve pictures were included in the wall art calendar for 2023.
On March 8, the President of the NUJU, Sergiy Tomilenko, met with members of the Cherkasy Regional Organization at the Ildana TV and radio company.
In support of the NUJU‘s initiatives, on World Press Freedom Day, which is celebrated on May 3, the Cherkasy regional organization of the NUJU launched the regional creative competition called Information Front Of Cherkasy. During the contest, the most successful creative achievements of journalists from the Cherkasy Region, who, in the conditions of russian aggression, maintain loyalty to their profession, and demonstrate examples of mutual assistance, were collected and awarded.
Publications first published since February 24, 2022, were considered. A total of 35 applications were received: seven from electronic media, 13 from online publications, 13 from print media, as well as a non-fiction book by a media person, and exhibition photos. Media projects, articles, stories, reports, photo reports, programs, and other materials of various genres were submitted by Cherkasy media enterprises, own correspondents of Cherkasy central publications, and local journalists from all regions of the region.
In total, more than a hundred materials were considered. The creative works were aimed at supporting the Armed Forces the volunteer movement, highlighting the achievements of compatriot heroes, and restoring the country. The members of the secretariat, who were part of the competition jury, determined the winners by nominations: print media, electronic media, and internet media.
On June 5, on the occasion of Journalist’s Day of Ukraine, an awarding ceremony for the authors of the best works was held in the Cherkasy regional organization of the NUJU. The winners of the competition among electronic media were special correspondent of the National Information Systems company Stanislav Kukharchuk, Ildana TV and radio company, journalist of the Cherkasy branch of the Suspilne TV channel, Oksana Shved, and photojournalist Ihor Yefimov.
The winners of the competition among television and radio enterprises were Media-Center municipal company, Na Khvyli Korsunia municipal company, and VIKKA TV and radio company.
The winners of the competition among online mass media were Viktor Borysov, ZMI.ck.ua, Serhii Stasko, Vycherpno, Procherk, Zolotonosha.City, and Smila.City.
The winners of the competition among printed publications were journalists of the Cherkaskyi Krai newspaper Vasyl Marchenko and Roman Kyrei; Drabivshchyna newspaper newsroom newspaper; newsroom of the Shpolianski Visti newspaper; editor-in-chief of the journalistic investigative newspaper REPORTER Volodymyr Lymarenko-Polianskyi; Nadrossia media center; head of the author’s group and editor of the book called Village Denhy In Ukrainian History From Ancient Times To The Present: People And Events Hryhorii Holysh; author of pamphlets published in the newspapers of Cherkasky Krai and Shpolianski Visti Feofan Biletskyi.
Active journalist-volunteers Yuliya Fomichova and Anna Sakun were honored with thanks from the Cherkasy regional organization of the NUJU and commemorative gifts.
Material support and a gift were given to the honored journalist of Ukraine / former long-time editor of the Nadrossia newspaper Liudmyla Morenko – the mother of the deceased defender, former media personality Serhii Morenko.
Traditionally, we congratulate members of the union and veterans of journalism on their jubilee dates.
On October 6, the Cherkasy Bohdan Khmelnytskyi National University presented the book of the honored journalist of Ukraine, Kateryna Taran, who laid the foundation bricks for radio and television in Cherkasy.
Along with the Cherkasy National University, the regional organization of the NUJU, the creative work of the media woman was presented by former classmates at the Faculty of Journalism of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
As part of the event, a press conference titled Local Press Under The Conditions Of The Russian-Ukrainian War: Challenges, Realities, Problems was held with the participation of Cherkasy journalists and students of specialized fields of Cherkasy University.
In November, the board chairperson of the Cherkasy regional organization of the NUJU / the editor-in-chief of the Cherkaskyi Krai newspaper, Tetiana Kalynovska, as part of the Ukrainian delegation, took part in a study visit of opinion leaders to Warsaw, where the Independent Media And Their Influence On The Development Of Democracy In The Transition Period forum was held.
Support of the NUJU projects.
Every media company and journalists in the Cherkasy Region actively support the NUJU projects.
The board chairperson of the regional organization, Tetiana Kalynovska, joined the NUJU workgroup on issues of regulating cooperation with Ukrposhta. Proposals were submitted for the NUJU report on the results of a study of the state of postal delivery of newspapers, the formation of tariffs for press delivery, and amendments to Ukrposhta‘s contracts with publishers.
In November, an online meeting of print media editors of the Cherkasy Region with the director of the Cherkasy directorate of Ukrposhta joint-stock company took place in order to establish the delivery of newspapers.
Journalists constantly participate in seminars, training sessions, online meetings, and thematic training events organized and conducted by the central office of the NUJU. They also joined the NUJU initiative in collecting funds for a car for the press group of the operational-tactical group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Soledar. In July 2023, the NUJU project Executed Free Speech was presented at the Dnipro Hotel in Cherkasy.
The provided informational support for the project for children with disabilities called HOME: Children’s Inclusive Media Studio is gaining momentum.
Food packages organized by the NUJU to support Cherkasy media workers in need of social protection were handed over. They were received by both active journalists and those who lost their jobs due to the war, as well as retired veterans of journalism. Among them, for example, is Hanna Nemchenko-Shkvar, who worked in journalism for 50 years.
On the occasion of the Christmas and New Year holidays, the children and grandchildren of Cherkasy journalists were given educational board games, which were sent by Odesa union members and the Strateh company with the support of the NUJU.
The issue of press cards of the new model to members of the Cherkasy regional organization of the NUJU is in progress.
Materials related to the activities of the organization are constantly posted on the official page of the Cherkasy regional organization the NUJU, on the social network https://www.facebook.com/nsju.ck. A special closed group, Che Media, has been created in the social network for media workers of the Cherkasy Region who work in the media or coordinate their activities. In this group, experiences, opinions, and advice are exchanged (https://www.facebook.com/groups/5286861084667622).
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