‘Journalists are important!’ is not a slogan, but awareness of own role, which came thanks to NUJU

They come to us at every board meeting – young, talented, ambitious. They come to become members of our journalistic community – and this is certainly pleasing. Especially when they explain their desire by the fact that, thanks to the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), they understood the importance of journalistic work and realized their role in this world. So, they want to join the community family.

So at the December meeting of the secretariat, Iryna Obukhova, a student-journalist at the Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic National University and, at the same time, the editor of the Studpol newspaper, spoke about this. The recommendation for admission was given to her by the head of the organization, Nataliya Kuzmenko. The kind parting words moved the journalist to tears. And she shared her emotions.

“Thank you for these warm and so important words for me that you said about me. To hear from a person who has been in the profession all the life, from an honored journalist of Ukraine, that you see potential in me is worth a lot. Together with her, two more young, talented media women joined the ranks of NUJU – photojournalist Olena Horoshko and journalist of the press service of the Polohy Community, Mariya Padalka.”

Another pleasant event was the last meeting of the secretariat of the Zaporizhzhia regional organization of the NUJU this year. The board chairperson, Nataliya Kuzmenko, presented charitable assistance to Zaporizhzhia journalists who work in the combat zone and in front-line territories.

“Let us remind you that we earned the money for it together at the youth charity fair in November, which the regional journalist organization held for the benefit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and journalist-soldiers. It is thanks to this that we can now support our colleagues.”

The assistance was received by TV journalists from the Public and Fifth Editions, Marharyta Halych and Dariya Nazarova, and, respectively, their cameramen Andrii Varionov and Ivan Khoroshko, as well as Dariya Zyrianova, a cameraman for the My–Ukraina TV channel’s newsroom.

Charitable additional assistance was sent to the bank cards of journalist-warriors Oleksandra Davydenko, Ihor Huriyev, Andrii Andriyenko, and Taras Vasylenko, in agreement with them.

The meeting of the secretariat also summed up the work of the Zaporizhzhia Journalists’ Solidarity Center (JSC) for the past year. They worked actively and fruitfully. Professional, security, psychological, and legal training sessions, training in first aid, cybersecurity, working with artificial intelligence, etc., were held monthly. A journalistic co-working space was open, and cultural and artistic events were held.

A more detailed report on the work of the Zaporizhzhia regional organization of the NUJU will be available in the bulletin being prepared based on the results of the year.

Valentyna Bystrova

Photos by Dariya Zyrianova