Local media as information hubs. First conclusions based on new NUJU project

Fifteen Ukrainian newsrooms are working to strengthen ties with their communities within the new stage of the Your Audience is Your Strength project.

In a comment to the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) information service, the mentor of the project / Secretary of the NUJU, Vitalii Holubev, shares his impressions from the first meetings: local media are not just a source of news, but unique points of scaling information – from the hyperlocal to the national level.

Each newsroom submitted its application with a mini-project, in which it implements its own activities to strengthen ties with readers. The project is implemented with the support of the Scandinavian Ukrainian Media Fund Nordic.

This is not the first “fifteen” that NUJU supports through such a project. The novelty of this stage is the involvement of a mentor, Vitalii Holubev, an experienced media trainer, who holds individual meetings with each newsroom to find out what works and what doesn’t, and what challenges journalists face on the ground. His observations should help shape future training programs to support local media. In a week, Vitalii Holubev had already held twelve online meetings with newsrooms.

“First impressions once again confirm the importance of local media and their unique mission,” says the expert.

The most interesting conclusion, in his opinion, is the role of local media as a kind of information hubs, scaling points.

The mechanism works in both directions. When a local newsroom covers a resonant topic, it is picked up by local Telegram channels, Facebook groups, and other informal sources.

“They may not have their own journalists, but they provide scaling at the local level – at the community, district level. And the topic lives on,” explains the mentor.

At the same time, the information goes “up” – to the national media. Vitalii Holubev gives examples when local journalists were approached by correspondents of central TV channels, asking for the contacts of the heroes in order to go and make a story.

“This is the unique role of local media as information hubs that make information, people, and problems more visible,” emphasizes the expert.

Communication with newsrooms also brings specific examples of the impact of journalistic materials on the lives of communities. After the publications, dubious tenders were canceled, and previously closed information about purchases was made public, which contributed to the transparency of the use of budget funds.

But the most striking thing is the stories about changes in people’s everyday lives.

“Just today I talked to colleagues from the Kharkiv Region: after the materials were published, they launched a bus to the nearest settlement where there is a central banking center, where there is infrastructure for people to receive state services,” says Vitalii Holubev. “Although it runs once a week but it’s good that there is at least one. This is an opportunity for people to make public services closer.”

Another example is the partnership of the newsroom with a local lyceum. An agreement is currently being concluded to involve high school students in maintaining pages on TikTok. In the future, the best of them, after completing training, will be able to become presenters on the radio, which is part of the structure of local media.

“Such partnerships with educational institutions look promising,” the mentor notes.

When communicating with newsrooms, Vitalii Holubev hears not only about successes, but also about problems. The security situation, which varies from region to region, significantly affects the work of journalists and content.

“But it is when you hear about these difficulties that you understand even more how important it is when there are people who remain committed to the journalistic profession, who continue to do this work that people need, and work in accordance with standards,” the expert emphasizes.

The newsrooms shared their experience in creating rules for their communities on social networks, moderating comments, combating hostile narratives, and information manipulation.

“The presence of these conscious, responsible media in the information space that work according to standards is especially important now,” emphasizes Vitalii Holubev.

Olena Kasatkina from Sumy’s Panorama publication says that she is glad to include her publication in the Your Audience is Your Strength project, because today it is very difficult for local publications to survive and develop.

“In addition, we are very grateful to our grantees for giving us the opportunity to work on exactly those topics that are important for each specific region. Because local media know the specifics of their region, and therefore it is very good that, after talking with our subscribers and readers, we were able to choose from the entire range of topics exactly the one that is most important for our audience at the moment,” says Aliona Kasatkina.

Panorama is working on studying the problems of the elderly. It is convinced that these issues are also important for young people, because almost everyone has elderly parents and other relatives.

“We talked to a psychologist, and then we plan to make a report from the University of the Third Age, which works with such people, giving them the opportunity to ‘come out of their bubble’ and understand that ‘they are not alone’,” says Aliona Kasatkina.

She adds that she hopes for the continuation of such initiatives as Your Audience is Your Strength.

“This is exactly what we need,” emphasizes the media worker.

According to the coordinator of NUJU projects, Iryna Khromenko, after the completion of all the meetings, Vitalii Holubev will provide a detailed report. Based on it, the NUJU plans to develop training programs that will help the media establish communication with their readers.

“Next week, having studied the needs of the media and identified a lack of knowledge in building communication chains between newsrooms and their audience, we are organizing a training webinar on the topic of building trust between publications and readers. Because strengthening trust in the media is a very important qualitative result of the work of newsrooms,” says Iryna Khromenko.

At the time of preparing this material, Holubev had held twelve meetings out of the fifteen planned. There are three more online sessions with newsrooms ahead, each of which adds new details to the overall picture of Ukrainian local media: their opportunities, challenges, and indispensable role in the wartime information space.

Maksym Stepanov

NUJU Information Service