Lviv JSC joins career guidance event: future media professionals attend School of Journalism

This year, the Unified Western Ukrainian Journalists’ Solidarity Center (JSC) of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) joined the summer school of journalism in Lviv. The Lviv Regional Small Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with the public organization You-Media [Ty Media], organizes this training for schoolchildren annually. The week for the school participants turned out to be eventful, because during this time, future media professionals were able to get acquainted with the profession of a journalist and experience it from different sides. The children visited newsrooms, talked with experienced media workers, and also understood how important the work of a journalist is in times of war.

The summer specialized school, Future Journalists, began on June 16 and concluded on Friday, June 20. On the first day, the students visited the JSC in Lviv, where they learned about the support for media workers who had suffered as a result of the war, as well as the stories of journalists whom the Union had helped find shelter and resume their professional activities.

In particular, Pavlo Dak, a journalist from the online publication Vholos, spoke about the structure of the newsroom’s work and the peculiarities of standards during a full-scale war in news materials.

Later, the participants visited the Espresso TV channel, where they witnessed firsthand the process of creating television stories. After that, the guests were warmly welcomed on the FM Halychyna radio station. There, Roman Mudryi shared what the broadcast sounds like from the inside and gave future journalists the opportunity to try themselves as presenters.

“Such schools give future applicants the opportunity to determine whether they are really interested in journalism, whether they like this profession. This is one of the elements of career guidance. I am very pleased that this year the students were able to come to the JSC, learn about what we do, about journalists, and the media sphere. And they also understood how important journalism is, especially in times of war, how responsible a profession it is,” emphasized Nataliya Voitovych, the coordinator of the Lviv JSC.

The students of the journalism school also toured the newsroom of Suspilne Lviv – it was there that media workers were actively at work during the first week of the full-scale war.

The students also met with Ivan Mahuriak, a war correspondent and head of the analytical department of 24 Channel. He shared details about his work. The children had a valuable opportunity to ask Ivan about his trip to the combat zone – how he overcomes fear, what difficulties he encounters, and what he should definitely bring with him. The journalist told them about all this.

The week at the Summer School of Journalism was productive, exciting, and informative. Ultimately, the students defended their projects and received certificates of participation.

The network of Journalists’ Solidarity Centers is an initiative of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, implemented in collaboration with the International and European Federations of Journalists and UNESCO and with the support of the People of Japan. Our primary goal is to assist media professionals working in Ukraine during the war. The Centers are active in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Lviv, and Ivano-Frankivsk. The project is part of UNESCO’s broader efforts to support the Safety of Journalists and Freedom of Expression in Ukraine.

Contact the Western Ukrainian JSC at 097 907 9702 (Nataliya Voitovych, coordinator of the Lviv JSC, and Volodymyr Bober, assistant). The Center’s address is 5 Solomiyi Krushelnytskoyi Street.

Dariya Markova