Media coach Andrii Yurychko holds a training session with editors from Chernihiv, Sumy, and Kyiv Regions

The June series of classes began within the educational project titled Steps To Sustainable Development, conducted in support of local media from the front-line and de-occupied territories by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) with the support of the Japanese government and UNESCO.

The online event with the topic Development Of Digital Platforms Of Traditional Media with journalists from the Novyny Horodnianshchyny (Chernihiv Region), Peremoha (Sumy Region), and Zoria Pryirpinnia (Kyiv Region) newspapers was held by mentor Andrii Yurychko, a journalist and media coach from the Academy of Ukrainian Press.

“The Zoom meeting turned out to be very useful and helpful,” Oleksandr Nakaznenko, the editor-in-chief of Zoria Pryirpinnia, noted in a comment for the NUJU. “All of us, participants of the meeting, found common ground and many important ‘points of contact’ regarding the functioning and development of digital mass media. The general impression is that the mentor of this meeting is well-versed in the issue of digital platforms and the possibilities of their use by printed publications. And the main thing is that he was able to explain his knowledge and practical skills to the participants of the Zoom conference in a clear way. Our publication will definitely use much of what was heard on this online platform organized by the NUJU.”

“I sent Andrii Yurychko a link to our website Novyny Krasnopilshchyny, and he immediately analyzed it, pointed out our advantages, and suggested that we need to fix it,” said Oleksandr Motsnyi, the editor of Peremoha. “Communication about the use of social networks was also useful. We analyzed such subtleties as the use of Facebook pages and Facebook groups of the print edition. The advice on publishing the best articles from our newspaper on the Internet was interesting. I have already used some of Andrii Yurychko‘s advice, and in a few days, there will be a certain, albeit small, increase in views to our Internet resources.”

As Oleksandr Motsnyi added, it was interesting to communicate with the mentor and other participants of the online meeting.

As earlier reported, 27 printed publications from Ukraine’s front-line and de-occupied territories are participating in the Steps To Sustainable Development project. Individual consultations for three newsrooms are underway, letting them communicate with a mentor, ask practical questions and receive specific answers. The training will last three months, during which participants will receive individual consultations with mentors and participate in joint online seminars.

The main goal is to help each publication get on its feet, modernize approaches to content creation, gain knowledge about digital platforms for media promotion, and search for new opportunities.

As of May, at the end of June, three general Zoom meetings are planned for each of the directions, to which not only the project participants will be invited and all those willing to fill out the registration form on the NUJU resources.

NUJU Information Service