The Visti Vodolazhchyny newspaper returned to its readers last December. Residents of the small former district center of Nova Vodolaha, which has sheltered more than a dozen thousand internally displaced persons from its regional center, Kharkiv, are once again receiving their favorite newspaper thanks to the de-occupation of Kharkiv region, the reopening of the printing house and post office, and, to a large extent, the perseverance and loyalty to the profession of the small editorial team.
“In December 2021, the newspaper celebrated its 90th anniversary. The readers of our (former district) newspaper, and there were more than 1,500 of them before the war, live in two communities – Nova Vodolaha and Starovirivka,” editor-in-chief Polina Afanasenko, who has been working at the newspaper since 1979, told the NUJU. “Today, in the Nova Vodolaha community, where there are more than 25,000 people, our newspaper is the only media.”
When the war broke out, Balakliya, where Visti Vodolazhchyny was printed, came under occupation. Nova Vodolaha turned into one of the frontline settlements, so the post office stopped working. It became impossible to print the newspaper, and journalists had to limit themselves to informing readers through social media.
“Most of our readers are elderly people who do not ‘surf the web’. Many of them have neither computers nor smartphones. In addition, there is often no power from morning to evening, so even those who had it lose access to the Internet,” says the editor-in-chief. “So we have to admit that, with all our desire, we could not fulfill our duty to our readers for several months. They came and asked us to restore the newspaper because they really wanted to know ‘what is happening where,’ as well as where food parcels would be distributed, what the schedule of power outages was… People needed a newspaper.”
After the liberation of the Kharkiv region, when it became possible to print and distribute the newspaper, Visti Vodolazhchyny returned to its readers. Unfortunately, during the period when the newspaper was not published, 4 out of 6 editorial staff members resigned, so the editorial team was reduced to a minimum. However, the two remaining media professionals have no shortage of enthusiasm and responsibility.
The main topic covered by the newspaper, as elsewhere, is the war. The activities of volunteers, donors, and the military. Many materials are about fallen heroes… And, of course, announcements that are very important to people.
“We try to deliver to everyone, who subscribed to our publication as of the beginning of the full-scale war, the same number of issues they paid for before the russian invasion,” says Polina Mykhailivna. “But the fact is that our audience has even grown. Now people in Kharkiv region are thirsty for information, and seeing that the newspaper is being published and delivered to readers, they have also started subscribing to it. In addition, about 12,000 IDPs live in the Nova Vodolaha community alone, most of whom are Kharkiv residents. Fortunately, we have been hit only once so far, albeit hard, and Kharkiv is under constant shelling. The IDPs also became interested in our newspaper. As a result, we found ourselves in a difficult situation: we have to pay off last year’s subscription debts and meet the needs of new readers.”
The editorial board, explaining how difficult it is to revive the media in the border and frontline Kharkiv region, much of which was under temporary occupation, asked for support from the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine. In response to this appeal, the NUJU, with the financial assistance of international donors, provided financial support to the Visti Vodolazhchyny editorial office to publish the next issue of the newspaper.
“The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine was very excited to hear that in December the weekly newspaper Visti Vodolazhchyny was resumed in Nova Vodolaha,” said Sergiy Tomilenko, NUJU President, “We consider the local press to be an extremely important part of Ukraine’s information space, because no one knows readers as well as journalists who live next to them and share all their daily worries, experiences and concerns.”
“Thanks to the funds provided, we paid off the Balakliya printing house,” says Polina Mykhailivna, “and we are very grateful for that.”
The newspaper receives some help from the village council, with which the editorial board has signed an agreement to cover its activities.
The editorial office has only one old computer, which is constantly breaking down.
“Yesterday it broke down, today we fixed it and sent the next issue to the printing house,” says Polina Afanasenko, “As they say, it’s a bit slow, but we’re working.”
Like many Ukrainian local media outlets, the two employees of Visti Vodolazhchyny do their work almost on a volunteer basis.
Small editorial team
In outlining the main problems of her publication, Polina Afanasenko mentions not a lack of funds, but… a lack of discipline at Ukrposhta (national postal operator of state ownership – Editor).
“They take money for the delivery of the press regularly, but they have a hard time delivering it. In remote villages, they can deliver several issues once a month. I don’t know how those poor people still subscribe to the newspaper. However, in fact, I do. Visti Vodolazhchyny is the only newspaper for two communities, so who will tell our readers about what is happening around them? They get all the information from our newspaper. That’s why they subscribe!”
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This story about the media was created by the NUJU in the frame of the project «Improving Ukrainian Media Resilience in Ukraine», financed by Swiss Solidarity and implemented with the support of the Swiss non-profit organization Fondation Hirondelle and the Institute for Regional Media and Information (IRMI, Ukraine). Fondation Hirondelle and IRMI implement a project of institutional support for Ukrainian media editorial offices in the east, north and south of our country, with an emphasis on the local press. They also launched a 10-month support program for 18 media.
Economic reference
Visti Vodolazhchyny newspaper
Distribution area: Nova Vodolaha and Starovirivka communities of Kharkiv region
Director (Editor-in-chief): Polina Afanasenko
The newspaper is published weekly. Since the beginning of the war, the media has stopped publishing the newspaper, but resumed on November 30, 2022, reducing the volume from 8 to 4 pages. The main distribution channel for the newspaper is subscriptions (93%). Despite the difficult financial situation in 2023, the media continues to produce and distribute the newspaper to subscribers who subscribed in 2022 but were unable to receive it due to the hostilities.
The average circulation of one issue in March 2023 was 1,400 copies.
Due to lack of funds, the media was forced to reduce the number of employees. Today, two people (an editor and an accountant) run the newspaper. The editorial office is in a very difficult financial situation: as of April 1, there are arrears for printing services, salaries and taxes. The technical base of the editorial office needs to be updated: they work on computers and laptops that are at least 10 years old and lack the RAM to install modern layout programs. There is also a need for equipment that would ensure independence from power outages.
At a time when the media was unable to publish a newspaper, a Facebook page was created for readers to post important news and messages.
In January 2023, the editorial board received financial support from the NUJU. The publication is seeking donor funding.
THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
When the war broke out, Balakliya, where Visti Vodolazhchyny was printed, came under occupation. Nova Vodolaha turned into one of the frontline settlements, so the post office stopped working. It became impossible to print the newspaper, and journalists had to limit themselves to informing readers through social media.
“Most of our readers are elderly people who do not ‘surf the web’. Many of them have neither computers nor smartphones. In addition, there is often no power from morning to evening, so even those who had it lose access to the Internet,” says the editor-in-chief. “So we have to admit that, with all our desire, we could not fulfill our duty to our readers for several months. They came and asked us to restore the newspaper because they really wanted to know ‘what is happening where,’ as well as where food parcels would be distributed, what the schedule of power outages was… People needed a newspaper.”
After the liberation of the Kharkiv region, when it became possible to print and distribute the newspaper, Visti Vodolazhchyny returned to its readers. Unfortunately, during the period when the newspaper was not published, 4 out of 6 editorial staff members resigned, so the editorial team was reduced to a minimum. However, the two remaining media professionals have no shortage of enthusiasm and responsibility.
The main topic covered by the newspaper, as elsewhere, is the war. The activities of volunteers, donors, and the military. Many materials are about fallen heroes… And, of course, announcements that are very important to people.
“We try to deliver to everyone, who subscribed to our publication as of the beginning of the full-scale war, the same number of issues they paid for before the russian invasion,” says Polina Mykhailivna. “But the fact is that our audience has even grown. Now people in Kharkiv region are thirsty for information, and seeing that the newspaper is being published and delivered to readers, they have also started subscribing to it. In addition, about 12,000 IDPs live in the Nova Vodolaha community alone, most of whom are Kharkiv residents. Fortunately, we have been hit only once so far, albeit hard, and Kharkiv is under constant shelling. The IDPs also became interested in our newspaper. As a result, we found ourselves in a difficult situation: we have to pay off last year’s subscription debts and meet the needs of new readers.”
When the war broke out, Balakliya, where Visti Vodolazhchyny was printed, came under occupation. Nova Vodolaha turned into one of the frontline settlements, so the post office stopped working. It became impossible to print the newspaper, and journalists had to limit themselves to informing readers through social media.
“Most of our readers are elderly people who do not ‘surf the web’. Many of them have neither computers nor smartphones. In addition, there is often no power from morning to evening, so even those who had it lose access to the Internet,” says the editor-in-chief. “So we have to admit that, with all our desire, we could not fulfill our duty to our readers for several months. They came and asked us to restore the newspaper because they really wanted to know ‘what is happening where,’ as well as where food parcels would be distributed, what the schedule of power outages was… People needed a newspaper.”
After the liberation of the Kharkiv region, when it became possible to print and distribute the newspaper, Visti Vodolazhchyny returned to its readers. Unfortunately, during the period when the newspaper was not published, 4 out of 6 editorial staff members resigned, so the editorial team was reduced to a minimum. However, the two remaining media professionals have no shortage of enthusiasm and responsibility.
The main topic covered by the newspaper, as elsewhere, is the war. The activities of volunteers, donors, and the military. Many materials are about fallen heroes… And, of course, announcements that are very important to people.
“We try to deliver to everyone, who subscribed to our publication as of the beginning of the full-scale war, the same number of issues they paid for before the russian invasion,” says Polina Mykhailivna. “But the fact is that our audience has even grown. Now people in Kharkiv region are thirsty for information, and seeing that the newspaper is being published and delivered to readers, they have also started subscribing to it. In addition, about 12,000 IDPs live in the Nova Vodolaha community alone, most of whom are Kharkiv residents. Fortunately, we have been hit only once so far, albeit hard, and Kharkiv is under constant shelling. The IDPs also became interested in our newspaper. As a result, we found ourselves in a difficult situation: we have to pay off last year’s subscription debts and meet the needs of new readers.”
The editorial board, explaining how difficult it is to revive the media in the border and frontline Kharkiv region, much of which was under temporary occupation, asked for support from the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine. In response to this appeal, the NUJU, with the financial assistance of international donors, provided financial support to the Visti Vodolazhchyny editorial office to publish the next issue of the newspaper.
“The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine was very excited to hear that in December the weekly newspaper Visti Vodolazhchyny was resumed in Nova Vodolaha,” said Sergiy Tomilenko, NUJU President, “We consider the local press to be an extremely important part of Ukraine’s information space, because no one knows readers as well as journalists who live next to them and share all their daily worries, experiences and concerns.”
“Thanks to the funds provided, we paid off the Balakliya printing house,” says Polina Mykhailivna, “and we are very grateful for that.”
The newspaper receives some help from the village council, with which the editorial board has signed an agreement to cover its activities.
The editorial office has only one old computer, which is constantly breaking down.
“Yesterday it broke down, today we fixed it and sent the next issue to the printing house,” says Polina Afanasenko, “As they say, it’s a bit slow, but we’re working.”
Like many Ukrainian local media outlets, the two employees of Visti Vodolazhchyny do their work almost on a volunteer basis.
********************************************************************
This story about the media was created by the NUJU in the frame of the project «Improving Ukrainian Media Resilience in Ukraine», financed by Swiss Solidarity and implemented with the support of the Swiss non-profit organization Fondation Hirondelle and the Institute for Regional Media and Information (IRMI, Ukraine). Fondation Hirondelle and IRMI implement a project of institutional support for Ukrainian media editorial offices in the east, north and south of our country, with an emphasis on the local press. They also launched a 10-month support program for 18 media.
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