THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
PHOTO: From left to right: Mariyana Verbovska – journalist and discussion moderator; Lina Kushch – NUJU First Secretary; Nadiya Sukha – war journalist, Ukrainian Witness; Oleksandra Horchynska – NV journalist
Let life live!
Under this slogan, the VIII West Media Forum took place in Lutsk, and the Volyn Press Club became a partner.
In particular, in the organization of a panel discussion on the challenges faced by female journalists during the war and the experience gained by media women during this year.
According to Lina Kushch, the First Secretary of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU)/co-chair of the expert group of the European Federation of Journalists on issues of gender equality and diversity, journalists in Ukraine and before the full-scale war faced a number of challenges in their professional activities precisely as women. Physical security, job loss, captivity, occupation, and sexual violence were the issues added to these challenges.
“We also have examples of pressure on female journalists due to families under occupation, psychological threats in the form of rape – and we must be ready to see these problems in our editorial teams, which female journalists often do not articulate,” said Lina.
She also emphasized the additional workload of female journalists, editors as managers, the psychological and economic burden when they are forced to work more for less money, etc. We have to voice these problems and make women’s efforts more visible.
In this case, the support of media organizations is of great importance.
One of them is the initiative of the NUJU – Journalists’ Solidarity Centers, which, from the beginning of the full-scale invasion, provided emotional and material support to the evacuated female journalists, and later the Psychological Helpline became operational. According to Lina Kushch, 90% of appeals are from media women.
“It is very important that there is a representative of Ukraine in the expert group of the European Federation of Journalists. I have the opportunity to talk about our war experience, the role of Ukrainian journalism, and the challenges faced by journalists,” the NUJU First Secretary emphasized.
“Climate reporters are generally not very popular. As a journalist covering environmental topics, I faced a number of challenges during the war, among which the easiest was to find body armor and a helmet, and the most difficult was to get accreditation. And journalists who have already gone through this experience gave me a lot of expert support on how to do it,” noted the moderator of the discussion, journalist Maryana Verbovska.
Actually, one of the groups of such mutual support is the Women In Media community, whose activities were presented by its project manager/NV journalist, Oleksandra Horchynska. According to her, it was very important for female journalists to rest and pay attention to their health – both physical and psychological. In addition to the mentioned workloads, female journalists face gender misinformation and humiliation from russia, but they are often left alone with this problem. Research on this was recently presented by the Women In Media non-governmental organization.
But how to cope? Is it possible to stabilize one’s internal state and what helps to be stable?
War reporter Nadiya Sukha recalls that talking about war – occupation, reporting from the front – is not what you can dream of in journalism. But she, like other reporters, had no other choice – she understood that she had to do what she was good at and where she could be most useful. In working with the military, the most important thing, he says, is “gaining trust and proving that you have the right to do what you do.”
“That first year of the full-scale war was generally the most difficult. You can never be ready to see crime live. But over time, the moment came when you understood that you were tired of “not coping.” And now you understand that there is someone who has a harder time. And you have to be strong too. You have to put off everything terrible for later, and now you have to endure it because otherwise you can’t work. This work is extremely important to me. In all this horror, when your heroes become names, the only thing that helps to calm down and go to Donbas is the understanding that you help people become eternal names, that you write about those titans who hold the sky for us,” says Nadiya.
The forum also discussed grant opportunities for the media, trends, the use of innovative technologies (in particular, artificial intelligence), media literacy, hate speech and stereotypical content, and the experience of media transformation. The event was attended by 150 people. More information about this is available on the website Rayon.in.ua.
The forum was attended by colleagues from the editorial offices of local media, who, in 2023, were participants in the mentoring program of the Volyn Press Club, which was implemented with the assistance of the project Supporting Sustainability Of Ukrainian Media, financed by Sweden and implemented by the international organization Internews Europe.
Media Forum senior organizer is CID Media Group
Source is the Volyn Press Club website
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