Media training

With support from the U-Media program and technical assistance from Internews Ukraine, Ukrainian journalists can improve their skills and capabilities with access to training and continuing education. Ongoing training and education prepares them to stay up-to-date with changing media trends and Ukrainian media legislation. U-Media is the five-year program implemented by Internews, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to assist and develop Ukrainian media.

Highlights

  • In July 2016, Internews Ukraine conducted training for journalists and civil activists on verifying information and the tools to accomplish this. Participants learned to verify authenticity of photographs and videos, analyze social media profiles, determine accuracy of public information and recognize fraudulent and pre-paid materials.

  • In the autumn of 2015, Internews Ukraine organized two three-day training sessions in Kyiv addressing infographics and data journalism. Forty-seven journalists and editors from 16 editorial offices and three media organizations participated in the trainings. Participants learned about incorporating data in stories; data searches on government websites; and, visualization tools and design.

  • The Suspilnist Foundation launched an internship program, Media Mobility Hub, for young journalists. Suspilnist carefully selected 31 students (80 percent of whom are female) from 40 journalism faculties at leading Ukrainian universities. Students interned in newsrooms of Ukrainian media like the UA: Pershy TV channel, Channel 5, Hromadske.TV, Mediasapiens portal, 1+1 channel and Radio Liberty. Interns engaged in editorial work and attended and participated in classes with well-known Ukrainian journalists like Andriy Kulikov, Serhiy Rakhmanin, Olena Prytula and Yulia Mostova. Interns produced 79 stories in a wide variety of formats.

  • The Independent Association of Broadcasters (IAB), in cooperation with the Ukrainian Association of Press Publishers, administered the seventh Honor of Profession journalism competition. In 2015-2016, journalists were awarded for civic media projects; investigative reporting; and, stories addressing successes and challenges for young Ukrainian journalists. A new award category was introduced in 2016 – «Humanity in an Inhumane Time.»

    On March 25, 2016, IAB organized and managed the annual international conference “New Media – New Opportunities”. The conference covered growing digital trends and their influence on investment decisions, Internet-usage and online consumption developments and the global media.

  • The Academy of Ukrainian Press (AUP) conducted four two-day workshops on journalism ethics and professional standards for journalism students in Ukrainian universities. The seminars were attended by students from Mariupol State University, M. Kotsyubynskyi Vinnytsya Teachers’ Training University and the Berdiansk State Teachers’ Training University. Workshops were led by AUP President Valeriy Ivanov, and Volodymyr Mostovyi, Head of the Journalist Ethics Commission and founder of the Weekly Mirror.

  • The Regional Press Development Institute (RPDI) organized and led the Seventh Annual All-Ukrainian Investigative Reporting Conference in Kyiv on November 28-29, 2015. The theme, “Investigative Reporting in Ukraine and Europe: Achievements, Challenges and Development Perspectives”, attracted 154 participants from 12 countries, including Armenia, The Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Great Britian, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Romania, Russia, Tajikistan and Ukraine. The purpose of the conference was to assemble experienced investigative journalists to share expertise, discuss issues they face in the course of investigative journalism and continue to build a network in Ukraine and Europe. The conference has evolved and grown into an international event with support from Internews’ U-Media project, the International Renaissance Foundation, the Danish SCOOP Project, the Open Society Foundation and the Poland-Canada Democracy Support Program.

    RPDI’s closed Facebook group, created to provide space for open communication between Ukrainian investigative journalists, expanded to 268 professional journalists in the past year. RPDI also added 160 investigations to its growing collection of most impactful investigative reports (as designated and judged by RPDI). Total number of investigative stories pieces on the RPDI website now exceeds 1,200.

    RPDI led a two-module training, “Managing Regional Media Newsrooms”, in 2016 to equip editors and managers of regional municipal and communal media with media management skills including revenue-generating methods, financial management, human resources and trends in content creation.

  • The Institute for Mass Information (IMI) continues to organize and administer regular discussions across Ukraine with local journalists to discuss journalists’ rights and reporting standards; and, jeansa, the Ukrainian-language word for paid advertising disguised as journalism. IMI also protects journalists by meeting with police in different Ukrainian regions to coordinate and ensure law enforcement cooperation with the media.

  • Based on results of a 2015 external assessment conducted by Internews of five local partners of the Canadian-funded Strengthening Investigative Reporting in Ukraine project, U-Media lead a three-day intensive workshop training in December 2015 addressing organizational development. The workshop’s objective was to improve leadership and skills in strategic and financial management and fundraising for four regional investigative reporting agencies. The workshop was held in Kyiv.

  • The Institute for Mass Information, Telekritika/Detector Media and the Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy hosted trainings for national and regional journalists on working in Ukrainian conflict zones. Topics covered included use of protective equipment,, general conflict zone behavior, protection against cyber attacks and adherence to professional standards while covering armed conflict and the humanitarian crisis in eastern Ukraine.