2023-12-23T11:31:00+02:00 Events 2024-09-15T04:51:08+03:00

Ukrainian news

Journalists’ Solidarity Centers: Strengthening Press Resilience on the Frontlines in Ukraine

Journalists’ Solidarity Centers: Strengthening Press Resilience on the Frontlines in Ukraine

The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) has opened its new Journalists’ Solidarity Center (JSC) in frontline city of Kharkiv with the support of UNESCO. Two other front-line JSCs have been successfully operating in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro for more than a year. This was reported by NUJU website.

Created with the support of the International and European Federations of Journalists and UNESCO, the JSC network has a primary goal – to provide effective support to journalists, freelancers, bloggers and associated media personnel working in the demanding conditions of the ongoing war in Ukraine. These centers serve as vital hubs, facilitating journalists in carrying out their professional duties on the frontlines, including areas subjected to Russian missile attacks. Furthermore, they offer safety training and psychosocial support for media workers who have suffered as a result of the Russian aggression.

The Kharkiv JSC consisting of local producers from the Visti News Agency, brings practical experience and a deep understanding of the realities of working in the front-line Kharkiv region. With the help from NUJU, the center was provided with the necessary technical equipment, including a generator, provided by UNESCO last year. This generator ensures energy security, a critical element for the uninterrupted operation of the center.

“It is very good that Kharkiv will now have a gathering place for training, exchange of experience, work and communication for media representatives of various types, including freelancers, bloggers and fixers. Firstly, our plan is to conduct safety, psychological and legal training sessions ” says the coordinator of the Kharkiv JSC, Anna Chernenko.

Anna Chernenko (in the center) is a well-known Ukrainian war correspondent. In June 2022, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, awarded her the Order of Merit, recognizing her courageous reporting during the period of Russia’s largest shelling of Kharkiv.

The opening of the Kharkiv JSC is part of a strategic transformation of the Journalists’ Solidarity Centers network, which has been operating since April 2022. All six Centers received an updated methodology and operation strategy. Now, with a renewed focus, the JSC network is adapting to prioritize support for Ukrainian and foreign journalists in front-line regions, as well as media  resuming activities in these areas.

During the Kharkiv JSC opening, NUJU President Sergiy Tomilenko, JSCs network coordinator, Lina Kushch and Kostyantyn Grygorenko, the editor-in-chief of local media from Izyum, spoke through an online video call.  Grygorenko noted that the opening of Kharkiv JSC is a very important step because, due to constant rocket attacks, their region suffers from lack of electricity and communication.  He shared his extensive personal experience using the co-working space at Lviv, where he benefited from  technical, humanitarian and training support.  This period coincided with his status as an internally displaced person (IDP) during the occupation of his native town.

The coordinator of the entire network of Journalists’ Solidarity Centers is Lina Kushch, the First Secretary of the NUJU, who herself was an internally displaced person and escaped from occupied Donetsk to Kyiv back in 2014

Sergiy Tomilenko, NUJU President acknowledges the effectiveness of the centers.  Unfortunately, the war has been going on for almost two years. Our network of Journalists` Solidarity Centers has proven its effectiveness. Thanks to international support, it has already provided safety, organizational, educational, psychological, legal and other support to thousands of journalists working in Ukraine. Now, our network is transforming to provide support to journalists where it is most relevant”.

Highlighting the important role of UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) and Japan to fund this project, Tawfik Jelassi, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, reaffirms UNESCO’s unwavering commitment. “UNESCO is committed to providing continued support to journalists in Ukraine to help ensure that they can carry out their crucial mission of public interest, that of gathering and disseminating reliable, accurate and sometimes life-saving information in a context of war. The Journalists Solidarity Centres have been playing a critical role in this respect, through the range of services they provide. UNESCO welcomes the enhanced focus on addressing the needs of journalists close to the front-lines.”

During the events on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day 2023, the President of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, Sergiy Tomilenko, had the opportunity to personally thank UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, Tawfik Jelassi, for the tangible support of Ukrainian journalists by the UNESCO headquarters (May 2023, New York)

For those interested in learning more about the Kharkiv JSC, coordinator Anna Chernenko can be contacted at +380954215477. However, due to safety concerns, the center’s address is not publicly disclosed.

About JSC network

The Journalist Solidarity Centers network was launched in April 2022 in 3 cities of Western Ukraine (Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi). In July 2022, the network’s head center was opened in Kyiv and front-line centers in Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia were additionally created. The Kharkiv center is the third frontline JSC.

About UNESCO

UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. It contributes to peace and security by promoting international cooperation in education, sciences, culture, communication and information. It is the coordinator of the UN Action Plan on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, which aims to create a free and safe environment for journalists and media workers, thus strengthening peace, democracy and sustainable development worldwide. UNESCO is working closely with its partner organizations in Ukraine to provide support to journalists on the ground.