A campaign to save independent Ukrainian media from being obliterated by war is gathering pace, with thousands donating cash to support news outlets reporting on the conflict.
A GoFundMe page organised by a senior executive from the Kyiv Independent has raised more than £150,000 for national and regional titles scrambling to survive the chaos precipitated by the Russian invasion five days ago.
Funds are being earmarked to help journalists relocate operations from Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities in peril to Warsaw, Vilnius and other neighbouring capitals, said Jakub Parusinski, chief financial officer at the Kyiv Independent and the campaign’s organiser. Separate initiatives are also under way to help secure funds for urgent immediate needs such as equipment, insurance and engineering support for websites, he said.
“What we really need right now is for the world to have trusted, verified information from across the country, so that people in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus know exactly what is going on,” said Parusinski. “However important foreign correspondents from overseas news organisations are, you need local media to tell the local story.”
Around 12 national titles, including the Kyiv Independent and in-depth reportage news website Zaborona, are part of the group that will benefit from funds raised. A first round of disbursals from the emergency fund is due to be made as early as next week, Parusinski said.
The GoFundMe effort will be aimed specifically at helping newsrooms relocate away from danger.
“For any newsroom in Kyiv, the logic looks like this: you have a small portion of your team who will stay and effectively become war correspondents,” said Parusinski. “The rest are moving west to run the website and operational stuff in places like Warsaw, Vilnius or Bratislava. We are helping to get the journalists out and set up in other capitals.”
Kateryna Sergatskova, editor in chief of Zaborona, said many of her journalists were staying in Kyiv “working from the shelters under the attacks” to uncover the true face of war.
She welcomed the prospect of funding to help underwrite the operational costs of emergency reporting and to establish a temporary operational hub.
“Independent media are covering the actual events of the war and provide accurate, unbiased information at a time of an information war,” she said.
Readers can support the initiative at this page.
