Five regional newspapers in Ukraine selected to participate in OSCE project on supporting reform of state owned and municipal media

Five Ukrainian regional newspapers were selected on 23 August 2016 to benefit from assistance in their transformation from the state-funded to independent media outlets as part of a project implemented by OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine at the request of the State Committee on Television and Radio Broadcasting.

The board of experts, comprised of a representative of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator and the Committee, as well as the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine and independent media experts, reviewed the total of 22 applications received. The following winning applicants were announced:  

• Оbrii Iziumshchyny – a city/district newspaper, Kharkiv region;
• Kray –a district newspaper, Ivano-Frankivsk region;
• Nadrossia - city/district newspaper, Cherkasy region;
• Zaporiz’ka Pravda – a regional newspaper, Zaporizhzhya region;
• Kray Kam`yanetskii – a city newspaper, Khmelnitsky oblast.

As part of its assistance to these media outlets, the Project Co-ordinator will by the end of the year have supported marketing research to profile audiences, develop expert and tailor-made strategies to help these outlets overcome difficulties and allow for sustainable functioning, as well as providing training opportunities for their staff.

Strategies developed as a result of the project will also be presented to a wider circle of media outlets undergoing the transition from state and municipal ownership into a private one.

This activity aims at supporting Ukraine’s efforts to conclude a legacy of state ownership of the media in line with the Law on Reform of State-owned and Municipal Mass Media. Within two years all such media outlets will have to either transform or cease to exist.