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STATE OF LOCAL NEWS IN UKRAINE IN 2024

In this study, the Media Development Foundation summarizes the second year of the great war and documents the adaptive mechanisms of newsrooms in response to challenging crisis working conditions.

Read the research for the previous year here:

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INtro

Ukrainian local media outlets, like Ukraine itself, are going through one of the most challenging times in their existence. In 2024, when Ukraine has been at full-scale war with authoritarian Russia for two years, the importance of the media's role cannot be overestimated. Local outlets record unique experiences of Ukrainians, document wartime crimes and become voices of those who should be heard but are hard to. Despite all the obstacles, they continue to inform the residents of their districts and the world about the situation in the regions, thus contributing to the development of the regions and strengthening the institution of independent media in Ukraine.

War creates constant risks for the stable operation and development of the media: from direct security threats and financial fragility to outflow of personnel, mobilisation of employees and the difficult emotional state of the team. The media have learnt to deal with these risks, but they are “still fighting for survival” in 2024. Media are working in turbo mode to keep their editorial teams, and this reduces opportunities for development.

Researching the activities and transformation of local media outlets as organisations is a key focus of the Media Development Foundation's research department. This report is the seventh wave of the annual study of the state of local media outlets in Ukraine, so it makes it possible not only to record the current situation, but also to track the dynamics of the media market. An in-depth understanding of these processes is useful for the media themselves to reflect on their situation, as well as for Ukrainian and international specialised civil society organisations and the donor community to precisely direct their resources and efforts.

We interviewed 43 independent local media outlets from different regions of Ukraine that cooperate with the Media Development Foundation and other specialised media organisations. A total of 37 of them completed a questionnaire, and 12 went through in-depth interviews. We also spoke with three experts in media management, content and distribution to further interpret the data.

In this report, we consider the risks faced by local media outlets because of the war, their approaches to managing the teams, producing content and distributing it to their audiences. We also ask the outlets about their vision of the future. Finally, we generate guidelines for various stakeholders on all the aspects of local media outlets that we have studied. More information about the research methods and the project team can be found at the end of the report.

Brief Summary

In a war of attrition, it is precisely attrition that is the main emotion expressed. Such a state is difficult for the outlets psychologically, and professional support remains an urgent need for everyone. Despite the fact that the respondents mentioned team rituals and a healthy atmosphere in the team (about half of the editorial teams claim to have no conflicts in the team), their answers show fatigue.

In general, we see that the outlets have adapted and are looking for opportunities for development in a very rough environment (about 86% of them have strategies for a year or longer). However, the number of those with a plan for "after the victory" has been declining for the second year in a row (51% of them now compared to 64% in April 2022). This means that fewer and fewer media outlets are thinking in the paradigm of the "temporary" nature of the war. Media outlets consider the future to be inextricably linked to the continuation of combat actions, and further planning is already underway taking these conditions into account.

Risks are still an abstract concept for verbal discussion, as 65% of media outlets do not have a written document where risks are identified and scenarios for responding to them are prescribed. Nevertheless, editorial teams are changing under the influence of dangerous situations and potential problems. Some have developed re-evacuation plans, others focus on women in the labour market, and some are institutionalising – writing job descriptions and creating working documents so that if a particular employee is lost, a new one can be trained in a short time.

It can be seen that the staffing crisis observed in the media in previous years is only getting more intense. Half of the respondents say that there is a need for journalists, authors and reporters – those who can produce high-quality and exclusive content. In addition, about a quarter of the total workforce in the teams in our sample consists of people who have been working in editorial teams for less than a year. Consequently, the staffing crisis is not only about finding and training people, but also about keeping them for a long period of time.

The audience is also getting tired. There is a demand for content not related to the war, for instance, regional or local issues, public transport schedules, procurement or the history of the native land. Nonetheless, entertainment content has not yet been fully returned to, but it is likely that we will see more of this kind of content over the next year or two. Although the topic of social media restrictions is less prominent in the public discourse, this obstacle to reaching and increasing the audience remains relevant for more than half of the media outlets in our sample.

Donor organisations remain the main source of income, despite the gradual recovery of the advertising market. The latter has not yet reached the levels of 2021, but it is already possible to cover part of the costs (10-20%) with commercial contracts in some regions. Therefore, the lack of donor support is one of the main risks that the editorial teams see for the next year. It is also worth noting that a much larger share of international support and donor programmes is focused on the frontline and border regions of Ukraine, and there are fewer opportunities for media from the central or western parts of the country.

WAR

Two years of war: Key issues

For more than two years now, the full-scale war has been affecting the media landscape of Ukraine, making it difficult for independent media outlets to operate. We regularly study the state of local media outlets, so we can compare their main problems over the two years of the full-scale war. A total of 44 editorial teams took part in the survey in 2022, and 37 did in 2023. Of these, 20 media outlets, or about half, took part in both surveys, while the rest are different.

Наші дані дають підставу стверджувати, що ключові виклики для локальних редакцій в умовах воєнного стану залишаються сталими протягом двох останніх років.

Our data suggest that the key challenges for local editorial teams under martial law have remained persistent over the past two years.

shortage of employees (22% this year and 16% last year);

psychological stress (18% this year and 16% last year);

lack of funds (16% both this and last year);

insufficiently fast receipt of information (14% this year and 11% last year).

Martial law leaves open the issues of access to interviewees and information. Access to heroes accounted for 9% of all problems in 2022 and 10% in 2023, and access to information accounted for 6% in 2022 and 8% in 2023.

As can be seen, the indicators of key issues during martial law have slightly increased. Such fluctuations indicate the level of importance of these problems amid others, rather than the enlargement of the problem as such since the percentages were calculated among all answer options. We observe that some problems in 2022 have completely or almost disappeared in 2023, such as poor communication and the impossibility of planning work.

The shortage of staff accounted for 46% of all problems at the beginning of 2022. By the end of 2022, the figure had fallen to 16%. This jump may be linked to the fact that at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the media was under a heavy workflow: media outlets were operating non-stop and therefore needed extra specialists. At the same time, many people were ready to join the teams, even on a volunteer basis. During the second year of the full-scale war, the figure increased slightly and now stands at 22%. Research expert Oleg Horobets suggests that this increase can be explained as follows: those who joined the media sector at the beginning of the full-scale war are coming back to their usual pre-war occupations.

Key risks for work and readiness of local media organisations to deal with them

The key risks for local media outlets are primarily related to the war and its consequences.

The interviewed media managers identify several categories of key risks that they see for the work of their editorial teams. These risks are often interrelated, including the ongoing war and the loss of funding, which makes it difficult to work with such risks.

The nature of the risks for local media outlets has not changed since the previous year. However, the emphasis and importance of certain risks have changed.

For example, in 2022, military and security risks and the difficult psychological state of employees came to the fore. In 2023, these risks are also present. However, media managers mentioned the loss or reduction of funding and the loss of the team or difficulties in finding one more often than last year.

Categories of risks that were identified in 2023 (in order from the most frequent risks to those that were mentioned least frequently in questionnaires and interviews):

To be left without funding

In 2024, donor support remains the key source of funding for independent local media outlets. In the absence of other stable and sufficient sources of income to sustain the editorial team, the outlets assess the loss or reduction of funding as a key risk. Some media outlets report the risk of closure or transfer of ownership of the media to others in the event of a reduction or loss of funding.

Editorial teams expect and fear a decrease in donor support in the central, northern and western regions of Ukraine. There is a tendency for grant programmes to focus on the frontline areas.

“

Without grant support, it will be very, very difficult. Unfortunately, we see a trend among donors – they want to support frontline regions, which is the biggest risk. Not only the work of our editorial team depends on it, but also the ability to support our families. We cannot talk about expectations yet, as we have confirmed grant funding only until 31 December.

Media from the west

In the context of decreasing funding, respondents also mentioned the lack of institutional donor support. On the one hand, project funding is the easiest and fastest way to raise funds for an editorial team. On the other hand, the respondents said that project grants have an impact on team burnout, instability in the team, and thus indirectly on some other risks.

“

As of now, we have not had it [institutional support] for about six months. So this is like project planning, and it's the biggest risk, because it's team burnout and instability of recruitment (...), and so on and so forth.

Media from the centre

The risk of losing funding is also associated with the intense competition in the grant market. Media outlets that operated under other business models before the full-scale war, including some oligarchic ones, are now applying for grants.

Editorial teams are learning to work with this risk. The main strategy for preventing the loss of donor funding is to diversify income. However, the share of non-donor revenues is only 10-20% of the budget of media outlets. Oleg Horobets stated that even the editorial teams that have been thoroughly implementing advertising and other funding models for a while are currently finding it difficult to cover media costs without grant funds.

Some editorial teams are trying to systematise their work with grant funds. For example, one of the respondents said that the media outlet writes a new grant application 2-3 months before the end of the previous one. Another editorial team tries to attract support from donors from different countries in order to be independent of the political situation in specific countries.

Failure to withstand the escalation of the war

Respondents consider the war to be not so much an immediate challenge as a potential risk in case the situation at the front escalates. At the same time, the war causes other risks: the loss of a team or its difficult emotional state, and technical problems.

The risk of war escalation is perceived as:

a direct threat to the life and health of the team;

a threat of power outages;

a possibility of repeated evacuation.

Editorial teams feel prepared for the escalation of combat actions and the potential consequences. In particular, the previous winter allowed media organisations to prepare for possible power outages. In the second year of the full-scale war, media professionals, like the previous year, took medical aid courses.

War correspondent Taras Ibrahimov and a soldier of the 28th Brigade in a dugout near Kurdiumivka on the Bakhmut front, May 2023. Photo: Donbas Frontliner, a Ukrainian media outlet covering the Russo-Ukrainian war.

“

We already have at least some backup plans here, starting with the team members' water supplies and paid Starlink subscription.

Media from the centre

“

Journalists regularly, well, whenever possible, go through training in medicine. [Particularly] first aid training. Yes, we attended workshops and courses hosted by the Institute of Mass Information (IMI) in the city, covering various medical topics.

Media from the centre

Psychological burnout

The difficult emotional state of the editorial team is considered a risk because it affects work efficiency and employee turnover.

Media management tries to work with this risk, but according to the survey, the psychological state is more often associated with personal non-work-related reasons. Among the most common answers about the reasons for the difficult situation are living in a frontline area and waiting for a loved one to come home from the war.

“

When we hire a person whose husband is fighting at the front, it is a risk. I can't criticise them in any way or fire them for not doing their job. If this person has a lot of responsibility, it is also risky. As a manager, I have to monitor the condition of my employees.

Media from the east

Editorial teams try to work with different types of psychological support for the team. We reveal more details about this in the section Psycho-Emotional State. Some teams work with corporate therapists to control the scale of this risk. For the most part, such psychological support programmes are implemented by media outlets that cooperate with specialised organisations such as MDF. Only one editorial team reported that it covers psychological support for the team on its own.

Losing the team

Difficult psycho-emotional state, burnout, mobilisation of employees and not always satisfactory and competitive working conditions in the local media market lead to high employee turnover. This year, 24% of employees left the media organisations surveyed. That is, almost every fourth employee left.

A discussion on upcoming media challenges for 2024 with Andriy Dikhtyarenko, host of the 24/7 national joint newscast and MDF content expert, November 2023. Photo: Local Media Relaunch Initiative from MDF

‍The loss of staff and challenges in finding new people to join the team are significant risks for local media outlets. The respondents noted that it was difficult to find a person with the necessary skills for the conditions that a local media outlet can offer. Even if the outlet finds the right person, it takes time for them to adapt and get used to everything: either to learn how journalism works or to develop technical skills and onboard in general. This defocuses the attention of CEOs and editors-in-chief and slows down the work of the editorial team.

“

That is, there is a large number of people who want to work and may even be motivated, but they do not know how to do it. And the issue here is that they need to be trained. And I know how to do it, I can do it, but I need time to do it, and I don't have it, because I need it now, and I'm short of it.

Media from the south

“

It is an older person, and they still need training. The advantage here is that the person knows how to work with news and there are no problems with that, but the person does not know how to work with devices. And there is the opposite problem with young people: they usually know how to use technology [but not how to work with news].

Media from the south

Because of the difficulties in finding new staff, the management of some media outlets deliberately puts up with the inefficient or poor quality work of their teams. Some media professionals may deliberately provide lower results in terms of quality, being aware of the fact that their managers are afraid of losing their employees.

“

If a person says that they've had enough, they’re just going to leave, lie down and stare at the ceiling and don't want to work – then we can't do anything about it. It will also be difficult to engage a completely new person. (...) [The person] understands the market situation and understands that he or she is, to some extent, irreplaceable.

Media from the centre

During two interviews, our interviewees reported a fear of working with young journalists. The respondents linked this to the fact that young people often change jobs and are not used to working in the stressful conditions that local media outlets sometimes offer, especially in the frontline regions. Thus, some media managers perceive working with young journalists as an additional risk for the editorial team.

“

I'm afraid that they [young people] will get down with some kind of hysteria tomorrow.

Media from the east

Local media outlets currently do not understand how to deal with this risk. Employee turnover threatens the stable operation of editorial teams, but there are few effective strategies for retaining and attracting employees in the local media market. Only one outlet stated that it had a plan to minimise this risk by organising internships and engaging students in work. The other editorial teams are trying to retain their current colleagues due to the ideological nature of the media and the current demands of their employees.

Losing valuable employees because of mobilisation

This year, the mobilisation of employees can be identified as a separate risk, rather than a part of the war risk, as it was established last year.

Local media outlets usually have small teams. The average number of employees in editorial teams is 11 (we excluded two large media groups with more than 60 employees each). At the same time, the median value is 10, meaning that half of the organisations have 10 or fewer people, and half have 10 or more. This means that one person is often responsible for many functions, and the loss of each team member is a serious risk for the outlet. One of the editorial teams had to change the format of its content because of the mobilisation of several employees at once.

“

Our mission was to give everyone a voice. That's who wants to say something. We had streamers who travelled around and filmed everything, all kinds of events. And now they've been called up too, and there are no streamers, so we've reformatted. We do all the work in the studio. [Sometimes] we go on trips, our women, editors, go and film something if there is something important or interesting.

Media from the west

Out of 37 media outlets surveyed this year, 34 people joined the Ukrainian Defence Forces. That is, almost every editorial team was forced to lose an employee. This means that media managers have reason to believe that the risk of mobilisation is significant for the operation of the outlet.

The respondents said that the state system for reserving key employees liable for military service does not work. It is not trusted for the following reasons:

Local media outlets are not a priority for the authorities conducting the reservation procedure [It allows the postponement of the conscription of an individual provided he meets certain criteria]. One respondent noted that it is difficult to get employees reserved even for national, more well-known and recognisable media. Even critical infrastructure facilities do not always manage to have it done.

The system does not work as it should and can sometimes lead to the opposite of the desired consequences. We learned about cases of mobilisation of employees during the reservation procedure.

“

Some of the donors for large organisations offer a reservation system, but we have never experienced it, and I have even heard that it can lead to more problems than help, because it still goes through a military enlistment office.

Media from the south

Mobilisation is chaotic. There are cases when men are "taken" off the streets. Therefore, even having a reservation does not guarantee that an employee will stay with the organisation.

“

We don't have such a thing [a reservation system]. Even if we did, it would not make sense, because people are just taken [off the streets].

Media from the east

Most of the surveyed editorial teams do not see any way to deal with this risk. Among those who do, they typically adopt one of two approaches:

Some are trying to avoid such a scenario in the future. Some editorial teams are guided by the criterium of military liability in the selection of personnel. For example, they try to hire women (one organisation noted that this is especially true for management positions), men under 25 and students. This approach to hiring creates additional discriminatory risks in the media market.

Others seek to mitigate the negative consequences of potential employee mobilisation. Several media organisations noted they were working to institutionalise the work of the team: they were writing job descriptions, considering options for transferring responsibilities in case of an employee’s mobilisation, and distributing work within the team so that one person does not have to perform many tasks.

“

We are currently trying to establish a process so that if a person leaves the team, it will not affect our work too strongly. That's why we try to delegate a lot, to distribute responsibilities correctly, so that one person is not responsible for everything.

Media from the north

“

We are now trying to create, firstly, certain job descriptions, and I am trying, in particular, to delegate my powers as much as possible, so that if something happens, I can be replaced for at least some time. When you have these job descriptions written down to the maximum extent possible, even if a person is mobilised, for example, a newcomer knows that they have everything written down.

Media from the south

Being left without management because of mobilisation

The mobilisation of employees is a risk for the editorial team, but we spoke to representatives of two media outlets whose executives joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The risks for such media are significantly higher.

In both cases, the CEOs combined military service and being in charge of the media outlet, and key processes were tied to them. The media outlets have created instructions and action plans in case of a lack of communication with the manager, and each editorial team has people who have been acting CEOs in the absence of the current heads of media organisations. Nonetheless, those editorial teams feel constantly uncertain about the future.

“

[Name] manages to combine work and military service, and we are very grateful to him for that. We do not have the same qualifications and experience as he does. But it's still a risk that you are here today and gone tomorrow. War is the biggest risk.

Media from the east

The biggest risk in this case is the loss of life. In one of the editorial teams, their founder and editor-in-chief was killed in action at war. Technically and legally, the media outlet was prepared for such a situation, but bidding farewell to a colleague and a key person in the organisation was a significant emotional challenge for the team.

“

I, for one, don't know if we have adapted to the end. Because our group chat still has all of us on a member list. I mean, [name] is still there.

Media from the west

The editorial team is experiencing a much higher level of fatigue than before, as they have to share new responsibilities. The number of articles has decreased, as they require more emotional resources. The financial situation has also become more complicated, as the media outlet's founder and CEO played a key role in financial planning and raised his own funds to cover some of the editorial expenses.

“

I mean, those few months were like that – just to survive, we have been just working. I don't know, it was very difficult, you know, to write something meaningful. Because it was just emotionally hard, morally hard. We had to support our team.

Media from the west

Ukrainian TV reporters with soldiers of the 30th Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near the frontline near Bakhmut, May 2023. Photo: Donbas Frontliner

Other risks

Some editorial teams additionally reported on such risks:

Technical difficulties. Obstruction of content distribution by platforms such as Meta, cyberattacks on websites and social networks by Russia, and blocking of access to Telegram in temporarily occupied territories, which cuts off access to the audience, are still relevant [6].

Pressure on the media from government bodies or individual officials and limited access to information even with the necessary accreditations are risks that impede the quality of journalistic work.

Crisis of mission and goals. Several media outlets reported that the goals set earlier were either no longer relevant or were too high and exhausting for the team.

Risk management

Editorial teams are aware of the risks they may face during the war. Nevertheless, 65% of organisations do not have a written risk management plan; it is a document that regulates the organisation's work in the event of the above risks. 11% of editorial teams have a verbally agreed plan or instruction for different situations that are not documented.Only 9 media outlets, or 24%, have such a document.

Out of the 9 editorial teams that have a risk management plan, only three teams had to use it. The majority of the outlets (82%) that had an action plan used it last year.

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TEAM

Staff members

The media organisations in our sample changed their staff significantly over the course of 2023. Over 2023, 119 employees left 37 media outlets, while 147 joined. As of November 2023, the 37 media outlets in our sample employed a total of 517 people.

We can see that new employees account for almost 29% of the workforce today. This figure was 20% last year. Despite everything, local media outlets are growing and actively looking for new specialists, but employee turnover is quite high – every fourth person in the media in our sample has not worked for more than one year.

As noted above, approximately one third (34 out of 119) of those who left the editorial teams joined the Ukrainian Defence Forces. This is roughly the same figure as last year (32 out of 109). Media organisations continue to keep the jobs of mobilised employees, help them financially and distribute their duties among other employees.

Most of those who have mobilised employees have experienced a significant decline in performance in the area where these specialists worked. This has increased the workload of other colleagues. There are also problems with hiring people, as it is necessary to look for a replacement for a mobilised specialist or change the recruitment protocol (one of the outlets started hiring fewer men).

A quarter of the editorial teams (25%) did not change their staff; they did not hire anyone and did not terminate cooperation with anyone. With only one exception, small organisations (those with fewer than 10 employees) have the same staff as a year ago.

Freelancers

Freelancers make up a significant portion of editorial teams’ content production capacity. On average, each media organisation works with 5-6 freelancers. The profile of a freelancer they usually work with is as follows:

These are people who are worked with on a regular basis (88% of such cases), who have another regular job (85% of such cases) or who cover the needs for working with text (38%) or visual materials (33%).

Journalists, SEO specialists, videographers, designers and, to a certain extent, accountants/financial managers are often worked with on a fee basis. Editors, communication specialists, news reporters and marketing managers are more likely to be employed by the organisation.

Research expert Oleh Gorobets said that this division was fair because of the specifics of each of these professions. Journalists, video directors, designers and SEO specialists have the ability to divide their work into clearly measurable volumes, while the value of editors, news reporters and communication specialists lies in their deep knowledge of the organisation and the continuity of the tasks they perform.

Creative staff

Only 5% of the surveyed editorial teams stated that they were fully staffed with creative personnel. Meanwhile, most media organisations are short of even journalists (73%). In particular, there is a lack of comprehensive journalists who could cover any topic or format. There is also a need for investigative journalists and correspondents. Andriy Dikhtyarenko, a research expert, said that one of the main reasons for the shortage of creative personnel was low salaries.

Compared to last year, the number of editorial teams experiencing a shortage of SMM managers has significantly decreased: 50% in 2022 and 22% in 2023. Thus, over the course of the past year, some local media outlets were able to add staff in response to the realities of content distribution.

At the same time, the lack of staff is a classic problem of media outlets, which is related to the fact that the media is constantly evolving. Having plans for development often means needing additional people to implement them.

Psycho-emotional state

In general, the mental state of the team in general and each team member individually remains a very complicated topic because it is very difficult to measure precisely, and the results depend on the specific day when it was discussed or the questionnaire was filled out. We can state today that the editorial teams are more exhausted, both professionally and emotionally.

The responses of about 42% of the editorial teams can be described as reports of a difficult emotional state for most of the team. The words "fatigue", "uncertainty", "burnout", "disappointment" and "exhaustion" prevail in those reports. Having the opportunity to turn to specialists for help is a crucial element of support for employees. One of the editor teams said that they "also used donor funds for therapists", which is one of the ways to resolve such situations.

The other 58%, whose answers can be described as "normal" or "there are some issues, but everything is fine in general", may not be telling the truth.

We can see that fatigue and exhaustion remain the main psychological problems in local media outlets. Psychological support is still an urgent need for journalists.

However, external signs of fatigue are not as serious as they might seem from the previous results. 51% of respondents said they had no conflicts in their teams, while 40% had conflict situations less than once a month. Only 9% of editorial teams have monthly conflicts. Usually, the reasons for conflict are disagreements over work issues or difficulties in remote work. The respondents did not mention any personal reasons.

In addition to professional help, teams continue to support employees internally. Established festive and simply routine traditions are still relevant, such as Secret Santa, birthday celebrations and informal meetings of the entire team outside of work. Additional rest experiences are also emerging, such as the opportunity to choose 1-2 days off on any working day during the month, business trips to conferences (which are also perceived as a kind of vacation) and unscheduled time off.

Team management challenges

While the challenges of martial law have hardly changed since the previous year, the changes in team management hardships are more noticeable. Some have almost disappeared, while new ones have emerged.

The key challenges of team management are as follows:

Staff shortage. The figure increased from 16% in 2022 to 24% in 2023. This challenge is currently a top priority for media managers.

Team fatigue remained almost at the same level: 23% last year and 21% this year.

Management. We have seen an increase from 9% to 14% over the year. Management challenges include building an organisational structure, managing time and tasks and meeting key goals.

Development. The indicator increased from 5% to 12% over the year. The editorial teams consider it a challenge to train the team, including young journalists.

This year, we have identified a new challenge among the responses – the loss of a team (12%). The respondents consider this a separate problem, as they continue to lose colleagues as a result of mobilisation and the other reasons mentioned above, mainly workload, lack of staff and funding.

In 2022, remote work was cited as one of the key management challenges (20% of all problems), while in 2023 this figure was only 2%. It can be argued that although adaptation to remote work began in 2020, the media outlets were able to fully get used to the remote format of interaction only in 2023.

The lack of funding also decreased: from 23% in 2022 to 10% this year. However, this can presumably be explained by the priority given to other challenges in 2023, such as staff shortages, team loss and the growing challenge of development and management. In 2023, the outlets did not identify security as a challenge in team management.

Management

In the management of media organisations, we are witnessing evolutionary progress rather than a revolutionary approach. Despite the steady movement towards greater professionalisation and institutionalisation of media outlets, some aspects of the work remain unchanged.

The separation of the functions of CEO and editor-in-chief is one of them. Last year, we saw that about half of the editorial teams covered both positions with one person. This year, the situation is the same – 43% of media outlets divide the responsibilities of CEO and editor-in-chief between different specialists. Indeed, this year we have seen the launch of new media outlets with small teams, and this could have decreased the figure. Established media outlets with extensive experience demonstrate that the experience of separating the CEO position from the editor-in-chief position is well established.

Strategy

We can see the main improvements in terms of strategic planning. While the organisation has to "develop" in order to separate the functions of CEO and editor-in-chief, all big media holdings and small newly created teams, except for a small part, are now working with a strategy. 86.5% of media outlets are engaged in strategic planning with priorities for a year or more. And even if the immediate operational horizon does not exceed a few months, we can state that the importance of strategy is a "common point" for the media today.

As for the planning horizon, the situation is as follows:

We have seen a significant increase in long-term planning for 6 months and more. The increase from 22% to 41% is significant even in our limited sample. This is the biggest change since the previous year. Most likely, the shift to the "more than 6 months" cell came from the media outlets that were referred to in "3 months" and "6 months" cells last year. That is, again, we are seeing steady progress. On the positive side, fewer and fewer editorial teams are engaged in day-to-day or week-to-week planning. These are now rare cases.

In addition to the above, the media outlets articulate their strategic goals quite clearly. Despite differences in details, the main goals for editorial teams are:

To be a leader in the region: in terms of audience, advertising contracts and place in the lives of community members – 24%;

Growth: to increase audience, expand territorial coverage and improve the quality of materials – 22%;

Influence: to be agents of change, shape the demand of community residents for government accountability and see the results of their own work – 19%;

Community support: to retain the audience and be a source of verified and truthful information – 16% (this goal was mentioned by the editorial teams from temporarily occupied and frontline areas).

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Funding

The financial situation on the local media market has improved somewhat compared to the first year of the full-scale war, when some editorial teams were even operating on a volunteer basis. At the same time, the media outlets are still at the stage of survival: the ability to carry out financial planning and maintain financial stability and, as a result, working conditions are still problematic and painful issues for the local media community.

The Media Development Foundation's research department is preparing an extensive report Financial Support of Online Media at the National and Regional Levels 2023: Salaries and Trends, which covers the issue in detail. In this report, we will focus on key indicators.

60% of editorial teams indicated having no separate financial director or manager. That is, financial management is mainly handled by the CEO or another person in many media outlets.

Available financial resources of media organisations

The annual budgets for the maintenance of editorial teams have increased significantly. In 2022, media managers most often mentioned the amount of UAH 1.5 million per year (calculated value of the mode). In 2023, this figure was already UAH 2 million.

The budget growth partially stems from the revival of some commercial projects, coupled with the consistent or increased revenue from grants. However, Oleg Horobets also draws attention to the role of inflation, which took place in Ukraine in 2022. That is, real salaries, on which editorial teams spend the most, fell in 2022, and they began to rise, that is, to return to the pre-war level, only in 2023.

In 2023, the media budget was enough for about 3-6 months in advance – 34% and 31% of the sample said so, respectively. Since last year, the number of editorial teams that have funds for a long period has increased. The number of those who have funds for 1-3 months has decreased, and the number of those who have funds for 6 months to a year has increased. Moreover, there are even media outlets that have funds for 2 years in advance. This indicates that the financial stability of some editorial teams is strengthening. Nevertheless, these individual changes do not give grounds to talk about overcoming financial fragility in the local media market in general.

Percentage representation of media outlets’ main expenses

On average, 80% of the outlet’s budget is spent on paying salaries to staff and freelancers. Last year, this figure was 75%. 50% of editorial teams spend 82% or more on salaries, and 32% of editorial teams spend 90% or more of their total media budget on salaries.

The remaining 20% is spent on operational activities: office rent and maintenance, business trips, office supplies and communications. Only a few editorial teams reported that they allocate separate funds for marketing or unforeseen circumstances.

Percentage representation of media outlets’ income

We asked media outlets which revenue sources are important for their business model.

97% of editorial teams mentioned donor support;

59% consider advertising revenues to be crucial;

14% said they were supported by their owners;

11% said that their business model includes audience support;

8% of editorial teams have support from philanthropists and businesses.

Some media outlets also reported other sources of revenue, such as monetisation on YouTube and Facebook, official cooperation with local authorities, content sales and franchise sales.

The percentage representation of revenues from these sources of funding is very diverse. We have calculated how much editorial teams most often receive from this or that type of funding (the calculated indicator is relevant for media outlets that use this method of revenue).

The majority of funds come from grant programmes: editorial teams most often reported 80-90%, given the wording of the question. Media outlets often receive only 10% from advertising sales. Support from owners is only 5%. Audience support is at the level of 2%.

Grant support

Donor support helped the local media market to survive both the first and second years of the full-scale war. Most media outlets had to learn from scratch how to work with grant support or sharpen their existing skills.

Dynamics of grant funding

We asked the media outlets what the percentage of grant funding was before the full-scale invasion and separately in 2022 and 2023. The results show that it was typical for the media outlets to have almost no grant support before the full-scale invasion. 55% of media outlets did not receive grants or its share in the budget was up to 10%. 26% of media outlets had 11-50% of their budgets covered by grants. Before the full-scale war, only 19% of editorial teams covered more than half of their expenses with grants.

In 2022, in order to save independent journalism, donors launched many support programmes for local media outlets, so the media mostly switched to this type of funding, and the indicators became the almost mirror-image opposite. In 2022, only 6% of media outlets had 0-10% of grant funding, 26% of media covered 11-50% of their budgets with this type of funding, 13% had 51-79% of their budgets covered by grants, and 55% were funded by donor funds at the level of 80-100%. The situation did not change significantly in 2023. The number of media outlets funded almost entirely by grants has slightly increased (it is 60% now). Several media outlets also moved from the 11-50% category to the 0-10% category.

We also calculated the mode and average for the share of donor funding in media outlets. The mode, i.e. the most typical value, was 0% before the full-scale invasion, 90% in 2022, and 80% in 2023. The arithmetic mean of the share of grant funding before the full-scale war was 28%, 69% in 2022, and 68% in 2023.

Over the past six months, 38% of media outlets have not changed the dynamics of grant funding. The number of editorial teams who claim that revenues are increasing is approximately equal (32% of the sample) with those who believe that they are decreasing (30%).

Those who notice an increase in grant revenues attribute this to the following reasons:

started working more systematically with grants and writing more applications – 4 media outlets;

gained experience in grant writing – 3 media outlets;

hired a separate grant manager – 2 media outlets;

started cooperation with specialised media organisations – 2 media outlets.

Those who declare a decrease in donor funds in the outlets’ budgets explain this by the following factors:

high competition in the grant market and low chances of winning the competition – this was explained by the words "almost everyone applies for all grants" – 6 media outlets;

a decrease in the interest of grantors and their unsystematic support – 4 media outlets;

challenges of specific regions and oblasts – 3 media outlets. For instance, financial transactions are currently blocked in Zaporizhzhia Oblast because of the European Union sanctions (EU Decision 2022/1908), even in non-occupied territories [2]. We are aware of similar cases in Donetsk and Kherson oblasts. Another example of regional challenges is the lesser attention of donors to the media outlets in the “rear” areas.

In some cases, the media also mentioned the lack of a qualified team, for example, individual grant writers, as well as the editorial team’s transition to complicated institutional grants.

Distribution of grant funds by region

We were able to identify differences in the financial situation of the media outlets depending on the region of coverage. During the in-depth interviews, respondents emphasised that media outlets from Ukraine’s west, centre and north are currently finding it difficult to compete with the outlets from the east and south for grant funding. The reason for this is that donors are shifting their focus to frontline areas or those most affected by the war. The east has the most grant proposals from donors and the best chance of survival and development for the media outlets. When it comes to grants that do not focus on frontline issues, support for the east is also prioritised, followed by interest in support for the south. Meanwhile, the west and the centre, which are in the "rear", have the least chance of winning a grant.

Quantitative indicators confirm the data from in-depth interviews. The share of grant funding in the outlets’ budgets differs depending on the region of coverage. The farther the media outlet is from the front line, the less donor funds are allocated to its budget. The lowest share of grant funding is in the budgets of media outlets from the west and centre – 45% and 50%. The north has a slightly higher share of grant funds, namely 73%. The highest figures are in the media outlets from Ukraine’s east and south: 93% and 87% respectively.

Various project grants are available for the "rear" regions, but these are often narrow topics, such as coverage of IDPs, which are not always relevant to the media outlet’s profile. While such project funds were in demand in 2022 as editorial teams worked non-stop and took on any job to survive and help their audiences get verified information in an unstable environment, now the media consider such funding less relevant. Editorial teams have mostly stabilised and focused on specific activities, so they are now trying to attract institutional support from donors, which is almost non-existent in the grant market.

Work with grant applications in editorial teams

Over the two years of the full-scale war and active work with grants, editorial teams working with specialised media organisations have gained experience in grant writing (filling out applications for grants). Currently, every second application submitted by the local media outlets in our sample is successful. On average, the editorial teams submitted 9 applications per year (the most common number is 8) and received an average of 4 grants.

Despite the fact that editorial teams have already learned how to write and win grants, work of many local media outlets is not fully established in this area. For instance, only 22% of media outlets have a dedicated person on their staff who deals with grant writing. In the surveyed media outlets, grants are the responsibility of the CEO or editor-in-chief, and such outlets account for 62% of the sample. Another 8% involve non-specialist employees in grant writing, and 5% hire external people.

The research experts emphasise that the involvement of grant writers has a positive impact on the future grant history. Nevertheless, it is currently difficult to find such a person to join the team, as fundraising and grant writing as part of it are areas where there is still a lack of qualified personnel.

Areas of grant support

Donor support for independent local media outlets in Ukraine was mainly focused on the following things in 2023:

salaries for the team and its expansion;

hardware and software;

certain content or project: media outlets noted that funds allocated for projects often go to external specialists, such as freelance writers, and do not affect the level of staff salaries;

somewhat fewer editorial teams reported receiving assistance with rent or other operating expenses;

only a few media outlets received assistance with accommodation rent for employees.

The media outlets agree that salaries and technical support should remain a priority for donor assistance. Half of the surveyed editorial teams note that there is currently a need for more support for administrative work and institutional development. At the same time, support for specific projects is less relevant as of 2024, as editorial teams are trying to develop in line with their strategies.

“

We need institutional support because it lays the foundation for the development of the organisation and its departments and allows us to develop other income streams. Thus, the media become more free and independent of grant funds and can develop strategically.

Media from the north

Advertising market

The fact that 59% of the surveyed media outlets work with commercial orders is a good indicator of local outlets’ attempts to diversify their revenues. Even though the revenues they receive from advertising are usually very small in terms of the outlet’s budget.

“

The situation has improved a lot now; we have advertising deals all the time, although we have rather low prices for advertising. It's efficient, we have regular customers, but unfortunately, it's really not a lot [of funds].

Media from the west

Both surveyed media managers and research experts agree that the advertising market in most regions of Ukraine has revived. At the same time, there are other difficulties that complicate the work of the media in this market and prevent them from increasing revenues from the commercial market.

The key challenge is to set up advertising sales processes. Editorial teams work with advertising in a largely chaotic manner and are therefore unable to meet existing demand and attract new customers. Some teams lack journalists to write commercial materials, while others lack marketing or partnership managers to work directly with customers.

“

And we hope to find a marketing specialist to handle advertising. But again... The problem is that there are not enough people. And now, when we find someone, someone will say: "Oh, great, write native content for ads." And we will have no one to write it.

Media from the centre

“

In fact, the situation has definitely improved. We are a city in the rear, and it is active: there is both supply and demand. We have an issue within the editorial team, as it all depends on how well we can communicate and establish this cooperation, because we don't have a separate person who would deal with this.

Media from the west

Another crucial aspect of working in the Ukrainian advertising market is low prices for advertising services. Research expert Oleg Horobets explains that even with active advertising sales, it will be challenging for local media outlets to achieve high profits.

Horobets said that the development of the advertising market in Ukraine was also hampered by the weak institution of online media. This means that the outlets need to grow their audience, build their reputation and become community leaders in order to attract commercial partners.

In some cases, the media outlets also note the positive role of commercial orders from civil society organisations. However, they cannot completely replace orders from business partners.

Audience support

Half of all surveyed media outlets, namely 49%, tried to use audience support tools in 2023. However, only 11% of the media outlets said that this was a significant part of their business model and that they had received at least minimal income from this type of funding. Most often, this is unsystematic, sporadic support from friends of the editorial teams.

Most often, audience support accounted for 2% of the outlet’s budget (the calculated mode indicator). Although this support does not generate significant revenue, it stimulates the media outlet to build a community around it and create a reputation among its audience. Oleg Horobets argues that building trusting relationships and personal contacts with the community can help local media outlets attract more audience support in the future.

Most of the time, to attract financial support from the audience, editorial teams use one-time donations, for example, on the website, links to Monobank fundraisers, etc. – 9 media outlets reported this. 6 media outlets use specialised crowdfunding platforms: Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee or sponsorship on YouTube. Only 3 out of 37 media outlets work with community building, i.e. with a stable subscription or community of donors.

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Content

Content strategy

We can conclude that the main process of content strategy adaptation took place in 2023, as 41% of editorial teams have had no changes in their content strategy since 2022, while 35% have merely altered their priority topics. This suggests that the strategies devised in 2022 remain relevant to addressing current challenges. Significant changes are infrequent and tend to emerge in editorial teams that are currently in the process of finding their positioning or creating content strategies from scratch.

Therefore, the editorial teams are reluctant to abandon what has worked sufficiently well. The bulk of the content is currently entirely up to date, the respondents believe. Only 16% of editorial teams explicitly mention plans to abandon certain formats, including 2 TV editorial teams planning to move away from the 24/7 newscast format (a non-stop live broadcast with a continuous news flow).

Formats

The average number of stories generated by the monitored media outlets stands at roughly 20 news items per day and 16 feature articles pieces per week. On average, 37% of them are reprints and rewrites.

Similarly to last year, news remains the core content format for almost all local media outlets (the identical percentage of respondents - 81% - indicated this in 2022 and 2023). Video formats remain a priority (62%). Analytics (54%) and investigations (22%) account for a significant share of content.

Columns are posted by 16% of the surveyed media outlets. Podcasts, reports, and streams are relatively less common (14% each, respectively), while explainers, stories, and interviews account for a small share.

The tendency towards further development of long and short video formats is evident for 2024, with 62% of editorial teams willing to continue working in this regard. In addition, respondents plan to develop investigative reporting (35%), podcasts (35%) and field reporting (19%).

News

News remains a vital component of local media content, primarily because it attracts traffic. However, editorial teams are increasingly striving to improve their news feeds both content-wise and functionally.

Some surveyed media outlets plan to shift away from rewriting news (reprinting) from other resources and focus on producing unique content. The respondents believe news stories should contain an analytical component or exclusive data. Research expert Andriy Dikhtyarenko explained that such a process is reasonable, as it is original news that increases traffic to media sites, while reprints/rewrites have less impact on the inflow of new users.

In a bid to generate more original content, some editorial teams are scaling back or optimising the news feed. For example, an editorial team based in Ukraine’s centre reduced the shift of its journalists from 8 hours to 5 hours, using the remaining 3 hours to develop other types of content. Consequently, the editorial team duplicates less news from different sources, focusing only on the essentials. Such changes have allowed the media team to produce more original content, expand its topics (adding ecology, historical facts, and people’s stories), and diversify its formats, for example, by increasing the number of video materials.

“

We have changed the way we work on the news feed. That is, if our ladies, let’s say, used to have an 8-hour shift on the news feed, it's 5 hours right now. They spend these three hours creating original content. In other words, we have boosted the share of in-house content. This can be any kind of vox populi [i.e. short interviews with members of the public], working with tenders, declarations, information inquiries, court registers, and so on. Any interviews and all sorts of things. In general, we have been employing this approach for about six months.

Media from the centre

Nevertheless, the desire for efficiency at any cost remains a significant obstacle to creating high-quality news. This phenomenon is driven by the high level of market competition. Editorial teams strive to be the first to break news stories in order to boost citations and visibility for their outlet. In this race, journalists sometimes forget about professional standards, which, naturally, harms the quality of the content.

“

It's just that we are having a sort of debate within our ranks. It's necessary to report on something promptly and yet to make this content original. We understand that if Ukraine's Security Service has detained someone, we can't wait three days and not report on this information that everyone else will report, as the name of the official [who had been detained] might be revealed in three days. On the other hand, if it's some kind of land-related issue or whatever, we are waiting for [the final answer from the prosecutor's office]. [We are trying to strike] the balance between being fast and making the story exclusive.

Media from the centre

Andriy Dikhtyarenko explains how especially acute this problem is in the context of competition between the media and anonymous Telegram channels, which also disseminate news at both local and national levels. Unlike professional journalists, such Telegram channels prioritise quantity over quality and neglect fact-checking. Their goal is to gain as many views and subscribers as possible. The media willing to hold on to their position as regional market leaders must also chase clout to keep their audience. As the full-scale war rages on, the quality of sensitive content deteriorates. Journalists hastily produce rewrites containing unverified information, post unblurred photos, and leave content unmarked. Such competition significantly distorts the work of the media.

Video formats

Half of the editorial teams indicated that they launched some sort of new video content in 2023. The media outlets tend to make YouTube Shorts and long-form videos on YouTube. One way or another, everyone realises that the audience quickly gets tired of long videos, which is why there is a demand for short formats like YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Reels. Caption videos and evocative videos on TikTok are rapidly gaining popularity. Less frequently, editorial teams conduct interviews, investigations, digests and podcasts in video format.

Expert Andriy Dikhtyarenko explains that over the past two years, there has been a notable shift in the way target audiences consume content. In particular, consumers (even senior citizens) started switching to smartphones in 2022. The trend towards consuming content via smartphones continued to grow in 2023. Consequently, media organisations active on social media will benefit as their target audience watches various video formats on these platforms.

An editorial team in Ukraine's east has successfully introduced the documentary format, and it is worth a special mention. In particular, this media outlet produced a documentary for the networks of renowned international TV channels. This meaningful content, intersecting investigations and commerce, was created for the global market. Representatives of this media outlet believe that documentaries are a highly promising activity for Ukraine's east, as they offer opportunities to integrate human rights and historical components into war coverage. Furthermore, documentaries have the potential for promotion in the global media market. Although our study has identified only one vivid example of documentary cinema, expert Andriy Dikhtyarenko confirms that this format gained popularity in 2023 and holds great potential.

“

Documentaries have the power to bring about change. We want to produce documentaries for the global media market. We have gained experience during the crisis. From an economic point of view, documentaries are also promising, and they can become a bridge for media development and a connection to the global market. The world respects documentaries and airs them on major broadcasters. For Ukrainians, it is crucial to reflect on the trauma recorded by documentaries. This format is underestimated in Ukraine.

Media from the east

The number one obstacle to creating video formats is the lack of specialists who work with video and are not distracted by other types of work. Creating video content is resource-intensive, therefore, small editorial teams lack the man-hours for it, while some do not have professional filming equipment.

Video production is handled directly by either a separate team or a separate video specialist in 65% of editorial teams that produce video content. This includes staff videographers and freelance specialists. As we have seen above, video specialists are more often hired as freelancers, while the producer or other decision-maker on content creation or line of work is a staff member. In 26% of cases, in-house journalists or reporters with basic video editing and filming skills handle video. Meanwhile, in 9% of editorial teams, no specific person is responsible for this work, or, as the respondents said, "everyone" is involved.

Analytics

The surveyed media managers repeatedly noted wanting to step away from classical news and "write something more worthwhile" for their audience.

Over half of the respondents (54%) indicated that they have started to actively produce analytical pieces. In particular, they mentioned monitoring budget expenditures and the work of local governments, scrutinising public procurement, checking data in registers, etc.

However, it is worth noting that there are certain discrepancies around this journalistic format. Thus, Andriy Dikhtyarenko points to the lack of a clear definition of the termanalytics among local media. Editorial teams often label anything that falls outside the heading of news or reportage as analytics. Discussions are raging about what should be considered analytical journalism. For example, explainers are mistakenly referred to as analytics. The Ukrainian media market needs a clear operationalisation of journalistic analytics.

Investigations

Over a third (35%) of respondents would like to develop investigations. However, this is a rather resource-intensive format. Firstly, investigation efforts take 2 weeks to 2 months. Secondly, editorial teams often lack staff with the necessary expertise for this type of work. Only 5 out of 37 editorial teams have journalists directly involved in investigations. Some outsource this work to freelancers (3 media outlets do so). Others employ staff reporters and editors who simultaneously create various types of content. Investigative reporting is handled by the editor-in-chief in 2 media outlets.

For these reasons, only 22% of the surveyed media outletsare presently actively engaged in investigations.

“

We hardly ever conduct investigations in the classical sense of this notion. However, we do produce large thematic pieces involving a vast amount of data that needs to be collected, processed and analysed.

Media from the north

“

We carry out simple procurement studies. But these cannot be called investigations.

Media from the north

Other formats

Special mention should be made of podcasts. The number of editorial teams working on podcasts grew from 7% in 2022 to 14% in 2023. This year, 35% of media outlets indicated their willingness to develop this format in the future.

Research expert Andriy Dikhtyarenko argues that the tendency towards podcast development is currently unjustified, as this format lacks popularity among Ukrainian media consumers.

For example, MEGOGO AUDIO surveyed 138 Ukrainian podcast creators from various industries, including the media sector [MEGOGO AUDIO is a branch of MEGOGO, one of the largest media services in Ukraine and Eastern Europe for watching TV, movies, series, cartoons, etc - ed.]. Their survey found that almost 80% of podcasts from the selected channel sample receive an average of no more than 3000 listens per episode [1]. Additionally, a study by public broadcaster Suspilne Ukraine on the role of radio and podcasts in 2023 revealed that 68% of respondents never listen to podcasts. Furthermore, many people confuse podcasts with other forms of content [3;4].

Another thing worth noting is the low percentage of media outlets currently focused on field reporting (14%) and planning to develop this format in the near future (19%). Our research found that field reporting is presently falling far behind columns and podcasts.

Andriy Dikhtyarenko noted that the decline in field reporting on the media market can be attributed to several reasons. Firstly, self-censorship is a significant factor. Journalists fear the consequences of covering sensitive topics, especially security-related content, which should be handled with extreme caution at the moment. This applies to Ukraine's internal affairs, military and political decisions, critical infrastructure, etc, as negligent coverage of these subjects can entail administrative or criminal liability or public condemnation.

Reporters filming the combat operation of an improvised multiple rocket launcher Partyzan belonging to the Aidar battalion of Ukrainian forces, Bakhmut front, May 2023. Photo: Donbas Frontliner

Secondly, journalists are increasingly less inclined to travel to the scene of events. The expert suggests that this may be related to 1) physical danger in the frontline/temporarily occupied territories; 2) inaccessibility of these territories and events taking place there for journalists; 3) risks for male reporters to be mobilised to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Thirdly, there is a lack of information. The government has decreased access to information in regions relatively far from the front. Meanwhile, the media working for the target audience from the occupied territories encounter a lack of information of any kind.

The obstacles mentioned above affect the media content. Andriy Dikhtyarenko considers the decline in the number of reports a hazardous trend for the Ukrainian media market since it means that the media lose touch with the audience and no longer shed light on what is actually happening. Consequently, the public function of journalism in 2024 is diminishing.

The settlement of Myropillia (Sumy Oblast). Journalists recording the aftermath of a Russian attack, 2023. They have to work without PRESS stickers, as Russian troops often target people wearing them. Photo: Kordon.Media, a news outlet focusing on Sumy Oblast

Topics

The target audience's topic requests fall into two broad categories: serious and entertainment content. In terms of serious content, the war is undoubtedly a hot topic: news from the front, bombardments, hostilities, occupation, and military obituaries. The audience has a preference for military and corruption investigations. Consumers view the media as a tool for monitoring the government, meaning that reviews of local budget allocations remain relevant.

Respondents also noted a difference in content depending on the region covered by the media outlet and its geographical location. The media outlets in Ukraine's east and south report more information about war events since they are literally closer to the front. They produce more meaningful and conceptual pieces about events on the battlefield, bombardments, occupation, and investigations into the actions of traitors. No less relevant are the issues related to the region's liberation: mine clearance efforts, infrastructure recovery, return of displaced persons, and the prosecution of collaborators. Although these are generally forecasts, it is vital for local residents or evacuees to feel that they have not been abandoned and that the authorities are taking care of these issues to resolve the situation.

“

News from the Russian-occupied territories remains the most popular. At least one photo of a house from [a town in Ukraine's east] gains tremendous views due to the absence of communication with the city.

Media from the east

However, media outlets in Ukraine's east and south have generally lost a considerable chunk of their audience that remained under occupation, as they often cannot reach their consumers. Besides, they find it challenging to obtain information. Firstly, reporting on the occupation from within is extremely risky. Secondly, contacting informants puts the latter in danger. Thirdly, there is no access to information from the local authorities, as the Russian occupying forces have captured power while the legal authorities have been relocated. Sometimes, officials refuse to cooperate (presumably due to increased security risks and military secrecy).

The regions far from the war zone (the West, the Centre, and most of the North) have, for the most part, retained classical topics. These localities mostly remain precisely as they were before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine while also largely retaining their audiences. Therefore, these media outlets can diversify their content and cover whatever they find most interesting.

There is an evident shift towards a greater focus on stories about and for internally displaced persons (IDP) in the content of media outlets located in Ukraine's west and centre. However, a study by the International Organisation for Migration reveals that as of October 2023, most of the IDPs settled in Dnipropetrovsk (14%) and Kharkiv (13%) oblasts [5]. This means that the topic of war-related internal displacement is no less relevant for Ukraine's east.

Meanwhile, the audience's fatigue with the war is palpable. Almost half of the respondents mentioned this during in-depth interviews. Unlike in 2022, when people spent most of their time in "news and emotional waves", i.e. when news about events in the country and at the front were in high demand, the consumption of such content declined in late 2023 and early 2024. Research expert Andrey Boborykin attributes this to the fact that over the past two years, the Ukrainian audience has adapted to the realities of war and, therefore, to disturbing war news. Media consumers are gradually re-engaging with everyday topics such as public transport schedules, weather and health. In addition, respondents repeatedly emphasise that the audience demands entertainment content.

At present, we see no tendency for the media to actively shift to entertainment content. However, there is a demand from the audience, which could potentially change the industry's vector in 2024. To keep a balance between serious and entertainment content, editorial teams are reducing the load on the news feed, increasing the number of original pieces, experimenting with different video formats (both long and short), and expanding topics.

The audience is eager to explore their local history

The collected data indicate that local media can potentially serve as focal points for local historical heritage. Through researching the interests of their audiences, local media representatives identified a demand for the history of their native land and the debunking of myths about the formation of the region's national and ethnic identity. Most notably, there is growing interest in native culture, history and traditions across the country, particularly in the east and south.

“

Unexpectedly for our editorial team, in a survey, the audience indicated that people wished to explore the history of our [Luhansk] region and dispel Russian-installed myths.

Media from the east

“

Local history is also essential for us as a local media outlet. We just intuitively reached this conclusion somehow, and now we already have several reporters who write about it more or less regularly. Moving forward, we plan on expanding the pool of reporters. We have concluded that we will most likely involve freelancers because we don't want to overload our staff editors.

Media from the south

“

We conducted a study of the audience's interests, in which we received a request regarding historical memory. We proceeded to promote this topic. We managed to attract support for the second half of the year.

Media from the centre

For example, an editorial team from Ukraine's east updates the History of the Region section frequently, making thematic videos and textual transcriptions. They plan to develop a video podcast with a regional history expert.

A media outlet from Ukraine's centre has launched a project on historical memory. Journalists are digitising the independent press from the 1990s and analysing these materials. Additionally, the media outlet is preparing stories for memorials to fallen soldiers.

Meanwhile, an editorial team from Ukraine's north, despite its focus on reporting on the frontline situation, is gradually returning to its primary goal of fostering a love for the city they are based in and reporting on what life is like for locals today and has been like in the past.

Photo: journalist Ruslan Khalapov and cameraman Aider Omierov during the filming of the documentary TİMSAL. The Meanings of Crimean Ornament for the MDF documentary filmmaking course, 2023

Influence of donors

The selection of topics and formats is heavily influenced by donor support. As noted above, 80% of local media funding in 2023 came from grants. Such strong grant support has both positive and negative effects.

We witness a rise in the number of content in general and new formats in particular. Local media outlets are expanding into niches and territories, for example, by covering neighbouring regions or attracting consumers' attention on new platforms. However, it's about quantity rather than quality. Andriy Dikhtyarenko believes that, nowadays, editorial teams should avoid spreading their focus across too many different goals and instead concentrate on the topics and formats in which they specialise most and which reflect the social purpose of journalism. The expert argues that Ukraine currently faces an issue in the media sphere regarding the lack of emphasis on the prestige of serious journalistic genres, such as field reporting. Consequently, editorial teams tend to focus on the quantity of generated content but often overlook its quality and impact.

Moreover, donors have a strong influence on the content strategy. Editorial teams devote all their resources to processing donor requests:

report on what donors expect;

choose formats that meet grant conditions;

focus on distributing grant content in order to report to donors.

Editorial policy

Meanwhile, there has been progress in regulating content production. Compared to last year, virtually all of the surveyed media outlets now have a defined editorial policy (77% in 2022 and 86% in 2023, respectively).

Sensitive content

Two years into the full-scale war, the approach to sensitive topics has become more balanced. The methods for handling such issues now better meet the needs of the interviewees, the editorial staff, and the audience. A majority, comprising 62% of editorial teams, reported that their approaches to dealing with sensitive content have remained unchanged since the previous year. Conversely, the remaining 38% noted some changes in their strategy over the past year, albeit not significant ones. They included an increase in the variety of addressed topics and more extensive discussions within the editorial teams, etc.

“

For example, when a journalist prepares for an interview with a soldier who was wounded in combat, the editor-in-chief proofreads the questions. The editor and the journalist discuss the outline of the article and the wording to avoid further traumatising the hero.

Media from the south

Nevertheless, there is still a demand for training in dealing with sensitive topics, and 60% of editorial teams held some kind of a separate course, training, lecture or mentoring support on this topic. There was a 20% increase in training sessions on sensitive issues compared to last year. We can conclude that the market is in a situation where education, in some cases, is not about creating new habits and learning new information but rather about refreshing the perspective or self-testing or training new people in the editorial team.

Pressure on journalists

Over 1/3 of the respondents have faced pressure on their editorial teams. These are primarily complaints from local authorities (15%, 6 out of 37 surveyed editorial teams). In particular, officials and former officials use various leverages to demand that published information be refuted or deleted if it could harm their business reputation. This applies, for example, to information about political decisions or investigations. Authorities pay equal attention to the reaction of readers on social media: comments under posts, the number of shares and "hate" reactions. When government officials "don't like" certain journalistic content, they exert moral pressure (for example, hiring people for intimidation via messengers), try to negotiate (likely using money), personally threaten to sue, or immediately file a lawsuit against the editorial team.

Journalists may also be subjected to pressure from law enforcement agencies and/or special services (2 cases recorded) to remove specific pieces (e.g., information related to activities of Ukraine's Security Service).

Journalists hailing from the temporarily occupied territories or working for audiences in these areas suffer from threats from the Russian occupying authorities (2 such cases recorded), and occasionally Russian forces raid the homes of journalists who chose to remain in these regions.

Furthermore, there was a reported incident where an anonymous Telegram channel issued threats against an editorial team due to a story dedicated to the LGBT community.

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Distribution: growing in a challenging environment

Research expert Andrey Boborykin observes that the content distribution paradigm underwent no significant changes in 2023 (compared to 2022, when the media had to adapt to new realities). The demand for non-stop news feeds grew in 2022 due to the war's dynamic state. In 2023, the model of information consumption on digital platforms remained essentially unchanged: there was a smooth normalisation and adjustment to hard news. The expert says this led to a noticeable drop in traffic compared to 2022, especially at the end of 2023.

Audiences

Following the intensive migration of Ukrainians in 2022, 2023 saw the audience settle down. Coverage on digital distribution platforms has been declining since mid-2022 before reaching a certain plateau in the second half of 2023, says expert Andrey Boborykin. These events have prompted editorial teams to consider how they see their audience from now on and how to retain or increase it.

97% of the surveyed editorial teams continue to view Ukrainian external migrants (Ukrainians who have evacuated to other countries) as an integral part of their audience. A certain proportion of the audience of local media outlets consumes content from abroad, therefore considering themselves part of the Ukrainian information and cultural environment.

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We see that these people [note: Ukrainians abroad] continue to visit our websites. It's not something new, it's been the case since the beginning of mass labour migration. People emigrate, and thanks to our websites, they keep in touch with their homeland.

Media from the west

There are editorial teams whose city of coverage has been occupied or completely destroyed, with their primary audience being locals who have evacuated or are temporarily or permanently residing in different parts of Ukraine and the world. It is of paramount importance for such outlets to retain their community, which currently has no common place of residence, and to inform them about their hometown or region. These displaced individuals increasingly become their core audience. For their part, the audience shows a growing interest in consuming content related to local history. This is especially true among those from the occupied areas in Ukraine’s east. They rely on regular news updates about events in Ukraine as their relatives, friends, and homes are in these areas.

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We cannot tell our audience that [city name] has ceased to exist, that we no longer have hope that [city name] will be liberated and that we have no more news about it. We are continuing to write about the city and trying to understand what people's concerns are. The audience has fragmented.

Media from the east

A total of 68% of surveyed media outlets still view young people (16-30 years old) as an audience they cannot reach sufficiently. These media outlets admit that they are not in line with the distribution channels preferred by young people for consuming information, nor are they developing content that would be of interest to youth. Content consumption patterns also play a role as young people read less and less on websites and watch more videos, short formats and visual content.

Research expert Andrey Boborykin explains that low youth coverage is a common phenomenon for local media. Young people have specific information needs due to their life context and, therefore, show less interest in local content. However, the people we now call the youth can eventually become an active audience for local media outlets.

Other audiences that the media would like to reach more include

5% each - Ukrainians abroad, people under occupation (Russian occupying administration has banned VPNs), military personnel (coming to serve from other regions), senior citizens (preferring print media, the distribution of which is declining);

3% of media outlets each noted insufficient audience coverage of men aged 25-40, families of military personnel (who moved from other regions), residents of the border area (limited communication), and foreigners.

The majority of the surveyed media outlets have an audience growth strategy (73%), while 11% indicated having no such document or plan. This figure has stayed almost unchanged since the previous year. The remaining 16% of media outlets are in the process of developing a strategy.

Media outlets share responsibility for audience growth in different ways:

32% of editorial teams indicated that they bear collective responsibility for the growth of their audiences;

the other 32% indicated having two employees responsible for this: the editor-in-chief/editor/chief editor and the SMM manager/journalist/media manager/executive/owner;

38% of editorial teams assign responsibility to one specialist, such as an editor, editor-in-chief, SMM manager, media manager, communicator or executive.

Research expert Andrey Boborykin reckons that the responsibility for expanding the audience on social media platforms should lie with an SMM manager or similar professional. However, in general, distribution as a product component should be an essential part of the responsibility of the media organisation's executive. The expert believes the scenario where editorial teams are collectively responsible is inherently wrong.

The media outlets plan to expand their audience reach by:

producing more original content (in particular, video content);

improving the delivery of information via selecting new topics, creating catchy headlines and subheadings;

develop distribution platforms (TikTok, Viber, Facebook, Telegram, etc.), successfully repackage content from the website for social media;

launch new formats (podcasts, documentaries);

run projects to interact with the audience (contests), in particular, to study audience needs and problems;

improve SEO optimisation and the website's UI/UX.

Distribution platforms

All surveyed editorial teams actively engage in at least two content distribution platforms. The most commonly used are Telegram (95%), Instagram (92%), a separate website (92%), Youtube (68%), TikTok (57%), and Facebook (43%).

New platforms for posting both original and non-original content have been identified in this year's study: Threads, the fundraising platforms Patreon and Buy Me a Coffee, LinkedIn, and push notification tools.

A total of 92% of editorial teams produce separate content for different platforms. Most often, they create unique content for Instagram (85%), Facebook (76%), Telegram (73%), and Tik Tok (33%).

The approach to creating content for social media is flexible and adaptable to the specifics of each platform. This enables the media to reach and engage their audience to the maximum extent possible. They leverage links, photos, videos, infographics, polls, memes, stories, reels, cards and other formats. Sometimes, content is tailored individually for each social network, while in other instances, it is repackaged from the website.

Obstacles

Social media restrictions are the most frequent obstacle to broadening the audience, with 54% of media outlets saying so. 27% have faced social media blocking. This is a slightly higher figure than last year. A total of 51% of the surveyed editorial teams faced social media blocking and other restrictions in 2022.

Social networks belonging to Meta (Facebook, Instagram) are the most restrictive for the media. 48% of media outlets from different regions of Ukraine observed the tightening of restrictions within Meta platforms:

Facebook is increasingly restricting posts containing hyperlinks to the media's website;

the requirements of the community rules have become stricter, imposing quite severe restrictions on the published content;

shadow banning for words and formats related to the war has become more frequent (Meta labels the description of the Russian military as "hate speech").

However, the interviewed media outlets from the partially-occupied Donetsk and fully-occupied Luhansk oblasts made no mention of restrictions based on the place of account registration this year. In 2022, media outlets from Ukraine's east noted that they were labelled as operating in the temporarily occupied territories, and therefore, Meta could not conduct any commercial activity with them [6].

The findings of this year's State of Local News in Ukraine study show that Meta restrictions remain in place, which directly affects the distribution of local media content. In general, the media outlets cited almost identical reasons for social media restrictions as last year. We identified and explained them in our 2022 study Ukrainian media VS Meta: how the platform limits publication of verified content by independent local publishers [6].

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The page is shadow-banned due to certain words or the content format (mostly on military topics), and it receives warnings that stick and cannot be removed. All of this severely limits the page's reach and effectiveness, respectively. And the lack of proper support service in Meta to ask questions and solve the problem only adds fuel to the fire.

Media from the north

42% of media outlets feel that the restrictions remained unchanged as algorithms fail to understand the context of posts and block content about the war. Meanwhile, 8% of media outlets have not faced any social media restrictions, while 4% noted that they have eased.

Another obstacle for local media is the audience's departure from their coverage area (32%). Less of an obstacle for the media was also a lack of resources (22%) and power outages (16% in 2023 compared to 19.5% in 2022).

A small number of surveyed media outlets mentioned Google restrictions as an obstacle (5%). Research expert Andrey Boborykin thinks it is incredibly challenging to trace the specific impact of Google's algorithms on the traffic drop, as there were three major Google updates in 2023, and each had its own effect on the distribution of content on Google Search, Google Discovery and Google News. Some media outlets saw an increase in traffic, while others experienced a decrease.

Analysing the indicators

97% of editorial teams use Google Analytics tools to research their audience (compared to 82% in 2022). In 2023, the GA4 update was released, which, in the opinion of the surveyed media outlets, proved to be inconvenient to use and does not provide online statistics throughout the day. Research expert Andrey Boborykin has confirmed it.

Editorial teams continue to actively analyse indicators to measure other editorial successes in distribution. At present, 47% of editorial teams use Google Analytics (41.3% in 2022), 26% utilise analytics from separate platforms, 12% view analytics using other services, and 14% rely on other assessment tools.

Similar to last year, the media pay more attention to the number of unique users, socio-demographic indicators (age, gender, location), session duration and visit depth, and traffic sources.

78% of editorial teams adjust their work in line with the data they receive using various methods:

adjusting content and formats to match the viewership of content, which forms the basis of the content plan for the week or month;

increase the number of content items on the topics that get the most views and are of interest to the audience (Google Discover), taking into account their geography;

adjust targeting to suit demographic indicators;

if the duration of sessions is short, work to ensure that the audience has incentives to stay on the page longer or navigate to another page of the website;

adjust the time of posting different types of content during the day;

change server settings to expand the traffic channel when the server is overloaded;

perform SEO optimisation after analysing data on the low percentage of organic searches on the website;

Using analytics data collected over a month can serve as the basis for editorial policy.

Technical aspect

A total of 57% of the surveyed editorial teams have performed a technical audit of their websites. 70% of them conducted an audit in 2023 (some of them participated in the MDF programme), 25% in 2022, and 5% were in the process of doing so.

Following the audit, the media outlets modified their approaches:

introducing alt-text and tags;

changing the website visuals, optimising images;

setting up push notifications;

taking into account bugs when moving to a new site;

changing server settings;

removing inactive and cyclical links;

fixing errors in page indexing;

fixing errors related to page loading speed.

Some media outlets noted a lack of sufficient funding to engage developers to implement the technical audit recommendations and improve their websites.

The staff of editorial teams mostly rated their knowledge of SEO optimisation at 7 out of 10 points (35%), followed by 6 points (21%). No editorial team has rated themselves 9 or 10 points so far.

The editorial teams consider it necessary to engage specialists in the team who can enhance content creation and design efficiency (such as an SMM specialist for each social media platform or network group, and a designer), as well as improve website functionality (including developers and SEO specialists). In addition, upskilling existing specialists is crucial.

Besides, the editorial teams believe that it is necessary to expand the amount of original content on social media and TikTok and to enter new distribution platforms, such as e-mail newsletters, Viber and WhatsApp channels. The development of video formats (TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts) is not neglected either, as media outlets seek to hire a separate specialist or set up a separate department for this format.

Some media outlets indicated an interest in receiving mentoring on how to organise collaborations with other media or businesses to expand their audience reach together.

Language issue

In 2023, 89% of the surveyed media outlets exclusively offered the Ukrainian version of their websites. 8% of the surveyed media outlets indicated having both Ukrainian and Russian versions available, which remained unchanged from 2022. However, the number of editorial teams running both Ukrainian and English versions of their websites shrank. In late 2022, the number of such outlets dropped to 3%, compared to 9% in early 2022.

The future prospective

Given the challenging circumstances and ongoing risks for media outlets, we conclude the survey with a few questions about the editorial teams’ view of their future. These questions may seem inappropriate at this time, yet editorial staff contemplate areas in which they can develop and grow:

We can see that editorial teams consider improving the quality of their content to be the best solution for growth. Interestingly, content development comes out ahead of responses related to finances. Moreover, editorial teams believe that their internal resources could be used more efficiently or that there is potential for intra-team development. It is a little alarming that only a few editorial teams mention innovation and technological development, which generally indicates the need for a broader discussion about media as a digital product.

As for the plans for the "Ukraine has defeated Russiaperiod", half of the surveyed editorial teams (51%) mentioned having them, a figure that was roughly the same as last year (52%). Still, it is significantly lower than in the adrenaline-fuelled first months of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine when 61% of editorial teams spoke of such plans.

We observe that the editorial teams now have financial plans as they prepare for new monetisation methods in anticipation of potential reduction of grant funds. Notably, the content has been such a priority in the past year.

A discussion about investigative journalism during the war with Anastasiia Horpinchenko, a journalist of investigative media agency Slidstvo.info, Yurii Nikolov, co-founder and editor of investigative project Nashi Hroshi (Our Money), and Inna Popovych, journalist of Ukrainian public broadcaster hromadske, 2023. Photo: MDF's Local Media Relaunch Initiative and Community Leaders programmes.

Recommendations

Management

Consider retaining and creating comfortable conditions for existing employees instead of hiring new ones. Prevent burnout by developing HR processes in editorial teams.

Prevent negative consequences of mobilisation by institutionalising team processes and creating job descriptions.

Develop a monetisation model with several sources of income, such as donor and advertising models.

Diversify donor income, for example, by choosing grants from several different funds, both private and public foundations from various countries. This will help make the media outlet more financially stable and more independent of external circumstances in the grant market.

Build a process of active advertising sales as we observe a gradual recovery of the advertising market in the regions.

We encourage independent local editorial teams to cooperate with specialised media organisations.

Distribute fundraising responsibilities within the media organisation. Hiring an experienced grant writer or training an individual for this position can increase the quality of grant proposals, resulting in your organisation securing a greater number of grants.

Donors are advised to consider channelling funds to the media outlets through institutional support to organisations that have persevered and maintained their independence in the first two years of full-scale war. The media outlets are striving to develop in accordance with the objectives outlined and enshrined within their strategic plans.

Content

Ensure a balance between timeliness and quality of news. Professional standards of journalism should not be sacrificed for the sake of achieving higher ratings among dubious social media channels.

Boost the number of original content and innovative approaches to news coverage, such as explanations of phenomena and events and analytical components, to potentially elevate the editorial teams to a new professional level.

Check facts and photos, and use primary sources in case of reprints/rewrites.

Your primary focus should primarily be on your audience's needs, especially with regard to local media.

This year, we have seen a demand for videos (both long and short), analytics and investigations. Developing these formats further is useful. However, it is worth engaging professionals with relevant expertise in these areas. It doesn't really matter whether they are part of the editorial staff or freelancers. However, specific, complex pieces should be handled by separate people to alleviate the workload of the core team. The approach of having "everyone do everything" proves inefficient. Attraction of grants for such content is the best solution.

It is imperative to operationalise and standardise the definition of "analytics" in journalism, as well as to specify which types of materials are analytical and distinguish them from those that are not.

Analyse the demand for formats before investing time and financial resources in their development. For example, the data mentioned above from various studies in the field of journalism show that podcasts are unpopular among the Ukrainian audience.

Media executives, experts and scholars in the field of media and communications should start a dialogue with military and security agencies to develop common principles of interaction (including with war correspondents) and define clear and adequate conditions for censorship, as well as algorithms for reporters to work in dangerous conditions (at the front, under fire).

Regularly upskill journalists on safety issues, coverage or avoidance of topics dangerous for the country, and sensitive issues (traumatic experiences, internal displacement, etc.).

A reporter working at the site of dealing with the aftermath of Russia's bombing of the Kakhovka dam. Kherson, Korabelnyi district, June 2023. Photo: Donbas Frontliner

Distribution

Continue the public discussion and advocate for the easing of the restrictions that Meta is constantly putting forward. Such a company's "rules of the game" and "black box" algorithms are unfair and unreasonable, and in practice, they seriously affect the distribution of truthful information.

Those local media outlets that used to cover the cities that have been destroyed or occupied by Russian forces should contemplate their new mission. After all, there is a catastrophic lack of information about those settlements, and virtually the entire audience has left the coverage area for different parts of Ukraine and the world where they have new information needs. These are objectively severe uncertainties and complex existential challenges that the media must confront. The answers to these questions should only play in their favour, helping them reinvent themselves and find the appropriate resources.

Attracting resources to conduct regular technical audits of your websites is worthwhile, as this can increase traffic and improve website performance.

Responsibility for audience growth should rest with the head of the media organisation and, as for the social media part, with the SMM manager. Media organisations should move away from the paradigm in which editorial teams are collectively responsible for this part of the distribution.

Utilise Google Analytics even more actively to analyse the audience and continue to adjust your work in line with analytics data.

Keep working on the delivery of content, for example, selecting new topics and formulating catchy headlines and summaries based on the results of technical audits of websites and SEO optimisation rules.

Methodology

This study is the seventh wave of an annual monitoring survey that the MDF research department has been conducting since 2018. The core of the survey toolkit has been unchanged from year to year to enable us to track the dynamics of the Ukrainian local media. Moreover, the research methodology is constantly being improved and adapted to the context in which the media market operates.

The study sample was formed based on the purposive principle, which corresponds to the peculiarities of niche research [7]. Independent regional editorial teams cooperating with the Media Development Foundation were chosen through a non-randomised selection process. One of the critical selection criteria for participating in MDF programmes is compliance with journalistic standards and the independence of media organisations from external influences. MDF's research department determines the independence of editorial teams by vetting beneficiaries and checking individuals involved in the media for political and business interests; assessing the amount and nature of tenders and public procurement dealt with by the organisation; and ensuring that media organisations adhere to professional standards.

Triangulation of methods was employed in the development of the methodology, i.e., consideration of the issue from several different perspectives, which allows for a more comprehensive study of the situation [7]. We used three research methods, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches: questionnaires, in-depth interviews, and expert interviews.

Methods used in the study:

1

Survey – 37 questionnaires.

The purposive sample included independent regional MDF partner editorial teams from 20 oblasts: all except Mykolaiv, Rivne, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi oblasts and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. This gap in the sample also highlights the drawbacks of this method: the response rate and coefficient can affect the validity of the results [8]. To mitigate these limitations, the research design includes mixed methods – both qualitative and quantitative – to ensure a more comprehensive picture of the media market during the study period. Data collection by questionnaire was conducted on 1-26 November 2023.

Each questionnaire contained 136 questions about management, content and distribution. Some of them were open-ended questions, while others required detailed explanations. The questionnaires were filled out by CEOs/directors/editors-in-chief or other team members with expertise in these areas.

2

In-depth interviews – 12 interviews.

The method of in-depth interviews proved to be effective in identifying and analysing research gaps and contextualising data obtained through other methods.

The sample for the qualitative part of the study was also drawn up on a purposive principle. We selected two editorial teams from each macro-region of Ukraine to investigate the peculiarities of media work in different parts of Ukraine in more depth. As a result, we interviewed ten editorial teams from Ukraine's West, Centre, North, South and East confidentially. Additionally, we conducted two in-depth interviews with editorial teams that are working without CEOs/editors-in-chief due to the full-scale war (the CEO of one media outlet was killed defending Ukraine) to record and analyse their exceptional experiences.

The interviews lasted 40-80 minutes. The researchers used semi-structured guides, enabling them to compare the experiences of different editorial teams and identify each media outlet's specifics. The interview guide aims to highlight the key risks of editorial teams, discover the regional peculiarities of media operations, and deepen the understanding of content changes in 2023. The main data collection stage through in-depth interviews lasted from 28 November to 29 December 2023, with the last interview on 17 January 2024.

3

Expert interviews – 3 interviews.

Expert interviews are one of the approaches to qualitative research [9]. Its peculiarity is to systematise the unique expertise of professionals in the relevant field through interviews. In academic research, this method is used, in particular, to develop theoretical frameworks. At the same time, it helps to identify problem areas and stimulate the search for relevant solutions when used in more applied research [10]. It is also effective for revising and improving research at the early stages of its implementation.

One of the risks of this research approach is the need to cross-validate the collected qualitative data. In this study, this risk is mitigated by the inclusion of two other methods – questionnaires and in-depth interviews with editorial teams from different regions of Ukraine.

At the data analysis stage, we engaged key experts from the Media Development Foundation, who specialise in management, content, and distribution. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with these professionals, recognising their expertise in their respective fields and acknowledging the significant differences between these spheres.

The interviews were based on discussing and interpreting impersonal quantitative and qualitative data obtained through questionnaires and in-depth interviews. Some of the conclusions and analyses from the experts are included in this report. The expert interviews took place on 5-7 February 2024.

Research limitations

This study should not be considered representative of all independent local editorial teams. At present, there is no comprehensive register of such media in Ukraine in the public domain. Therefore, it is impossible to determine the statistical population and build a representative sample. This also prevents us from estimating the margin of error and specifying a confidence interval.

The sample includes media outlets from the Media Development Foundation network, while editorial teams that do not cooperate with relevant NGOs are not represented in this study. It is reasonable to assume that the situation in such media outlets may be even more dire than those cooperating with MDF and other media organisations.

At the same time, the research methodology provides a thorough study of the situation in the local media market in Ukraine and gives an idea of the risks that editorial teams faced in 2023 and will face in 2024.

References

1

Трапезнікова, Д. (2023). Хто, чому та про що записує подкасти в Україні — дослідження MEGOGO AUDIO. Медіамейкер.
URL: https://mediamaker.me/hto-chomu-ta-pro-shho-zapysuye-podkasty-v-ukrayini-doslidzhennya-megogo-audio-5349/

2

Decision - 2022/1908 - EN - EUR-Lex. 2024.
URL: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec/2022/1908

3

Суспільне мовлення (2023). РАДІО ЯК МЕДІА ТА ДЖЕРЕЛО НОВИН: ДАНІ ДОСЛІДЖЕНЬ В КВІТНІ 2023.
URL: https://corp.suspilne.media/media/documents/zagalni-dokumenti/Radio_ta_radiostantsii_Suspilnoho_v_media_doslidzhenniakh_2023_07.pdf

4

Трапезнікова, Д. (2023). Яка роль радіо та подкастів у медіаменю українців — дослідження «Суспільного Мовлення». Медіамейкер. URL: https://mediamaker.me/ukrainske-radio-hto-i-shcho-slukhaye-doslidzhennya-3850/

5

International Organization for Migration (2023). Ukraine Displacement Report. URL: https://dtm.iom.int/sites/g/files/tmzbdl1461/files/reports/IOM_Gen%20Pop %20Report_R14_Displacement_Final.pdf

6

Боборикін, А., Срібний, М. (2023). Червоне світло для українських новин. Чому та як Facebook обмежує сторінки локальних медіа — аналітичний звіт. Media Development Foundation. URL: https://research.mediadevelopmentfoundation.org/fb-2022.html

7

Lawrence Neuman, W. (2014). Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. 7th Edn., Pearson Education Limited, p.166, 273. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2020.1766777

8

Wimmer, R.D., Dominick, J.R. (2010). Mass Media Research: An Introduction. In Google Books. Cengage Learning. URL: https://books.google.com.ua/books/about/Mass_Media_Research_An_Introduction.html?id=2SIFAAAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y

9

Bogner, A., Littig, B., Menz, W. (2009). Interviewing Experts. Palgrave Macmillan. URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284419200_Interviewing_Experts

10

‌Döringer, S. (2020). The problem-centred expert interview. Combining qualitative interviewing approaches for investigating implicit expert knowledge. International Journal of Social Research Methodology. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2020.1766777

Read more about Research and Analytics MDF here:

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Research team

Oksana Buts

Researcher at Media Development Foundation. Sociologist, BA in Sociology at UCU, MA in Sociology at NaUKMA

Maks Sribnyi

Maksym Sribnyi

Head of Research at Media Development Foundation. MA in Journalism at NaUKMA

Polina Lуpova

Researcher at Media Development Foundation. Sociologist, MA in Communications at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy

Valeriia Shemshuchenko

Researcher at the Media Development Foundation. MA in Public Policy and Governance, Kyiv School of Economics

Marta Puhach

Researcher at Media Development Foundation. Received REES MA degree from the University of Kansas, US, MA in East-European Studies from the University of Warsaw, Poland, and MA in political science from the University of Ostroh Academy, Ukraine

Research experts

Andriy Boborykin

Andrey Boborykin

Executive Director of the UP. Expert in digital marketing, development of media products and media communities, building funding models for the media

Oleg Horobets

Key expert in media management at Media Development Foundation

Andriy Dihtyarenko

Andriy Dikhtyarenko

Editor-in-chief and owner of Realna Gazeta. Leading host of TV projects at Suspilne, key expert on media content at Media Development Foundation

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