2025 - State of local news in Ukraine

Introduction

The year 2024 marked the third consecutive year of full-scale war in Ukraine, characterized by ongoing hostilities, continued attacks on civilian areas, and sustained mobilization efforts. Media sector challenges persisted, primarily stemming from staff shortages and escalating financial instability.

Despite these challenges, local media outlets persevered, adapting their operations to overcome obstacles. Newsrooms continued to document the full-scale invasion while increasingly addressing topics related to daily life in response to audience demands. Concurrently, efforts to ensure sustainable development required a period of stabilization and institutional capacity building for media organizations.

This analysis is based on a comprehensive survey of independent local media across Ukraine, comprising 60 completed questionnaires and supplemented by 11 in-depth interviews. The findings were validated and interpreted with input from four experts specializing in media management, content, distribution, and HR processes.

The report examines persistent war-related risks in the media sector and provides a detailed review of publishers' management challenges. This year's study introduces an analysis of internal policy development. As in previous years, funding issues are addressed, and the research continues to explore content creation and audience distribution strategies.

Drawing from the collected data, we present concise recommendations for various stakeholders regarding the aspects of local media operations that have been studied. The report concludes with an overview of research methodologies and the project team.

Key Findings

In 2024, a number of Ukrainian local media showed strategies of adaptation to crisis conditions. Approximately 40% of the surveyed media indicated they experienced some relief, mainly due to new work strategies and resource optimization. At the same time, as the main problems, staff shortages and financial instability remain unresolved and exacerbated, this stabilization looks more like a forced adaptation to a prolonged crisis than a desirable improvement.

Financial security continues to be the main challenge for the local media. Most of the media involved in the study were critically dependent on aid in the form of grants during 2024. In more than half of the media surveyed, foreign aid in the form of grants accounted for more than 80% of total revenue.

At the same time, the dynamics of obtaining funding for the last 6 months of 2024 showed mainly negative trends. There were more submitted grant applications than in 2023, but the average number of received grants did not increase. Although the media surveyed mostly managed to obtain grants to help them operate, the future looks rather uncertain. The problem of grant dependency was also exacerbated in early 2025 by newly elected US President Donald Trump's decision to suspend USAID programmes, which provided a substantial portion of funding for Ukrainian local media. Potentially, this will significantly limit the activities of the media, which will not be able to find alternative funding sources in a short time.

The local advertising market was still an insignificant source of income for local media and could not cover the shortage of grant funds. Only a few media outlets have had moderate success with reader support. 41% of newsrooms saw the development of reader support and subscriptions as a promising direction, but this monetization model did not grow in 2024.

The main expenses related to the payment of freelancer fees and salaries, which limited the opportunities for developing media infrastructure, marketing, and other strategic directions. Office rent, technical support, marketing, and promotion costs were reduced or remained non-priority.

One indicator of funding problems was a decline in the ability to plan. The number of media that could plan more than 6 months in advance fell by half since last year. Donors have often become a driving force for strategic media development, since the availability of strategic documents is one of the conditions for obtaining grants. This had both a positive effect (newsrooms formed strategies) and a negative one (they became dependent on external requirements).

As in previous years, staff shortages are a fundamental challenge for local media. This trend was reinforced by the mobilization process in 2024, which was reported by 20% of newsrooms. In 2024, the structure of staff requests changed — the demand for journalists decreased slightly (57% in 2024 versus 73% in 2023), while the need for videographers increased (33% versus 8%). Sales Managers (52%), SEO Specialists (47%), SMM Managers (42% this year compared to 22% in 2023) also remain the most sought after. There is a continuing trend of staff outflow from the local media to national media or communication departments of local authorities.

Journalists continued to adapt the content to the current situation. The media also pointed out that the speed of informing and the quality of content are balanced. At the same time, there was an increase in the number of reprints and rewrites, which in one way or another affected the overall quality of information. News (95%) and interviews (92%) were the most popular formats in 2024. Longreads and articles were used by 87% of newsrooms, reports by 78%, analytical materials by 67%, and investigations by 43%. For 10%, media investigations and analytics have become new formats. The amount of content being reformatted for distribution via Instagram and Telegram has also decreased. At the same time, the production of video content increased.

The psychological wellbeing of the teams in the media remained tense. 62% of the media rated it as neutral, while 26% said it was unsatisfying or very aggrieved. Only 12% of participants reported appropriate psychological well-being of their teams.

Challenges of the War

The intensity of hostilities on the front line and shelling of rear cities, missile strikes, air strikes remain high during the third year of the full-scale war. However, this is not the only factor that affects the work of organizations. We asked media outlets to rate whether 2024 was easier or more challenging than 2023.

38.3% of participants said that 2024 has become a little easier, but some challenges are still relevant for them. In-depth interviews revealed that the media, which rated year 2024 as easier than the previous one, have achieved specific results in work and advanced in their development. It was possible for them to establish workflow in the organization, set up processes, win particular grants, and thus ensure donor-backed projects, and therefore funding.

“

Bracketed text is added by authors or translator

We've been strengthening [our organization - ed.] as much as possible, trying to finally streamline what we're doing, working a little on the structure and making more and better content. We did a lot of fieldwork. Looking for stories, filming, writing, taking photos, etc.

Newsroom from the South

“

We have both evolved and tried to change. We have won some interesting grants and secured a job until next August, when we can start working again. In general, everything seems to be okay.

Newsroom from the East

As newsrooms have adapted to turbulent conditions in recent years, in 2024 they are trying to manage these risks more systematically.

“

How was it more manageable? On the one hand, we have become accustomed to these realities and learned to adapt more quickly to new extreme conditions. Regarding risks, we know approximately what to expect and how these risks can be foreseen.

Newsroom from the Center

More than half of the newsrooms (60%) assessed 2024 quite negatively:

25% estimated that 2024 brought more difficulties than 2023;

23% of the media indicated that 2024 was as difficult as 2023;

for 12% of the organizations, 2024 turned out to be much more difficult and stressful.

Another cohort of participants gave a more positive assessment of 2024, indicating a partial adaptation to wartime: approximately 40% of the media noted that 2024 had become a little easier, but some challenges still remained. We also include in this cohort one media, for which 2024 was much more successful than the previous one.

Of course, this is a complicated question. In the following sections of this study, we will explain what caused the difficulties and what made the work for media organizations easier.

The key challenges and problems for the interviewed newsrooms operating under the martial law have remained almost unchanged over the past three years.

The five challenges of the war for the media included the following:

staff shortages: 62% (the main challenge, as in previous years);

underfunding: 58% (this challenge shifted from the third position to the second);

psychological pressure: 43% (this challenge shifted from the second position to the third);

power outages: 40% (this challenge hasn't appeared at the top of the list before);

frequent shelling, missile strikes, air strikes: 25% (this challenge hasn't appeared at the top of the list before).

Staff shortages and mobilization

Staff shortages, brought up by 62% of newsrooms, remain the main problem for the media. Most of the shortage of highly skilled workers is related to them moving to other sectors or going abroad, which has remained an unchanged trend over these years.

However, mobilization exacerbates the staff shortage (20% of newsrooms indicated the mobilization of men from teams as one of the main challenges in team management). We would like to focus more on this precondition for the staff shortage in this year's study, as it is noticeable that the mobilization course has intensified in 2024.

According to participants, the risk of mobilization in 2024 has become greater.

“

It is clear that there is a problem with mobilization, which was not so acute in 2023, but increased significantly this year. We don't have many men, but, you know, there's a problem with that.

Newsroom from the South

Editors lose unique specialists, such as videographers, editors, and editors-in-chief. Finding a replacement for such specialists is quite tricky, especially at the local level. For example, due to the mobilization of the editor-in-chief, one newsroom redistributed responsibilities to other staff, increasing their workload.

“

Two months ago, our editor-in-chief was drafted into the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. [...] His [the mobilized employee's duties - ed.] remained uncovered by anyone else [in the team - ed]. We had two months to sort out the situation, the distribution of responsibilities, and the search for new people.

Newsroom from the South

“

It is tough to find a person to replace the mobilized staff quickly. I don't know what to do about this risk. I understand that this risk [mobilization] will be permanent. The person was, in fact, doing three jobs at once. He was the cameraman, the editor, and the technician in charge of the equipment at the same time. I don't know where I'll find such an employee.

Newsroom from the East

Some media outlets are now forming predominantly female teams. However, this process is driven by the challenges and the situation rather than being planned and strategic.

“

Now we have more women on the team, and we have only one man. A lot of processes are based on him, he is engaged in video, photo, editing, and social media support. [...] We keep jobs for our employees [that were drafted to the Armed Forces of Ukraine - ed.], in accordance with the law, we are waiting for their return. We very much hope that it will be soon and they will again want to become journalists and replace weapons with paper, as they say.

Newsroom from the Center

Photo: Andrii Dubchak / Frontliner: AP reporter Mstyslav Chernov near the remains of a car near Kherson

Underfunding

Financial instability remains one of the key challenges for local media. 58% of newsrooms reported being underfunded. For some of these media, 2024 turned out to be less financially stable than 2023. This year, the media is more difficult to plan for the long term, from six months. This leads to the fact that the media cannot grow and cannot expand the team.

“

Financial stability was better than in 2023, that's for sure, I admit it. The ability to plan something, we were growing, recruiting the team. We are not growing much this year. For the most part, this is the only such [challenge], lacking long-term financial planning, at least for more than half a year. Not even planning, but guaranteeing yourself that there will be something to pay [employees] with.

Newsroom from the South

Throughout 2024, there is still a strong reliance on foreign aid in the form of grants, a lack of stable institutional funding, and risks of withdrawal of support from international donors. For this reason, there is still a need to diversify sources of income. We look at all this in more detail in the Finance section, as well as in a separate MDF study called "Donor Dilemma. Rethinking support models for the future of Ukrainian media"^[¹^].

Psychological stress and fatigue of team members

Employees are increasingly feeling tired and exhausted: 43% of media participants said so, putting this challenge in third place. In 2024, many realized that there would be no quick end to the war. This is especially relevant for the media outlets coming from the temporarily occupied territories or that work with topics about these territories. If in 2023 there were more hopes for a counterattack and de-occupation, then in 2024 the media understood that this is a marathon, not a sprint.

“

We are used to, on the other hand, the team has been working in the conditions of war for the third year, and it can be seen very well that everyone is exhausted, that the team is already working somewhere on the verge, because everyone understands that this is a long distance. It's as if you have to keep going, but your strength is dwindling.

Newsroom from the Center

“

In 2023, perhaps, we were still full of greater hopes. Now, most of the region has been occupied, and there is less and less hope. Therefore, in terms of morale, it may have gotten worse. Maybe everyone is more tired.

Newsroom from the South

Power outages, frequent shelling and missile strikes

The war entails other risks, such as blackouts and shelling, missile strikes and air strikes. 40% of the media surveyed confirmed that power outages during 2024 affected the state and work of the newsrooms. 25% of the offices reported strikes and shelling as a significant risk. However, testimonies obtained through in-depth interviews demonstrate that most editors were accustomed to this set of risks and took them into account when adapting their work.

“

Well, that is to say: blackouts, obviously, we are prepared for them, for the scheduled ones as well.

Newsroom from the Center

“

When it [blackout] happened for the first time, it was a bit of a shock to the team. Now everyone is more prepared for it [...]. We also have a more or less non-volatile newsroom. We understood that when we were in the newsroom, everything was fine, and we could work even when there was no light.

Newsroom from the Center

The complexity of working with the occupied territories and border areas

One of the difficulties for the local media is the search for content from the temporarily occupied territories. There is a reinforcing component to it in the form of general exhaustion and loss of hope for the return of territories. In general, 23% of newsrooms indicated a challenge in working with the temporary occupied territories and border areas.

“

I do not know how to objectively say it here, but in 2023, we still had interviews with people from the occupied territory. We talked to volunteers, people contacted us to share what happened. [...] Somehow it was more active. And now I can't remember that we had any of that kind of content.

Newsroom from the South

Other challenges

Among other, less acute challenges, the following were indicated:

no opportunity to plan the activities — 20%;

receiving the information too late — 20%;

access to the interviewees — 12%.

Collaboration between the media

We asked the media how they assess the level of media cooperation in their regions:

40% — medium level of cooperation — some media cooperate, but competition prevails over information exchange or joint initiatives;

38% — low level of cooperation — the media sector in the region is mostly fragmented, cooperation is rare, competition dominates;

13% — high level of cooperation — there are regular initiatives and joint projects between the media, although competition is also present, but it is healthy;

8% — lack of cooperation — media organizations in the region work autonomously, do not interact and do not support each other.

It should be noted that there is no significant dependence between the regions and the level of cooperation.

Research expert Oleg Horobets commented that there are no major issues with cooperation and competition between local media. He added that for the most part, the media from the occupied territories cooperate closely: the newsrooms exchange information obtained from their informants. At the same time, there is no such basis for cooperation in the usual environment.

“

There is no time for the local media to establish cooperation with other media and plan something together. I am sure that if something really loud and important happens, for example, an attack on a journalist, then yes, the media in the region or throughout Ukraine will coordinate and speak with some common stance in defense.

Oleg Horobets, research expert

Team management

Team composition

The newsrooms continue having issues with staff retention, which affects their ability to support effective work and development. In 2024, 131 employees left the 60 media outlets surveyed. The media also indicated the reasons why their employees quit or were dismissed. The most common of these are:

inconsistency of employees' professional skills — 23%;

finding another job — 22%;

stress and burnout — 20%;

low salary — 20%;

the employee changed their professional interests and wanted to change their career — 18%.

Other less common reasons for resignation include moving to another city or country, family circumstances, the employee's incompatibility with the values and principles of the media, layoffs, maternity leave, etc. 23% of media outlets did not experience layoffs in 2024.

Instead, 144 new employees joined the teams. We see that new employees make up an average of 22% of all staff within the newsroom, which is less than last year (29%).

Only 5 newsrooms (8%) had no change in team structure — no one left and no one came. These are media with a team of 2 to 7 employees. Last year, there were three times more such teams — 25%.

The average (median) number of employees in the newsroom is 7 people. Last year, the median was 10 people in one outlet. That is, the number of employees in the team is decreasing, while staff shortage remains a key problem. The 60 newsrooms participating in the survey have a total of 645 employees.

Photo: 18000 Media. Celebrating the sixth anniversary of 18000 Media and launching the 18000.Awards

Freelancers

Media continue to use freelancers to help produce content. For the most part, up to 5 freelancers work in the newsroom (70% of participants). Last year, 5–6 freelancers worked in the surveyed teams. In 2024, 18% have 6-10 freelancers, 10% have no freelancers. Only one newsroom has 11-15 freelancers.

Journalists and freelance content creators are usually involved several times a month or quarter. Similarly, video specialists are involved once a quarter. SEO specialists and designers are involved for the most part once a year. There are some professionals who freelance less frequently. This suggests that their functions are covered by a person in the team, or these functions are difficult to perform on a freelance basis. We are talking about newsfeed editors, correspondents/reporters, editors, communication specialists/ SMM, advertising managers.

Other needs also involve freelancers:

grantwriting;

podcast production;

video production and coverage of specific topics;

special projects, production, or a new type of content;

technical support of the site;

substitution of employees on vacation.

Staff shortage

As in previous years, the lack of staff is a basic challenge for Ukrainian local media (as in the Ukrainian labor market as a whole). Some participants note that the problem of staff search has worsened compared to previous years. It is especially difficult to look for specialists not in the central part of Ukraine.

“

The problem of human resources is getting worse. If someone was difficult to find a year ago, now it is even more difficult.

Newsroom from the South

However, this year the structure of hiring requests has changed slightly compared to 2023. At the same time, journalists have been in demand almost as much as last year (57% in 2024, compared to 73% last year). In the top five most sought-after professions, there are also sales managers (52%, last year — no data) and SEO specialists (47%, last year — no data). The need for SMM managers and videographers has changed significantly this year compared to the previous year — 42% in 2024 and 22% in 2023, and 33% against 8%, respectively. It is worth noting that before asking this question this year, we proposed a list of professions from which participants could choose the most critical. At the same time, this question was open-ended in previous years, which probably contributed to the differences in responses.

It is important to pay attention to the problem of hiring sales managers: since in other areas such specialists can receive higher salaries, local media are not able to compete for experienced professionals and are forced to hire beginners for these positions. Then there is the risk that beginners leave regional media newsrooms in favor of higher-paying sectors. 3 out of 11 interviewed participants mentioned a negative experience with sales professionals.

“

We have had a negative experience recruiting salespeople who need training because their level is usually inadequate. After studying, they went straight to work as salespeople three months later, just not in the media industry. Using us as training wheels to find a better paid job.

Newsroom from the North

The staff turnover from the local media continues: either to large national media or to communication departments in local governments. This is mainly due to low salaries, as well as the ability of local authorities to "reserve" their employees from mobilization.

“

A very serious distortion occurred because the PR departments of all state institutions of local self-government were overstaffed under the conditions of the war. They often have the chance to "reserve" their employees (help them avoid mobilization), offer them a higher salary, and grant exclusive access to certain areas, for example, something as simple as flying with a drone. They have the right, we have none.

Newsroom from the Center

HR policies

This year we began surveying the media on the availability and use of their HR policies, because caring for the team is not just about documenting employees' responsibilities, but also employers' responsibilities. We plan to collect more metrics on the organization of these processes and procedures in the future, but so far, we have focused on the percentage of the media with such approved policies and the processes they cover.

55% of the media surveyed had HR policies in place. These types of media have two main HR policies. In some cases, the media indicated 6 approved policies.

Existing HR policies cover the following procedures and processes:

the process of hiring (search and selection of specialists) — 61% of the media;

onboarding and adaptation of the new employees — 58%;

policy on equality and non-discrimination — 58%;

development and training of employees — 51,5%;

policy on working hours and holidays — 48,5%;

policies for dismissal and resignation from the organization — 42%;

feedback and internal communication — 36%;

employee performance assessment (regular performance reviews/feedback from managers and colleagues) — 30%;

policy for resolving conflicts between employees — 27%;

compensation and benefits (bonuses/health insurance/discounts, etc.) — 18%;

monitoring HR process effectiveness — 9%.

Apart from that, 6% of the media reported that most HR processes are covered by a general HR policy. Some media outlets reported that they have a Duty of Care policy, a policy to protect vulnerable beneficiaries, and a travel policy.

The organization must have transparent management procedures and adhere to democratic standards of work, said Natalia Kovalenko, a research expert and MDF HR Manager.

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Policies delineate and specify the primary areas of the organization's activities. They also help to structure the main workflows and keep the focus on important aspects of the work.

Natalіa Kovalenko, MDF HR Manager

It is often the requirements of donors that act as a catalyst for developing internal HR policies. There is usually an essential list of policies that donors require, including editorial policy, organizational structure, staff policy, business trip policy, advertising policy,
procurement policy, risk management, team management, and policy against bullying and harassment. The media approve such policies, but do not always see them as useful.

“

Does everyone even read these policies? I don’t think so. I think the main idea is just to have them in there, maybe one day it will be sent to the donors. I don't think that even donors read them very closely. Well, maybe they do. Maybe they have a separate person who reads all of this. Most likely, some of the policies will be dead. We also take into account some parts, for example, when it comes to onboarding.

Newsroom from the South

However, even without the requirements of donors, media of different scale should themselves be interested in structuring and adjusting their processes and documenting them in policies.

To avoid intense staff turnover, Natalia Kovalenko advises the media to implement a comprehensive system of policies and procedures aimed at increasing motivation, creating favorable working conditions and developing career opportunities for employees. Each organization should clearly outline the main processes of work and always follow them, because only the presence of such policies will not prevent the staff members from resigning.

Natalia Kovalenko believes that the following documented policies and procedures are a must have:

onboarding process detailed plan) for faster adaptation of a new person in the team;

a roadmap for each team member with clearly defined areas of responsibility;

remuneration policy, so that people clearly understand the procedure of remuneration in the organization and what to expect;

vacation policy will help people understand their holiday schedule, and off work time, and better plan their vacation;

learning and development policies will help create opportunities for people within the organization.

As part of the annual report, we did not ask participants whether their media regularly practiced a one-on-one meeting between managers and employees. At the same time, Natalia Kovalenko, an expert in the study, noted that in order to increase motivation, quality of work and involvement of employees, it is necessary to hold one-to-one meetings:

“

Unfortunately, not all organizations understand the importance of face-to-face meetings and do not implement such practices in their work. In fact, such meetings can become an important tool in the manager's toolbox. They will help to manage the employee's workload, understand what problems arise in getting the job done, and resolve them in a timely manner. Such meetings also help to monitor the employee's emotional state.

Natalia Kovalenko, MDF HR Manager

How mobilization affected newsroom HR policies and resources

As we noted earlier, the mobilization process is exacerbating staff shortages. 15% of those who left the interviewed media outlets joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In 2023, the number was at 29%. Editors have shared that mobilization is one of the big risks (20%) for local newsrooms.

Most media also mentioned having no experience keeping the place vacant for their mobilized colleagues (55%). This includes cases where the team is made up entirely of women. 37% of the media retain jobs, 8% do not. It is interesting to note that the media that do not keep the positions for mobilized employees or those who volunteered for the Armed Forces of Ukraine operate in different regions, have sufficient institutional capacity, and were mostly founded long before 2022.

We asked what ways the media offers to support those bound to military service (those who already serve and those who do not serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine). 38% of the media cannot offer any of the options we have listed. 18% of the media haven't worked with people bound to military service.

17% of the media offer compensation or purchase of personal protection equipment and comfort (first-aid kits/equipment/snacks). 13% — compensation or purchase of military supplies and equipment (drones /electronic warfare systems/cars, etc.). 8% make regular monetary payments, 7% — a one-time cash payment.

7% of media outlets can offer to "reserve" their employees from the mobilization. These media come from different regions of Ukraine and have sufficient institutional capacity. They have an average of 35 employees and were mostly established in the early 2000s.

3% of media also reported raising funds for military needs and care for individual soldiers from the cities where the media are stationed or work.

We also asked what basic methods of support should be provided to employees who are demobilized and return to work in a media organization, according to the study's expert, Natalia Kovalenko. This could be a reduction in the workload, a hybrid or remote working format, additional bonuses or a maximum facilitation of the work process.

Photo: BUCHA journalism conference, May 2024

Mental wellbeing

Evidently, the mental well-being depends on the situation in the country. This is especially noticeable for the media from the temporarily occupied or frontline territories. 62% of the media describe the mental wellbeing of their teams as average. Another 26% of respondents assessed the team's mental wellbeing at a low or very low level, that is, the team is in constant stress and tension. And only 12% of the media noted that the team's mental wellbeing is mostly positive.

The need for psychological support has remained relevant since previous years. To maintain the psychological health of teams, newsrooms need opportunities for rest (retreats, consultations with a psychologist, etc.) In particular, some of the media have emphasized the importance of individual sessions with a psychologist rather than team psychological sessions. HR management expert Natalia Kovalenko confirmed that under current circumstances, it is very important to take care of not only financial security but also physical and mental health. Since employees often work in stressful situations, access to psychological help is necessary.

“

For example, we have a newsfeed manager, but in addition to managing the department, she also works on the newsfeed from time to time, writes stories herself and has to analyze her colleagues' stories, perform search engine optimization for stories, etc. This is a huge load. Therefore, the mental wellbeing has become more complicated, and we are now looking for opportunities to hold a retreat for the team.

Newsroom from the North

Other factors that can have a positive impact on the state of the team include bringing in new people to reduce the workload. The Stayers and Leavers Report from the Centre for Local Media Innovation and Sustainability (UNC) confirms the impact of the workload on journalists. Among those who work 31-40 hours a week, the retention rate is 24%, while 14% leave the profession. At the same time, the situation is reversed for journalists working 51-60 hours a week: 24% resigned and only 15% stay.^[²^]

The opportunity to work for a long time gives employees a certain sense of stability, in particular financial stability, which positively affects their mental wellbeing. In addition, the media mention that increasing salaries and the ability to pay bonuses to your team will help improve the mental wellbeing of the team.

“

The first risk for our effective development is probably a small number of people and a significant workload, because we all simultaneously have several processes in the team, when people combine several jobs.

Newsroom from the East

Expert Natalia Kovalenko adds: to comply with Work-Life Balance, you need to have a flexible work schedule, a remote or hybrid format of work, a sufficient amount of vacation and additional days of rest. She also pointed out that the availability of health insurance is a major stress reliever for people, as employees know they have access to quality medical care at no additional cost.

However, since the key factor is the end of the war, even the creation of all these conditions does not guarantee a complete improvement of the emotional background.

Training

Media actively train their employees, trying to promote their development in the workplace. Respondents mentioned that there are many free training programs for media professionals. Participating in various grant programmes also often involves providing additional training for employees.

However, respondents also point out that the effectiveness of such training can be low because such programmes are often not relevant to individual journalists or to the organization as a whole.

“

We try to teach, but first, nearly every grant program has a training component that is not always needed. There is a lot of free training, and it devalues very much... Over the past year, people have gone through a very large number of different training sessions, but many of them have simply been uninteresting or unhelpful.

Newsroom from the South

Expert Natalia Kovalenko recommends that media organizations pay attention to the fact that it is worthwhile to formulate a training plan for employees who are hired for a probationary period and assign them a mentor who will help them perform certain tasks, master basic skills, show the employee areas for improvement and what exactly is needed for the media organization.

Newsrooms want to deepen their knowledge of analytics. They want to learn how to use Google Analytics to study their audience. They also point out that it is becoming more and more difficult to work with the technical part and that it is now difficult to master certain aspects of this tool on one's own.

It was also pointed out that advertising department staff need additional training, and finding training for media sales managers is difficult for media organizations.

Work Optimization with AI-based tools

The media are also actively studying and implementing their knowledge of various AI-based tools. They usually use the tools to make journalists' jobs easier and faster. For example, AI tools can be used to transcribe interviews, translate text, put subtitles on videos, or write SEO articles. The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism confirms the need for AI to optimize work in its study Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions 2025 ^[³^].

However, the use and implementation of artificial intelligence requires resources and investments, as well as additional training. This can be an obstacle for media organizations.

“

Artificial intelligence has improved a lot over the last six months, and we've actually started using it more. [..] Even for the SEO articles [..]. This does not mean relying on AI fully, but it is a very helpful option. We also use it for metadata and for writing titles and descriptions. Of course, we would really like to have some pieces built into the admin [system]. But that is a question of money.

Newsroom from the Center

“

We had plans for the integration of artificial intelligence into the work of journalists, and this is now a reality. We are actively using artificial intelligence [..]. We work as an optimized team, and we wanted to facilitate the work of journalists and free up their time in some processes.

Newsroom from the Center

“

Currently, we are transcribing interviews with the help of AI, coming up with headlines, or rewriting something quickly. On the one hand, it is a relief for journalists, on the other hand, it is something that must be thoroughly checked.

Newsroom from the Center

Similar tools are also used for the visual part of the media work, to improve the image quality or generate it according to the material.

“

To create and improve the quality of images, we use all this for videos, especially historical ones, when all the old photos are of very bad quality, and for proofreading materials. In other words, we use it a little, but not on the big scale.

Newsroom from the South

“

Definitely simplifies everything. For example, it has definitely improved our historical videos, where there was nothing to cover, some pictures, photos, and now they are all there in an improved quality, it is not an embarrasement to show them. Well, we also save a lot of time by transcribing online instead of doing it manually. We still have to learn how to use the Zoom minutes-making assistant, it will be super cool.

Newsroom from the South

Team work planning

The situation regarding planning has deteriorated. The number of media outlets that can plan more than six months ahead has decreased compared to 2023—now it is 20% against 41%. However, most media (58%) still plan their work 3 months in advance. 28% of surveyed media are able to plan a month ahead. Also, while last year the planning was done individually for a week or even a day ahead, now the number of newsrooms planning for a week or a few weeks ahead has increased to 13%.

Strategic planning

Compared to 2023, we see no improvement in terms of strategic planning. This year, 73% of respondents said they practice annual strategic planning with prioritization for a year or more (down from 86.5% in 2023). The media see many benefits in developing a strategy. First, it gives employees a greater understanding of the mission and direction of the media’s development. Secondly, this is perceived as an additional advantage in the eyes of donors, when the editors still have a plan and strategy for the future in unstable times. It is worth saying that donors are often the reason for the development of the strategy, because this can be one of the conditions for grant submission. The study experts also mentioned this.

The last three years of active work with donors have given media the opportunity to improve their skills in developing a strategy.

“

It [the strategy] helped us to the extent that it was sort of the yardstick for how we worked during the year. And it had our mission, our values.

Newsroom from the Center

“

During this year, when submitting grant applications, we understood, firstly, how convenient it is to work together when we have such a detailed strategy document, which is divided into sub-documents that relate to content planning and various strategic things. That is, it is convenient for the media outlet at the moment and for our communications with all partners.

Newsroom from the North

“

Among those we communicated with, we saw how different the media were and who had the inspiration to create a three- or five-year strategic document. They even communicate differently, and I understand that their readers and donors read them differently. We can say that if you still have the audacity and courage to plan in conditions of such instability, that is a competitive advantage.

Newsroom from the North

Media rarely revise their strategies: during 2024, only 37% revised their strategic goal for the year. It is worth noting that the strategy is usually developed for 1, 3 or 5 years, so it is quite clear why most newsrooms did not revise their strategy during the year.

Editors develop a media strategy together with the team, and can also involve external experts. Similarly, strategy development can be part of programmes involving media organizations, such as MDF.

“

When developing a strategy, we began by including the entire team and then convened in a small circle of colleagues: myself as editor-in-chief, grant manager, and additionally, we had a mentor from MDF, who helped us bring these discussions and thoughts together. Now the strategy is in the form we wrote it in at the time.

Newsroom from the East

Funding

The local media have been adapting to the long-term challenges associated with the war, especially the ones related to their financial situation. In 2024, there is a slight increase in the average budget level (at the same time, the median is unchanged) and in the level of reserve funds. At the same time, the dependence on grant funding remains high, and the local advertising market is still insufficient for the media after the start of the full-scale invasion.

General overview of budgets

The average annual media budget in 2024 is 3.2 million UAH (median — 2 million UAH), which exceeds the average in 2023 — 2.9 million UAH (although the median is the same 2 million UAH). This increase is partly due to inflation (which, according to the National Bank of Ukraine, reached 10% at the end of the year) and continued support from financial contributors.

The distribution of budgets varies: the minimum fixed budget is UAH 100,000 (6 employees in the media), and the maximum is UAH 13 million (28 employees). However, one of the specialists in the sample reported that their budget expired in July, and another media outlet works on a voluntary basis.

We calculated the average budget of the newsrooms depending on the region they are located. The highest average value is in the Center (3.4 million UAH) and the South (3.3 million UAH), the lowest in the North (UAH 2.8 million). It should be noted that one media outlet in the southern region reported the largest budget among the media included in the sample, and the media of the central region, especially in the capital, need larger budgets due to the higher price level.

We also calculated the salary of a media employee based on the average media budget and the average number of employees (10.75 employees). Other media expenses such as office rent and other related costs were not included. The result is 24,700 UAH per month; however, this average salary may be lower due to other media expenses we do not consider. One should also bear in mind that rates vary between professionals: for example, newsfeed editors receive less than journalists, and journalists receive less than editors. More analyses on this topic are available in the report "Financial Support of Online Media in Ukraine 2023: Salaries and Trends".^[⁴^]

60% of the media in 2024 have announced the availability of a reserve fund, the average size of which is UAH 370,000. This is a sign of some financial stability, although 33% of newsrooms still have no reserve fund.

Instead, the number of media outlets that have resources for a more extended period, say six months or a year, has decreased. In 2024, 45% of newsrooms said they would be able to operate for three months if media funding stopped, compared to just 34% in 2023. The share of outlets that have funds for only 1 month has also increased significantly — 40% versus 14% last year. Only 11% of media have resources for 6 months, 4% for a year in advance, indicating a continuing high level of financial instability.

“

Financial stability was better in 2023, that's for sure. The ability to plan something, we were growing, recruiting the team. This year, there are no financial planning opportunities.

Newsroom from the South

Breaking down the main expenses

Salaries remain the central part of the expenses, with 76% of the surveyed media allocating from 60% to 90% of the budget to them. Some newsrooms spend more than 90% of their budget on salaries. For comparison, in 2023, the average share of salary costs was 80%, when in 2024 this figure was 73%. It can be assumed that such a drastic difference within a few years could potentially mean accumulating more resources for media organizations' development.

Office rents expenses have decreased significantly this year. Confirming the trend towards remote working since 2023, 68% of media respondents spend up to 10% of their budget on this, while 38% of teams have no such expenditure at all.

Technical support is not a priority for most newsrooms, with 63% spending only up to 10% of their budget on it. Only 10% allocate more than 20%, which indicates the slow development of this base as a whole.

Marketing and advertising remain low-cost expenses: 83% of newsrooms spend up to 10% of their budget on it, and 33% spend nothing at all. This trend was also noticeable in 2023.

Percentage distribution of newsrooms' revenues

Most local media are heavily dependent on the foreign aid in the form of grants: 40% (19 responses out of 48) of them receive 90–99% of their revenues from donors, and another 21% (10 teams) are in the range of 80–89%. We can say that this financing dominates 2024.

“

The dependence on donor support is critical.

Newsroom from the South

Media outlets face challenges related to reduced donor funding and the availability of primarily project-based support. The media are forced to combine long-term strategies with short-term survival measures due to the uncertainty of financing.

“

This year is going well financially. But if a year ago we had many projects, prospects, and donors, now we doubt whether they will support us or not.

Newsroom from the South

Newsrooms continue to believe that institutional support is more effective than numerous short-term projects that often do not justify the operational load.

“

Institutional funding is more desirable than project-based grants, which require a disproportionate amount of effort.

Newsroom from the East

“

Last year we had the idea to give up small projects. We were very tired of it. But this year, we realized that we cannot turn it down because it still gives us some money.

Newsroom from the Center

Is there a place for local foundations that could support the media? There are almost no examples of private funding of independent media in Ukraine that would not influence editorial policy, says study expert Andrii Boborykin. He explains there is a certain stigma about being funded by local businesses or private foundations. This situation indicates the lack of a culture of supporting the media by local businesses and individuals while preserving the independence of the media. At the same time, in the United States or Europe, the private sector is actively involved in financing media, even though media are also experiencing a crisis due to deteriorating market conditions, loss of advertising revenues, etc. Despite that, the reason for the support from the private sector is the following: it is important for the development of a democratic society and the private sector might be protecting the media from the influence of the authorities (without affecting the editorial policy of the media) ^[5].

Advertising revenue remains low. Nearly 46% of media outlets receive less than 10% of the budget from this source. Only a few newsrooms (8%) have advertising revenue of 90% or more.

Many regions, especially those that have been de-occupied, still do not have enough active business to meet the demand for advertising, according to expert Oleg Horobets. Also, hyperlocal media are losing advertisers due to the dispersion of the audience. According to the expert, working with advertising in such conditions requires a considerable amount of time and staff. This is difficult to justify when income is low.

“

You just have to be realistic and admit that the audience of relocated hyperlocal media is scattered around the world. It is not the same as it was before.

Newsroom from the South

At the same time, some media professionals indicated that they finance their activities almost entirely through advertising. Such media constantly adapt to the changing needs and demands of audiences and advertisers, ensuring stable funding and supporting production of high-quality content.

“

Our model is atypical for many media because we operate entirely on advertising. Our share of grants ranges from zero to 10–20%, and this is a bonus to our core activity.

Newsroom from the West

According to expert Oleg Horobets: media have a chance to reduce their dependence on donor funding by relying on the advertising market. This is more realistic if the media outlet is located in the central or western regions of Ukraine, where there are basic conditions for the development of commercial activities. The key factors for success are having a quality audience and an effective advertising department.

At the same time, the situation in the frontline or occupied regions is much more complicated. Due to economic difficulties and instability, the advertising market is almost absent there. Under such circumstances, the media remain heavily dependent on grants, which are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain.

‍

The difference between the media that were created before and after the full-scale invasion

Significant differences are observed between the media created before the full-scale invasion and the media created after February 24, 2022, when Russia launched a massive attack on the territory of Ukraine.

Media created after the full-scale invasion have an average annual budget of UAH 2.5 million, with an average reserve fund of UAH 48,900 (that could be used in case of unforeseen media expenses). The main part of expenses — 70% of the budget, is spent on salaries and freelancer fees, which is typical for the media sector. Donations and grants account for 89% of the primary budget of the media outlets.

Media created before the full-scale invasion have a larger annual budget — UAH 3.3 million with an average reserve fund of UAH 224,000. Employee salaries and fees account for 68%, almost equal to the media rate created after February 24, 2022. In the media created before the full-scale invasion, 61% of revenues come from donor and grant funding, which is significantly less than in the media created after the full-scale invasion began. The sale of advertising in the pre-war media is 23%, much higher than in the post-war media, indicating smaller dependence on donors.

Generally speaking, media created after the full invasion began are more donor-dependent and less financially stable. Instead, media created before the full-scale war have a larger share of advertising revenues.

Foreign aid in the form of grants, or the affiliation of the independent media

The dynamics of receiving foreign aid in the form of grants among newsrooms over the past 6 months show mostly negative trends, compared to the same period last year.

The percentage of media outlets reporting a decrease in grant revenues increased from 30% in 2023 to 44% in the current year. At the same time, only 21% of newsrooms noted an increase in the number of grants received, while this figure was 32% the previous year. The share of newsrooms that maintain a stable level of grant funding also decreased — from 38% in 2023 to 28% in 2024. This situation may be a consequence of changes in the policies, internal economic factors, or increased competition for grant resources.

The interviewees' responses show that the dynamics of foreign grants do not depend on the region. However, several other important trends can be identified. Those who received more grants last year explain this by beginning to work more actively on applications, gaining experience in writing grants, hiring a grant manager, or cooperating with organizations that support the media.

The teams that have noticed a decrease in donor support most often indicate high competition: almost everyone applies for the same grants. Some point out that donors have become less interested or provide support irregularly.

Some also point to internal problems, such as a lack of qualified professionals, in particular grant managers, or difficulties in applying for more complex grants with higher requirements.

During the 10 months of 2024, the surveyed media submitted an average of 11 grant applications. Most often, 10 applications were submitted, but some teams sent 30 to 60 applications. The average number of grants received did not change, indicating a decrease in the likelihood of success, although there were generally more applications than in 2023 (11 compared to 9).

During 2024, most media outlets had project-based support — 88% of newsrooms received it. To some extent, 40% of media received institutional funding. It is worth noting here that the media may have a different understanding of what institutional funding is. This is because there are different international terms. For example, core support and institutional support are translated into Ukrainian by one term but cover slightly different aspects of financial support. By institutional, we mean such financial support for the media that allows the newsrooms to focus on the implementation of the strategy, helps them to function and cover the audience's information needs (if no project-based funding is possible). However, media could also cover some of the organization's administrative costs, such as grants for purchasing equipment, supporting certain media activities, etc. At the same time, 8% of the media did not receive any foreign aid in the form of grants at all.

Project-based support is still the most common and easiest way to raise funds for the media. It provides quick results. However, as respondents note, administering and reporting on each of the grants increases the burden on the team.

In 2024, the majority of grant applications in media organizations were composed by directors/CEOs or editors-in-chief — this was noted by 61% of the survey participants. 20% indicated that specific employees worked on applications, including fundraisers, grant managers, partnership managers, as well as financial managers, accountants, and project managers. 10% of media used non-specialist staff, such as journalists or editors, to draft applications. In 8.5% of organizations, requests were handled by a team that included management, finance, fundraisers, and managers from other areas. This approach to grant writing remains unchanged from previous years.

The media also identified the main areas where they need more donor support:

43% of the media want to receive more funds for salaries and other related fees for their employees to ensure the team's stability. Several media outlets noted that they want to be able to pay competitive wages for managers and increase salaries to the average level on the market.

32% of the media seek more institutional funding to ensure the stability of their organizations.

18% of the media need money to buy equipment.

16% of media would like more funds to expand their teams or engage freelancers to create content.

In general, media indicated that they were looking not only for short-term support through donor funding, but also for other systematic support formats for developing their teams and upgrading technical equipment.

Research expert Andrii Boborykin says that in the second half of 2024, an opinion was established among the media community: the availability of foreign aid in the form of grants will significantly decrease in the future.

Such conclusions were made long before Donald Trump's decision on January 25, 2025, to entirely suspend support programs from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for 90 days ^[6]. According to the results of a survey of journalists of the Institute of Mass Information, such a decision can have disastrous consequences and will lead to the closure or significant reduction of the work of many Ukrainian independent media ^[7]. The decision will especially affect local newsrooms that have less advertising revenue or reader support than national media and rely on project-based support or core support. It was also noted that such trends of radical reduction of subsidies to the media in Ukraine have a significant negative impact on the psychological climate within the team and the prospects for the functioning of the media in 2025 in general.

This situation will force the surviving teams to rethink their approaches to planning and funding. We have already noted this in the study called "Donor dilemma. Rethinking support models for the future of Ukrainian media" ^[¹^].

Support from the readers

Reader support remains a marginal source: 79% of media companies get no revenue from readers. In 2023, the situation was similar, with the average share of income from readers at only 2%.

By comparison, according to the Reuters Institute (based on responses from 326 media representatives in 51 countries), on average, reader support in the form of subscription and membership remains the largest source of income (77%) for newsrooms, staying ahead of media advertising (69%) and native advertising (59%) ^[³^]. Both historical continuity — the habit of paying or not paying for content — and the solvency of the audience explain these differences.

At the same time, 52% of the media we interviewed practice reader support (although some of them do not receive significant income from it). To do this, they most often use platforms such as LiqPay, Base from Monobank or open accounts (fundraisers) in Monobank or PrivatBank. Patreon is also popular. PayPal and Fondy are used less often.

We asked the media about their views on whether they consider reader support to be well-developed in their newsrooms. 58% of the media believe that it's not developed at all, 32% — that it is underdeveloped. The rest of the media (rare cases) indicated a high level of development of reader support.

According to expert Oleg Horobets, successful reader support involves creating a clear system of audience motivation: creating attractive messages, organizing promotional campaigns, developing visual materials, and constantly communicating with the audience. This requires qualified specialists, but most Ukrainian media, especially local ones, lack the resources to maintain a separate team that would deal with this set of responsibilities.

At the same time, research expert Andrii Boborykin believes that the model of reader support can work if local media create synergies with local communities. There are very few such cases for now. However, we've also interviewed the media which covers almost a third of their budget by using membership model.

Merch is defined as a form of reader support that generates revenue for a small media cohort. However, none of the media with whom we have conducted in-depth interviews have confidence in it.

“

We constantly return to the topic of what kind of merch we need to make, but we never looked into whether people actually need it. We just assume it's needed. But in fact, it is quite expensive. One of the goals now is to find out if people need this merch at all, why they support us, and how to expand the community.

Newsroom from the Center

Funding sources for the next year

The main (or preferred) sources of funding for the next year are advertising — 71% of the media plan to maximize this source of financing, as well as donor/foreign aid in the form of grants — 70%.

Also, 41% of the media hope to develop reader support and subscription for their printed products. According to our observations, such intentions persist every year, but the real practice of developing reader support does not increase.

14% of media outlets plan to develop content production, such as video production.

Another 14% of the media indicated other planned sources of funding, such as outsourcing, media partnerships with NGOs, consulting, support for IT clusters, and providing additional services to clients (identity development, content production for other media, sociological research).

Besides that, the media also indicated the following planned sources of income: support from owners, monetization, merchandising, cooperation with business, organization of events, city council activity coverage — each of these options was indicated by 5% or 4% of the media.

Research expert Andrii Boborykin points out that the media will remain dependent on donor support in the coming years, especially in the frontline regions. At the same time, he sees great potential in reader support, especially for local media, where communities can actively help their publishers. Independent journalism can continue this trend of people donating money, which has already started in Ukraine. It is more difficult for national media to attract reader support due to the great competition, while local media have fewer competitors and can receive funds even from small groups of readers. For example, a thousand subscribers can provide up to half of the local media budget.

Content

Language

Most local media abandoned the Russian-language versions of their websites at the height of the war. By the end of 2022, the share of Russian-language web pages had decreased by about 15% compared to the previous year. In 2023-2024, the situation stabilized - 8% of the media continued to support the Russian-language version of the site along with the main Ukrainian page. These mainly include media from the eastern and southern regions, where Russian-speaking content is demanded by the senior age population. At the same time, there is a positive trend in terms of content created in English. By the end of 2024, the share of local media having Ukrainian and English versions of the site increased to 8%, which is 5% more than last year.

Text formats

Reprints and rewrites in local media are increasing. The share of reprints of all content was 37% in 2023 and it increased to 41% in 2024. According to expert Andrii Dikhtiarenko, this may be due to mobilization-related resignation and worsening economic situation in the country. The inability to raise wages causes staff turnover in the media. At the same time, the editors are forced to maintain a high level of daily productivity. Under conditions of staff shortages, the result is both a general decline in the quality of content and an increase in the proportion of reprints to compensate for the lack of original stories.

This year, the most popular formats were news (95%) and interviews (92%). The format of longreads and articles is used by 87% of teams, and reports are created a little less often — by 78% of the media. Journalists tend to work on analytical pieces (67%) and investigations (43%). For the tenth part of the media investigations and analytics are entirely new formats. They have never worked with them before.

Investigation

The number of newsrooms working on investigations has almost tripled, from 22% in 2024 to 63% in 2025. On average, it takes between 3 weeks and 1 month to prepare one piece of that kind of material. This growth may be driven by a significant increase in foreign aid in the form of grants for the production of such content in 2023-2024. Investigations can lead to public outcry, even at the highest levels of government. As a result, funding organizations are more willing to support investigative journalism projects. This is how media adapt to the conditions of the grant support market, says Andrii Dikhtiarenko. Another likely factor is that media outlets are beginning to emerge from the shock of the invasion and are trying to analyze in depth what happened in the region.

It is important to note that the term "investigation" combines two fundamentally different types of content that require different professional skills: investigating the occupiers' war crimes (using OSINT tools) and anti-corruption investigations at the local level (which require an understanding of economic processes, work with documents, and access to information on procurement and tenders). Researcher expert Andrii Dikhtiarenko predicts a possible decrease in the number of investigations in 2025-2026 due to the expected decrease in donor support, which will allow assessing the media's actual capacity to work in this format.

Video formats

Photo: Andrii Dubchak / Frontliner. Slidstvo.info reporter Anastasiia Horpinchenko interviews the commander of the mortar unit of the 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade, Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, March 7, 2024

As predicted by the results of last year's report, the amount of video content has increased significantly — as of 2025, 93% of teams are engaged in video production, which is much more compared to 62% in 2024. Research expert Andrii Boborykin explains this growth the following way: First, it results from targeted project-based support for video production and/or the organization of video production in the newsroom. Depending on existing equipment and earmarked funds, it could be produced on a pretty high level. Second, it is the process of TV audiences going to YouTube as a result of news television fatigue.

Video monetization

Our experts, Andrii Boborykin and Andrii Dikhtiarenko, note that videos have quite high monetization potential. They believe that with declining website traffic and advertising revenues, video content has the potential to monetize through multiple channels:

crowdfunding and donations from the audience (more effective in video format because of the emotional connection with the audience);

advertising revenue from YouTube;

audience expansion (video can attract a wider audience compared to text formats);

launching an additional source of income (having their own technical equipment, the team can receive additional income through commercial filming of events or on-demand commercials.

The caveat is that not every newsroom will be able to create a sustainable business model around the video format. Boborykin predicts that after the period of intense donor support ends, about half of the media will be disappointed with the video format and will significantly reduce video production. Meanwhile, Dikhtiarenko is sure that the media, which still managed to find its "content formula" in the video format and establish monetization mechanisms, will continue to develop in this direction even after the reduction of endorsement from the donors.

Short and long video formats

Short formats are the most popular: YouTube Shorts (78%), Reels (78%) and caption videos (57%). Among the longer formats, video stories (63%), interviews (53%) and video reports (43%) are the most popular. Less often, newsrooms also work with livestreams and video reviews — 15% and 10%, respectively.

According to Andrii Boborykin, short forms dominate because of the relative ease of production, platform support through algorithms, and the ability to generate large numbers of views for reporting quickly. However, short formats are much less effective in monetization — they bring significantly less revenue per thousand views, compared to long formats, due to lower interest of advertisers. Short videos therefore have no significant prospects as a business model.

Documentary

Among products created by the local media, the percentage of documentary films has increased. Within the framework of last year's monitoring, only one example of a documentary was found, and this year, 6 different newsrooms reported that they were producing documentaries. Andrii Dikhtiarenko also associates this growth with targeted support for video production, because the availability of high-quality equipment allows the teams to expand the variety of their video products. As a result, it is also an opportunity for newsrooms to step out of the daily content production pipeline and work on a long-term project that can both explore a particular topic in greater depth and positively impact the media's image and brand.

Footage in video production

Today, there is still a shortage of qualified staff dedicated to video and not distracted by other tasks. Delegating video production to a separate department or specialist has not changed much over the past year, according to those surveyed.

68% of newsrooms have employees to work solely on the video content. At the same time, most of them have full-time video specialists, and about a third of them use the services of freelancers. Notably, some teams use both full-time employees and freelancers for different types of video projects. For example, short formats for social media are created by SMM managers or journalists, while long YouTube videos (or stories) are commissioned from freelancers.

In some outlets, separate teams are set up to work on videos. So journalists and videographers often work together. The position of "videographer" implies the following: cameraman, video director, editor, photographer. We have combined all these answers because one person often films and edits the videos.

The second most common combination of people working together on video production is the SMM manager + other employee within the newsroom. For example, a correspondent, photographer or video director may film a video and the SMM specialist will edit and distribute it. It is interesting that quite often, the SMM manager is engaged in video production. This division of responsibility is employed by 12% of the media surveyed.

Of those newsrooms with dedicated video format specialists, only 5 out of 41 (12%) reported having a dedicated multimedia department under the control of a video editor (or YouTube channel editor).

32% of newsrooms do not have separate employees who deal exclusively with videos. In such media, journalists, correspondents, and editors are mostly responsible for the video production. 2 teams also indicated that video production is done by journalists who have completed special courses (shooting and editing skills, mobile journalism technique — MoJo).

Other Formats

Visual types of content are in demand, namely photo reports (80%) and infographics (50%). The media also try to maintain two-way communication with the audience through polls/voting (60%) and memes (23%) on social media.

Apart from that, we'd like to mention podcasts. The number of newsrooms that create this type of content has grown from 14% in 2023 to 20% in 2024.

Despite some interest in creating podcasts, experts are a little skeptical about this format. For example, Andrii Dikhtiarenko believes that the development of podcasts as a separate audio format has limited prospects in Ukrainian local media due to the specifics of content consumption by the local audiences. Unlike Western countries, where podcasts organically fit into everyday practices (for example, listening during long commutes), this use case is not typical in Ukrainian regions.

More promising, he says, is the development of a hybrid format — video podcasts on YouTube that combine the best of audio and video. This format has several advantages:

the ability to both listen to and watch content;

additional emotional component through visual contact;

no need to install separate applications;

using a platform that is already familiar to the audience.

The conservatism of Ukrainian audiences in using new platforms and their habit of consuming content via YouTube is taken into account in this approach.

“

Ukrainians are quite conservative: if they have an application or platform installed, they would use it. And YouTube is great for this — if people are already watching and listening to something on this platform, they will continue to use it.

Andrii Dikhtiarenko, research expert

Social media

88% of newsrooms produce tailor-made content for social media. The vast majority of media adapt content for distribution via Facebook (85%), Instagram (68%), and Telegram (62%). Compared to last year, content adaptation for Instagram and Telegram decreased by 17% and 11% respectively. Almost a third of the media outlets distribute content through YouTube (30%) and TikTok (23%). Less often, people also work with Viber and Twitter (X).

Content adaptation for social media can be divided into five main categories:

Visual. Stories are often transformed into a picture, an infographic, or a series of pictures ("carousel"). Among all content adaptation options, the most popular is the production of stories with a link to the whole material — such stories are used by 77% of the surveyed media.

Text. Adaptation of text stories is the next most common approach among the media surveyed. Most of the stories are posted in a shortened form (63%) on social media, or generally highlighting only some short quotes of the protagonists of stories (38%), and adding the link to the full material. Less often, social media posts expand the material to include a headline, basic information, and additional information.

Video Slightly less than half of the surveyed media outlets tell stories through caption videos. Short Reel videos are used as an alternative. Only 17% of media share videos of journalists reading the text on their social media pages.

Interactive. 28% use an interactive component, namely polling the audience using social media.

Audio. One newsroom converts text stories into audio format that is later published in Telegram.

Innovations and plans for the future

22% of teams did not introduce new formats during 2024. Other media have tried to experiment with what's new:

Video formats. The new formats are dominated by short videos, namely YouTube Shorts (32%), Reels (32%), caption videos(20%). Longer videos were released with less intensity — 10% of the media outlets created their first video reports, and 8% worked on documentaries.

Text formats. 15% of newsrooms began to actively work on investigations, 12% of the media — on analytics and opinion pieces (blogs).

Audio formats. 15% launched podcasts

Other. Digests (10%) and polls (10%) also appeared among the new formats.

Demonstrating stability and commitment to current media strategy, the majority of respondents (82%) do not plan to abandon any format.

At the same time, some respondents expressed their intention to partially or completely abandon certain formats. Here are the categories that might be "dismissed":

Stories on social media because of their low reach.

News, by rejecting standard rewrites from the press services of authorities and law enforcement officials. The team's plan to leave exclusively high-profile news
items that will have an additional impact on the audience. In other cases, the message is taken as an opportunity for information, and the authentic story is built from it.

Some respondents also expressed intentions to eliminate types of content listed below:

complex investigations due to lack of reader interest and potential threats from officials;

video content, given that the cameramen might be mobilized;

polls and votes due to the complicated political situation in the occupied territories; since the primary audience of these media is living under occupation, it is dangerous to leave any trace;

printed newspapers;

historical video project due to lack of funding;

an interview with a national expert and a podcast.

In the future, 61% of newsrooms plan to work more on short video formats (Shorts, Reels, caption videos), and 52% on longer video formats (stories, reports, interviews, investigations).

There is still a high interest in investigations (35%), reports (22%) and analytics (18%). Long reads also remain at the top of the list (18%).

Meanwhile, interest in news and interviews has increased significantly over the past year. If in 2024 only 5% of the media wanted to develop these formats, this year there are already about 18% of them. On the other hand, media interest in podcasts has declined significantly. In 2024, just over a third of media planned to launch their own podcasts, while today only 15% of respondents say they plan to get involved in this audio format.

Content quality

We asked media managers to independently assess the quality of the content produced by their newsrooms. Indeed, 44% of those surveyed believe that their media produce high quality information products that fully meet their expectations and strategic plans for 2024. Managers attribute the high results to the uniqueness of content and strict adherence to journalistic standards. Meanwhile, some respondents stress that this is what makes them unique:

they focus only on local content;

they broadcast verified content about the occupation because they can verify information from the temporarily occupied territories.

On the other hand, 56% say their newsrooms are struggling and need to improve, either in general or in specific formats and genres. Specifically, they want to improve news content and learn how to work more effectively with multimedia formats for social media (repackaging content into short videos) and websites.

On average, these respondents rate strategic plan implementation at 70%. More than half of those surveyed cited the main reason for failing to implement the strategic plan fully is a lack of professional staff. Some teams have experienced layoffs because of mobilization, and new staff are not yet experienced enough. A small team cannot cope with all the tasks, so either the quality or the quantity of media products suffers. 45% of respondents said that their teams do not have enough time to spend on processing materials to a high quality standard.

“

The quality of the content has deteriorated because we started to engage beyond text and video, even though the number of people hasn't changed much. Cutting back where we could.

Newsroom from the Center

“

Due to staffing issues this year, the quality and quantity of content does not match the strategy as much as we would like. I would rate it 7 out of 10.

Newsroom from the West

“

...the new hires are not experienced enough. When an experienced employee is involved in the work on the content, the quality is top-notch, but they cannot be involved in the production of every piece of content.

Newsroom from the South

According to media managers themselves, their newsrooms lack technical support (38%) and funding (12%) to improve the quality of the content. Among other problems: limited access to experts and exclusive information (23%), lack of ideas and creativity (17%), as well as poor feedback from the audience (12%). They single-handedly pointed out the following shortcomings in the work of the media outlet:

limited access to respondents due to a security factor;

limited editorial freedom.

Editorial policies

For 3 years, there has been a steady increase in the number of media that have a written editorial policy. In 2022, there were 77% of such media, but in 2023 this figure increased to 86%, demonstrating a positive trend. By 2024, the share of media with a clearly defined editorial policies reached 93%, which indicates an increase in standards of work in the media sector and an increase in attention to transparency and professionalism. However, this may also be due to the external influence of services and donors. Andrii Dikhtiarenko says that it is much more attractive to provide assistance or support to the media as an institution with a written policy than to work haphazardly.

Pressure on journalists

Analysis of data for the last 3 years indicates a steady trend of pressure on local media in Ukraine. The first year of the full-scale war was the most unstable — then 43% of respondents reported that they were working under pressure. In 2023, 33% responded the same, and in 2024 this figure was 35%, showing a slight increase. While the overall level of pressure has remained the same, its forms have diversified. The number of cases with complex effects on the media has increased.

We observe that local authorities and individual politicians remain the most active subjects of pressure on local media during the 3 years analyzed. In this year's survey, 22% of respondents reported this. Pressure manifests itself in various forms: from limiting information to direct influence on the team. The very first way pressure manifests itself is the refusal of the authorities to respond to official requests and provide any comments to journalists, and sometimes also obstruction of access to local council meetings. In the case when the newsroom covers some "inconvenient" topics, state institutions or individual politicians file lawsuits in court. For example, 8% of newsroom respondents reported being the subject of legal action, most often for rebuttal and removal of journalistic material. Direct threats are also a relatively common form of pressure from the authorities and politicians — 10% of respondents said this.

“

Moderate, usual for us, indirect pressure due to the proximity of the authorities, refusing to comment, sending "greetings" from the authorities' circle that they do not like the materials; they consider any criticism to be a biased attempt to attack officials personally.

Newsroom from the South

Law enforcement agencies and the Security Service of Ukraine ranked second in terms of frequency of mention. This year, 7% of respondents were subject to pressure from them. It was also reported that law enforcement agencies and the security service try to interfere in editorial policy, limit the media's ability to cover certain topics, such as the activities of the Military Administration Service, and, less frequently, detain and exert pressure during interrogations.

“

We've received threats from local authorities, which we see as abusing power and interfering with editorial policy.

Newsroom from the Center

A separate category of pressure is associated with the activities of the occupation authorities (3 mentions). Journalists reported on searches in the homes of relatives in the temporarily occupied territories, on attempts to discredit them and on pressure on their property there.

Also, 3 offices reported cyber attacks on their media, including DDoS attacks, phishing, and hacking attempts.

To a lesser extent, but there is also pressure from business (1 mention), which manifests itself through lawsuits from representatives of business affiliated with the authorities. One survey participant also mentioned the pressure from readers in social media in the form of organized harassment (cancel mob). It is important to note that different forms of pressure often overlap and can be applied simultaneously, creating a complex impact on the work of local media journalists.

Photo: Kordon.Media. The village was damaged by the KABs. Journalists working in the hot phase, Velyka Pysarivka, 2024.

Audience & Distribution

Plans and Obstacles for Audience Expansion

Young people remain the most desirable audience for media — this was indicated by 70% of respondents. The media see development and the future in young people. They also point out that there are still few young people among their readers. This trend has been maintained since 2023, when 68% of the media surveyed indicated that they did not reach enough young people.

“

We want to have a more progressive audience around us.

Newsroom from the East

Another category of interest to the media is entrepreneurs, which is at 55%. Given the prospect of future collaboration, partnership projects and promotional opportunities, this category is of strategic importance. The media understand that it is important for them to make contact with potential advertisers. They are potential sources of funding.

The next category that the media try to cover more is internally displaced persons (38%). They explain this by the fact that IDPs make up a significant part of local communities, becoming an integral and important audience for the media. In addition, this topic is particularly important for relocated media since IDPs are not only part of their audience but also reflect their own experience.

This year, the main obstacle to the growth of the media audience was the lack of resources, as indicated by 70% of respondents. In comparison, last year the lack of resources was an obstacle for only 22% of them. It should be noted, however, that last year the response options did not include 'lack of resources' — the teams indicated this individually. The percentage difference between years may be partly affected by this. Nearly half (48%) of the media also mentioned a lack of relevant specialists. If last year the restriction of social media was the most frequent obstacle for the media (at that time it was chosen by 54% of the respondents), this year this obstacle has become the third one in the rating (35%). Blocking on social media also becomes less of an obstacle yearly: 18% in 2024, compared to 27% in 2023.

However, when the media are asked directly about restrictions on social media, more than half of the respondents claim that the restrictions have increased or significantly increased. This is because media are used to such obstacles and have learned to work with them. The study's expert, Andrii Boborykin, confirms this trend. Ukrainian media are becoming less likely to be banned as they learn to work with the standards, policies on different platforms.

“

It seems to me that Facebook hasn't changed what it's doing regarding standards. It is just that we have changed and adapted to these standards.

Andrii Boborykin, research expert

However, there are other difficulties with using social media. So, Facebook has begun to bring less traffic to media content compared to last year, our expert adds.

Distribution platforms

This year, Facebook has become the most popular platform for distribution: 97% of media use this network to distribute their content. Last year, the leader in this indicator was Telegram (95% in 2023), which is now used by 70% of the media.

Boborykin explains this by stating that in 2022–2023, the media felt the need to have a presence in Telegram, but not everyone managed to form a stable audience there. So, some local media outlets can now refuse to use Telegram and focus on platforms with a stronger audience presence.

Additionally, due to the platform's likely ties to the Russian Federation, a wave of media outlets left Telegram in 2024^[⁸^].

The following common platforms are Instagram, their website, YouTube: 75%, 72%, and 52%, respectively. TikTok is undergoing a similar change to Telegram. Last year, more than half of respondents indicated that they use this platform to distribute their content, while this year the figure fell to 37%.

Podcasting

This year, we asked separately about whether media create podcasts. 23% of the surveyed media reported that they do. Among them, 93% use YouTube to publish podcasts. Spotify (57%) and Apple Podcasts (50%) are also popular. Less popular ones are SoundCloud (36%), Megogo (29%), and Google Podcasts (21%).

Podcasts are also mentioned in the "Content" section and the "Other formats" subsection.

Indicator analysis

88% of media use Google Analytics to check their metrics. This tool has remained the most popular since last year, when 92% of the media indicated that it was used. Just under half track their metrics through platform and/or site analytics. Also, 27% of the surveyed media use their own observations to analyze editorial indicators. Financial indicators are the least used for analysing, accounting for 20%.

Technical component of the distribution

In general, media teams rate their level of knowledge about SEO requirements the same as last year: the majority (79%) of respondents rated the team's knowledge in the range of 5 to8. However, the number of media that assess this level by 9–10 points has increased to 5% of such media, while last year there was no team that would evaluate itself for such an assessment.

Media outlets are encouraged to develop their own sites by moving away from distributing their content through the popular social media sites mentioned above.

“

We try to pump them [the news] from the point of SEO. Now we are in the process of getting our material into the hands of the news feed editors. Then they tailor the news for search engines. They [the editors] have been specially trained. We are now constantly consulting with SEO specialists because we understand that social media is in decline. Facebook is giving almost no traffic at all.

Newsroom from the North

Development plans in the distribution and training system

Despite the difficulties faced by local media, newsrooms continue to learn and develop. Media organizations strive to form their own brand in the region, expand the team, work to increase the audience, etc.

“

We also understand that we need to pay much attention to distribution. We are the first media in the city to have two social media specialists. We just understand that we have lots of content and lots of social media, and we need to do quality editing and distribution. It was too much work for one person, so we hired two.

Newsroom from the West

More than half of the surveyed media (58%) would like to increase the amount of unique content in their feed. Also, half of the respondents would like to improve their specialists' skills. A third of respondents talked about collaboration with other media, and they also mentioned cooperation with different types of organizations (17%).

“

We have made plans for us not only to apply for grants ourselves but also to partner with our partners and for them to use us for coverage and support.

Newsroom from the North

“

Another thing we think about now, which is still very important, is content distribution. Now, we will put additional emphasis on this to establish the process of distributing the copyrighted content we are creating.

Newsroom from the East

Recommended Practices

Team management

Media organizations must have clearly defined and documented internal policies and procedures (at least the onboarding process, roadmaps, payment policy, leave policy, and training and development policy). These must be adhered to, with no significant exceptions, and communicated to the team. This will help protect the newsrooms from attrition and create a favorable environment for their work.

It is unnecessary to produce policies and other documents just for the sake of it. This does not contribute to the team's development and will have no effect. In developing policies, it is necessary to rely on the organizational needs of a particular media.

1:1 meetings, both between managers and the rest of the team, are a must-have for unresolved issues that arise during work tasks. They are worth conducting in order to identify and resolve employee issues promptly, as well as to provide constructive feedback.

Media organizations should have clear job descriptions and a plan for redistributing responsibilities in case an employee leaves the team, especially if the person has a wide range of responsibilities.

Media managers should evenly distribute the workload among team members and make sure that it does not go beyond 30–40 hours per week. Research shows that media professionals stay in the industry longer as a result.

Donors should support established institutional practices in the media (e.g. annual strategic meetings) as they help to structure the work and provide predictability and repeatability over time.

Specialized organizations working with the media should take into account the workload of newsrooms when designing training and support programs, so that development is harmoniously combined with the fulfillment of employees' main tasks.

Funding

Organizations need to have ready-made plans in case of a reduction in donor funding or closure of individual service organization programs.

Media should experiment with models of reader support: not only membership, but also access to content (paywall, exclusive materials, etc.).

The media could benefit from audience research programmes. These could be provided by donor organizations. This would add insight into how the strategy for developing readership support can be improved.

The media can use the technical base that they managed to develop while working on projects (podcasts, documentaries) for additional monetization of their offices.

In light of the decline in website traffic, it is worth considering the prospects for monetization of video content, in particular through crowdfunding and advertising revenue from YouTube.

Content

When developing content, it is recommended to actively use AI-based tools to optimize work, as well as save time and replace staff, which newsrooms lack already.

Teams should review everything that's being done at the moment to determine the priority and availability of their resources.

We must be prepared that some formats and products will have to be abandoned to optimize resources and improve the quality of priority tasks.

Audience & Distribution

Qualitative and quantitative methods to research the audience might come in handy, they will provide more accurate information about the socio-demographic profile. Surveys, focus groups, exploring audience media consumption habits, etc. can help with this.

Media that develop their own sites should regularly conduct SEO audits and work to improve the team's skills in SEO optimization. This will increase the amount of traffic and the platform's performance.

Methodology

This study was the 8th wave of an annual monitoring study conducted by the MDF research department since 2018. In order to track the dynamics of the state of Ukrainian local media, the basis of the toolkit is maintained from year to year. At the same time, the research methodology is constantly being improved and adapted to the context in which the media market operates.

The study sample is formed according to the target principle, which corresponds to the features of niche research^[⁹^]. Independent local media were included in the sample on a semi-randomized manner. MDF’s research department evaluates the independence of newsrooms by examining beneficiaries and media stakeholders for political and business interests, analyzing the volume and nature of tenders and public procurements that the organization engages with, and assessing media organizations’ compliance with professional standards. This definition of media independence also draws on the methodology of the News Deserts study^[¹⁰^].

As in previous waves of research, during the development of the methodology, a triangulation of methods was applied — an overview of the issue from several different perspectives, which makes it possible to study the situation more comprehensively^[⁹^]. We used 3 research methods, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches: survey forms and in-depth interviews with representatives of independent local media, as well as expert interviews.

Methods used during the study:

Survey forms — 60 survey forms.

The advantage of this wave of research is that we expanded the sample to include local media that are not part of MDF's independent partners. In total, MDF researchers collected 64 survey forms and distributed them semi-targeted (to MDF partners and other media). When checking the survey forms, the researchers found two survey forms from the same media (filled out by different employees) and two survey forms from the media, which, after verification, did not show signs of independent media. Thus, 60 media survey forms were included in the final sample.

The sample includes independent local newsrooms from 19 regions except Zhytomyr, Luhansk, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyy, Chernivtsi and Crimea. A gap in the sample illustrates the limitations of this method: the speed and response rate can affect the validity of the results ^[¹¹^]. To mitigate these limitations, the study design includes mixed methods (both qualitative and quantitative). This better reflects the state of the media market during the research period. Data collection by survey forms lasted from October 16 to November 3, 2024.

This year's sample repeats the 2022 and 2023 samples by only 38%. The rest of the media did not participate in previous MDF annual studies, and some are not part of the MDF partner pool.

The additional characteristics of the media that made up the survey sample should be mentioned.

Station region * / coverage** of the media:

40% / 30% — Center, West;

23% / 29% — East;

17% / 18% — North;

17% / 23% — South;

3% — different regions.

* Station — the city or district where the main part of the newsroom or headquarters is physically located ^[¹⁰^].

** Coverage — media coverage of events and issues related to the territory of a particular district or community, while the media are not physically located in that district/community ^[¹⁰^].

Year Established:

33% — from 2014 to 2019;

23% — from 2001 to 2013;

15% — from February 24, 2022;

10% — from 2020 to January 2022;

10% — before August 24, 1991;

8% — from August 24, 1991 to 2000.

Media type (multiple choice was possible):

78% — online;

13% — printed, online;

3% — online, radio;

3% — printed;

2% — radio.

According to the primary forms of ownership, the percentage distribution of media is as follows:

35% — NGO;

23% — LLC;

10% — individual entrepreneurs and NGOs;

8% — individual entrepreneurs;

7% — private enterprises.

The survey form itself contained 101 questions: 12 general questions about the media (to form a general description of the sample), 31 questions about management, 15 questions about financing, 20 questions about content, 23 questions about audience and distribution. This year we have created a survey form so that most of the questions have ready-made answers, with the option to specify it if needed. At the same time, there were questions that required detailed answers.

In-depth interviews — 11 interviews.

Through in-depth interviews, the researchers identified gaps in more detail and found the context of the data collected through the interviews. The sample for the qualitative part of the study retained the formation according to the target principle: we chose 2 editions from each macroregion to study more deeply the peculiarities of the media in different parts of Ukraine. Given that a relatively smaller number of respondents from the West of Ukraine took part in the survey, we selected 3 newsrooms for in-depth interviews to study the state of the media in this region as fully as possible. Therefore, we confidentially communicated with 11 newsrooms from the West, Center, North, South, and East of Ukraine. This year, we did not conduct in-depth interviews to analyze exceptional experiences (last year, we spoke with 2 newsrooms, one of which had a CEO killed in war and the other operating without a CEO/editor-in-chief as a result of a full-scale war).

Interviews lasted 40–80 minutes. The researchers used semi-structured guides that allowed them to compare the experiences of different newsrooms and identify the characteristics of each medium. The interview guide is designed to highlight the key risks of newsrooms, explore local media features, and deepen understanding of changes in content for 2024. The main stage of data collection by in-depth interviews lasted from October 24 to November 14, 2024.

Expert interviews include 4 interviews.

We invariably use semi-structured expert interviews as one approach to conducting qualitative research and cross-approving (cross validating) the collected data^[¹²^]. It is unique in that it uses interviews to systemize the special expertise of specialists in the field. This method is particularly used to establish theoretical boundaries in academic research. At the same time, more applied research helps identify problem areas and stimulate the search for relevant solutions^[¹³^]. This method is also effective for reviewing and improving studies in the early stages of implementation.

We reached out to the Media Development Foundation’s key management, content, and distribution experts. This year, we also spoke with an expert on HR processes to validate the relevant questions that have been added to the survey.

The interviews were based on the discussion and interpretation of impersonal quantitative and qualitative data obtained through survey forms and in-depth interviews. This report includes some of the experts’ conclusions and analyses. Expert interviews took place from December 19, 2024 to January 16, 2025.

Study Limitations

This study is not considered representative of all independent local newsrooms. The register (list) of media entities does not contain all the media available in Ukraine ^[¹⁴^]. This makes defining the population and drawing a representative sample very difficult. Therefore, we cannot calculate the study error and provide the confidence interval.

To make it easier for respondents to complete the survey form and to systematize the data in the future, we have provided a list of answers to most of the questions, based on the analysis of research data from previous years. Most of the time, we offer the option to add your own answer to such questions.

Sources

MEDIA DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION. (2023).
‍"Donor dilemma. Rethinking support models for the future of Ukrainian media".
https://www.mediadevelopmentfoundation.org/research/donorska-dylema-pereosmyslennya-modelej-pidtrymky-dlya-majbutnogo-ukrayinskyh-media/

Center for Innovation & Sustainability in Local Media. (2024). Stayers and Leavers Report.
‍https://www.cislm.org/research/stayers-and-leavers/stayersandleaversreport/

Reuters Institute. (2025). Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions 2025.
https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/journalism-media-and-technology-trends-and-predictions-2025#header--0

MEDIA DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION. (2023). Financial Support for Online Media in Ukraine 2023: Salaries and Trends.
‍https://research.mediadevelopmentfoundation.org/en/finance-2023.html

Monir, M. (2023). Investing in Facts: How the Business Community Can Support a Healthy Infosphere - Center for International Media Assistance. Center for International Media:
‍https://www.cima.ned.org/publication/investing-in-facts-how-the-business-community-can-support-a-healthy-infosphere/

Yevropeiska Pravda (2025 Politico: The United States will suspend assistance to Ukraine for 90 days.
‍https://epravda.com.ua/svit/politico-ssha-prizupinyayut-dopomogu-ukrajini-na-90-dniv-802457/

Institute of Mass Information 59.2% of journalists predict catastrophic consequences due to the suspension of US international grants — IMI survey. https://imi.org.ua/monitorings/59-2-zhurnalistiv-prognozuyut-katastrofichni-naslidky-vnaslidok-zupynky-mizhnarodnyh-grantiv-ssha-i66433

Institute of Mass Information (2023). Dangerous telegram: why Ukrainian local media (do not) leave the Russian network.
‍https://imi.org.ua/blogs/nebezpechnyj-telegram-chomu-ukrayinski-regionalni-media-ne-jdut-z-rosijskoyi-merezhi-i62189

Lawrence Neuman, W. (2014). Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. 7th Edn., Pearson Education Limited, p.166, 273.
https://letrunghieutvu.yolasite.com/resources/w-lawrence-neuman-social-research-methods_-qualitative-and-quantitative-approaches-pearson-education-limited-2013.pdf

MEDIA DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION. (2023). Новинні пустелі в Україні 2.0. https://research.mediadevelopmentfoundation.org/novinni-pusteli-v-ukrayini-2-0.html

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

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

‌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

The National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting. (2024). Register of media entities.
‍https://webportal.nrada.gov.ua/derzhavnyj-reyestr-sub-yektiv-informatsijnoyi-diyalnosti-u-sferi-telebachennya-i-radiomovlennya/

Read more about MDF and our research at this link:

Valeriia Shemshuchenko

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

Oksana Buts

Head of Research at Media Development Foundation. Sociologist, BA in Sociology at UCU, MA in Sociology at NaUKMA

Dariya Orlova

Research editor at Media Development Foundation, PhD in Mass Communications, researcher in media and journalism, Associate Professor at the Mohyla School of Journalism, NaUKMA.

Polina Lуpova

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

Nataliia Fedor

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

Ievhen Kohen

Researcher at Media Development Foundation. MA in History of Philosophy at NaUKMA, work experience in national and regional media

Maksym Sribnyi

Media Research Consultant, MA in Journalism at NaUKMA

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

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

CEO of RIA Media. Key expert in media management at Media Development Foundation

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

Natalіa Kovalenko

HR manager at Media Development Foundation, HR expert and mentor of regional media

This research was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Media Development Foundation and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

STATE OF LOCAL NEWS IN UKRAINE IN 2025

Introduction

Key Findings

Challenges of the War

Staff shortages and mobilization

Underfunding

Psychological stress and fatigue of team members

Power outages, frequent shelling and missile strikes

The complexity of working with the occupied territories and border areas

Other challenges

Collaboration between the media

Team management

Team composition

Freelancers

Staff shortage

HR policies

How mobilization affected newsroom HR policies and resources

Mental wellbeing

Training

Work Optimization with AI-based tools

Team work planning

Strategic planning

Funding

General overview of budgets

Breaking down the main expenses

Percentage distribution of newsrooms' revenues

The difference between the media that were created before and after the full-scale invasion

Foreign aid in the form of grants, or the affiliation of the independent media

Support from the readers

Funding sources for the next year

Content

Language

Text formats

Investigation

Video formats

Social media

Innovations and plans for the future

Content quality

Editorial policies

Pressure on journalists

Audience & Distribution

Plans and Obstacles for Audience Expansion

Distribution platforms

Podcasting

Indicator analysis

Technical component of the distribution

Development plans in the distribution and training system

Recommended Practices

Team management

Funding

Content

Audience & Distribution

Methodology

Sources

TEAM

Research experts