Five insights from Ukrainian regional media operating during wartime 

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war, local newsrooms in Ukraine have faced an acute crisis that put their survival in question.

From two studies conducted by the Media Development Foundation in 2022 and 2024, the pattern is clear: the crisis of staff retention persists and has intensified due to employee retention challenges, threats of Russia’s attacks, mental health issues and mobilisation. Financial instability continues as commercial opportunities remain reduced compared to pre-invasion times. However, in the two years that passed, regional media were able to adjust and embrace a more long-term planning horizon. 

What other shifts have occurred in local journalism? The Fix attended the Ukrainian Media Champions conference organised by Jnomics Media, a media consultancy that helps independent media with development. Here’s a look at five insights from regional outlets that have learned to navigate these unstable times.

Editor’s note: disclosure – several senior leaders at Jnomics are also co-founders and editors of The Fix.

Despite the narrow planning horizon, local media find ways to thrive

Last year, 5 Ukrainian regional media participated in a mentorship programme offered by Jnomics, aimed to “strengthen market players and make them more visible, competitive, sustainable, and able to create additional value for the Ukrainian audience”.

Kharkiv-based Gwara, Sumy’s Cukr, Uzhhorod’s Varosh, 18000 from Cherkasy and Kherson’s Vhoru were among the participants that improved team management, organisational development, financial sustainability, quality of content production and distribution, and brand development.

Diana Tyshchenko, editor-in-chief at Varosh, shared that since the start of the programme, they increased their Instagram audience reach by 122% and implemented SEO optimisation, which helped achieve a 40% growth in website traffic compared to the last year. Since October of last year, Varosh has doubled its team. Cukr also ramped up its operations, increasing content production from 21 to 69 pieces per month.

Gwara shared that after the programme, their website’s unique users doubled, and revenue from their community increased from 1% to 5% as a percentage of total revenue. Even though “financial stability is impossible for a frontline media” as Serhii Prokopenko, Gwara’s chief editor, said, they keep setting goals and KPIs but with an “open to potential failures” mindset due to unpredictable situations such as blackouts or Russia’s attacks.

18000 and Vhoru focused on community growth and revenue diversification. For 18000, community wasn’t a new concept, but they hired a community manager to stabilise this direction. By prioritising video as a medium for investigations, they managed to reach target audiences that preferred video content.To reduce dependency on one revenue stream, assistance from a local IT Cluster, 18000 invested more resources in applying for grants and promoting their commercial capacity, CEO Elena Shchepak said.

Vhoru concentrated on grants and commercial revenue, which had been impossible to receive during Kherson’s occupation. Recently the organisation developed its reader revenue approach to form a community invested in the fate of their city and region. Their team grew from 20 to 27 members including a fundraiser manager, allowing them to diversify their content. Their traffic grew to 67% since the beginning of 2024 thanks to hiring a SEO specialist, while overall their audience on all platforms increased to 37% with the help of launching a new platform — TikTok — and producing more content on all social media, Ehor Sydorovych, head of Vhoru’s SMM, said at the conference.

Despite the trends of news avoidance and war fatigue, with an audience-centric approach and a deep understanding of audiences and their content needs, local media can still work effectively and maintain public attention. 

Key lessons learned

During a panel discussion at Ukrainian Media Champions conference, Varosh, Gwara, Cukr, 18000 and Vhoru shared learnings from their experience operating during the war and insights they’ve gained from the mentorship programme.  

Planning for more than a week in wartime might sound like a crazy idea. Or it might have – but not anymore. To sustain the business, media outlets chose to set long-term goals and dream big. Even though last year it sounded hard to believe, today they prepare strategies for one, three or even ten years.

For Gwara planning horizon became four years, for 18000 — three years, for Cukr — ten. “Discipline beats creativity,” says Cukr’s CEO. “Practice shows that if you don’t understand where you will be in 10 years, you probably won’t know where you will be in three days.” 

2. Statistics is not everything 

Regional media can compete for big numbers and unique views, but to what end? Varosh and Vhoru believe that it is crucial to constantly question the need for products that they want to launch. What are the reasons to produce them? Where will they lead the organisation? What is the desired impact they will make? 

For Vhoru it’s more important to be useful for people in the region rather than receive millions of views and followers. “Practical value of content that we can convert or that can help people on de-occupied territories”. That is what Vhoru’s team looks for. Their goal is not to grow users, but to become a bridge between their audiences for them to connect. 

18000 and Gwara have the same opinion. “We chase impact, not numbers. One viral TikTok that gained 1 million views is good to promote your media, but what we really aim for is a community of people who care about their region”, Gwara’s editor-in-chief Prokopenko said. He believes that “local media that doesn’t invest in community building will disappear”.

“Less is more”. Varosh’s CEO Rosana Tyzhanska uses this philosophy to explain their approach in community building. For them numbers are not the aim. “Unique audience is a good indicator to track media’s activity, productivity, relevancy. But it’s not an end in itself. The end in itself is what we want to do with audiences and what we can give them”. 

3. Not everyone needs to become a national media 

“Local stories can be used for national discussions”, Serhii Prokopenko from Gwara asserts. He is convinced that reporting on local issues leads to deeper investigations that will be taken up by national outlets and pushed among society.

Regional expertise can help national processes 

Serhii Prokopenko

However, local outlets face challenges in securing grants that often look for high numbers and more ambitious projects. “We need to convey to donors that for local media scaling up does not necessarily mean opening franchises or expanding geographically, but deepening the impact within the current scope”, says Varosh’s Rosana Tyzhanska.

4. Advertisers come for a local community but require much effort, which becomes a challenge for small newsrooms

Regional media can offer advertisers a very targeted audience that national media won’t reach. However, for local newsrooms, working with big commercial projects becomes a challenge due to limited capacity, while small and medium businesses are recovering and trying to stay afloat since the beginning of the invasion. 

Even though Gwara’s team has collaborated with major players like Uklon, Ukrainian taxi service, and PrivatBank, the biggest bank, the rewards do not always match the resources and effort invested. It might not be enough to build a separate commercial department that will only produce commercial stories. “This is why our journalists also take on commercial materials alongside their regular duties”, Dmytro Tishchenko from Cukr added.

5. “Mental health issues during wartime have become a new pandemic” 

That’s what Varosh’s Rosana Tyzhanska says. In 2023, Ukraine’s health ministry reported that 14 million Ukrainians have a need of psychological care. As a result, newsroom heads now play dual roles as leaders and psychologists for their staff, addressing not just professional but also personal challenges caused by the war. 

“Everyone thinks differently. It’s about recognising a value: people won’t leave if they see what they achieve and where they go”, Cukr’s CEO Dmytro Tishchenko believes. 

All outlets agreed that it’s crucial for leaders to listen to employees and show them that they are heard in such unstable times. Having one-on-ones and other types of feedback is a tool to track not only work-related issues but also pay close attention to how your journalists feel.

Source of the cover photo: courtesy of the Ukrainian Media Champions conference

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