Oksana Brovko: “Ukrainian Media Are Not Only Asking for Help — Today They Can Share Experience with Foreign Colleagues and Teach Them”
This year, the XV Media Congress will take place in Lviv, bringing together representatives of Ukrainian regional and local media, international experts and partners. This year’s event theme is “People. Trust. Solutions.” The focus is on media financial sustainability, audience trust, artificial intelligence and editorial innovations, investigative journalism, and the challenges of working during wartime.
About how the Media Congress has changed over more than 15 years, what regional newsrooms need today, how approaches to supporting media professionals are changing, and what decisions can determine the future of independent regional media in Ukraine, we spoke with Oksana Brovko, director of the Association “Independent Regional Publishers of Ukraine.”
— This year will be the XV Media Congress already. How have the Congress itself and its role for the Ukrainian media community changed over these years? What remains unchanged in its idea?
— We launched the Congress more than 15 years ago, with a two-year break at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic and the full-scale invasion. The changes in the Congress are very easy to feel from how the name changed. We started with an event called the “All-Ukrainian Newspaper Congress,” and then it became the Media Congress. There was also an intermediate stage when we positioned ourselves as a Congress of Information Sites and City Portals.
We intentionally used such a long, not quite SMM-like name: to start and strengthen this mainstream. After all, back then many newspaper regional media were not in a hurry to risk and take the first steps with large investments in digital, in online. And for me, one of the priorities was to set the direction on the regional market, so that newsrooms would not fear transformations. So when we at some point moved from the All-Ukrainian Newspaper Congress to the Congress of Information Sites and City Portals, it was a conscious decision: we wanted our print media publishers in the regions to believe in their own strength and gain additional courage for digital transformation.
Now the Media Congress is an environment where we talk about online media, socio-political, local, regional and independent media. And this runs as a key thread through the entire history of the Congress. We talk about practical cases, ideas that newsrooms can integrate into their daily work already today or tomorrow. That is, the presentation format did not change, no matter how we changed the concept and priorities of the Congress itself. The main thing is practical cases, successful or unsuccessful. And the main task of our Congress remains to build an environment where a regional editor, journalist or project manager can come and honestly, without feeling competition, talk, communicate, feel support and be inspired by ideas.
— The Association “Independent Regional Publishers of Ukraine” has worked with regional media for many years. What has changed the most in the work of newsrooms and their needs during this time, especially during the full-scale invasion?
— Our Association emerged at one time as a reaction, as a response to the need of regional independent media to have a professional environment where you can speak honestly, share experience and defend your interests. So we worked, more or less adhering to this model: communications were built, and our events — not limited, but concentrated mostly on those who shared our views and interests and joined our work. So we knew and know this market from the inside.
When the full-scale war started, everything instantly and radically changed. Because before the war we were tuning everyone in and sharing experience on how to build an independent business model in regional media. And when the full-scale war started, all of this collapsed. Most of our colleagues in one moment involuntarily turned from ordinary socio-political journalists into military correspondents. The foundation for normal development, business development of a regional newsroom, where you could plan subscriptions, club models, community development, was destroyed. And against the backdrop of general turbulence, because throughout the world the media market is changing very rapidly and many technological challenges are appearing — war, of course, undermined even more that more or less stable platform, that understanding and confidence that our newsrooms had before the full-scale invasion.
That is why we are now trying, through our activities, during the war, to support such a professional flame within regional teams, so that changes in the market do not become critical and so that everyone does not start relying solely on donor support. This is a great danger, a great risk for media — to actually lose the market of independent media in Ukraine. The longer the war lasts and the longer we rely on donor support, telling ourselves that now is not the time for any business decisions, the harder it will be in the post-war period to return to a normal business model in regional media.
That’s why at all the events and meetings we conduct and to which regional media managers and leaders are involved, we remind them: now is the time to technically and technologically prepare your media and teams for future opportunities and changes. The war will end — and you will be able to more actively develop communities, the first steps toward which can be taken now. We have very good examples of this. Similarly, you should now prepare for the implementation of paywalls and other monetization models. Some national media, as we can see, are already moving in this direction. Of course, regional media in the current situation do not have the ability to act as boldly as “Ukrainian Pravda” or NV. They do not have such financial capacity right now. But that time will come, and building the appropriate foundation is absolutely necessary right now.
— Have the approaches to supporting regional media and media professionals changed during the full-scale war? What formats of assistance really work today?
— We have been working all this time through various programs, providing targeted support, and we have really managed to help many regional media. And what I see: their needs change, so our reaction to them changes as well. The value of media communities, especially the Ukrainian one, lies in the fact that we all live in one context. A donor or partner abroad, however sincere his desire to help, often finds it difficult to understand the realities of the daily life of a local journalist. That is why it is important that such communities and media organizations work in Ukraine. We can communicate with partners, explain what is truly important today and what should be prioritized at the donor and institutional levels when it comes to supporting Ukrainian media during the war.
Recently we had a recovery program for media professionals from Sumy, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Kропивnycke regions. Now there are many psychological support programs, but few formats that respond specifically to the internal needs of journalists and editors from frontline regions. They don’t always need another training or consultation. Sometimes you just need to go somewhere, be in relative peace, and even better — together with your child, who has also experienced shelling. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to organize projects in such a format due to bureaucratic restrictions, program priorities, etc.
12 media professionals took part in our program. Most came with children, some with grandchildren. They especially thanked us specifically for the opportunity to spend time with loved ones and not think about anything. There was no additional educational program, load or mandatory activities. There was an opportunity to breathe and be with your family. This is also a very important element of supporting local newsrooms. Supporting a media professional’s family is ultimately also supporting the newsroom itself. Honestly, this program was something of an experiment for us. But when the participants arrived, I saw how successful this format turned out to be.
— You actively cooperate with foreign media associations and organizations. Who has become your closest partner? Whose experience is particularly interesting and useful for you — perhaps a certain professional community or a specific country?
— It’s hard to answer right away. Before my eyes — just people, media professionals from other countries, who themselves want to help, want to be useful and take part in our various projects. It’s not about how deep our partnerships are with various companies and organizations. It’s the people who inspire, you understand? Whether it’s Joanna Blaut from Germany — a media professional, media consultant, who wants to support Ukrainian women media professionals and with whom we are implementing great projects precisely for women editors. Or Randi Ogrey, head of the Norwegian media association, who has systematically, from the first days of the full-scale war, helped and supported a whole pool of Ukrainian regional media. Or, say, the large media group Amedia Foundation, which allows us to implement very important emergency assistance projects. Or a small Dutch media group that supports the purchase of turnstiles and first aid kits for journalists and newsrooms in border regions. I see each person’s strength, and it’s really very difficult to single out one person. Because despite the fact that it’s already the fifth year of full-scale war, a professional cohort of people has formed around us who have not stepped back due to fatigue, fading enthusiasm or the adrenaline rush that was practically everyone at the beginning of 2022. Now around us is a strong community of colleagues, from each of whom you take something and are inspired by something of their own.
— “People. Trust. Solutions” — the theme of this year’s Congress. Why did these three concepts become the basis of its program?
— Because people right now are probably th
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16 of September 2026
