Here is why:
About new Ukraine
Two years after the EuroMaidan Revolution and Russia’s war against our nation, Ukraine has made a lot of progress. However, the fundamental change that people gave their lives for has yet to happen. The transition from “old Ukraine” – corrupt, ineffective – to “new Ukraine” – the opposite of that – requires resetting the social contract.
Business has a great role in driving this change. Those companies that find strength to play by the rules and live up to the highest ethical standards – respecting their employees, their partners and the state – are the new Ukraine.
For 20 years, Kyiv Post managed to preserve its integrity and journalism standards, including separation of editorial and commercial decision-making. It did so despite pressure from government, economic crisis, revolution and war.
Kyiv Post never changed its ethics, never accepted paid articles, or advertising disguised as news, no matter how hard things got. (For example, the newspaper had to lay off half its staff during the global crisis of 2008.) Readers and advertisers know this and trust us.
This is what has to happen all over Ukraine -– people and businesses playing by the rules. This is a hard decision for any CEO to make as it puts your firm at competitive disadvantage when your industry competitors don’t. So the cost is high in the short-term. However, if enough of companies do the right thing for the sake of the nation, Ukraine will change for the better over time.
About independent media
When it comes to journalism, Ukraine needs more independent media, less oligarch-controlled media. The Kyiv Post serves as a model for how journalism should be practiced and, as a consequence, many of our staff members have gone on to work for The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and other top outlets.
Perhaps nobody described this role better than Vitaly Sych, a former Kyiv Post staff writer who is now the chief editor of Novoye Vremya: “When people ask me what needs to happen for Ukrainian media to change, I answer that media with international standards need to arrive. They educate hundreds of journalists, introduce new standards and undermine competitors that take bribes or service their owners. They do make a long-lasting difference. The Kyiv Post was the biggest of them.”
Independent journalism, however, does not appear out of nowhere — there needs to be a social demand for it and a social willingness to support it financially — through subscriptions and advertising.
Going forward
The Kyiv Post is a work in progress. Over the past 17 months we have increased and diversified revenue streams, strengthened the team, progressed towards a digital future, widened community outreach, launched new coverage areas, including technology and reforms, organized events such as the Tiger Conference and CEO breakfasts and served as career matchmaker through our employment fairs. We have put Ukraine in the international spotlight through new special supplements, including “Doing Business in Ukraine” and ‘Ukraine’s Sucess Stories.”
The community has supported us along the way and I am sure my successor as CEO, Jim Brooke, will keep improving the Kyiv Post. I leave truly humbled and grateful to have had this opportunity. I am now the development director for another incredible institution – the Institute for the Study of War in Washington, D.C., which contributes to public understanding of military affairs and security issues through independent analysis of open-source data.
I wish the Kyiv Post another 20 years of success and ask the community to keep supporting this precious institution so that it is able to keep the bar high in ethics and performance. Starting from my summer internship at the Kyiv Post, I have been associated with the paper- either directly working for it or indirectly supporting it- for nearly eight years. I can say with certainty, it represents the best of Ukraine, old or new.
Nataliya Bugayova served as CEO of the Kyiv Post from August 2014 through December 2015. She can be reached at [email protected].
