Some newsrooms offer gluten-free, vegan-like experiences
where your options at the writers’ buffet are limited. Others are vibrant
kitchens where you can be a pescaterian one day and enjoying a steak the other.
Kyiv Post is the latter.
My journey with the Kyiv Post began in 2009. I started as a
general assignment reporter with my first story covering rising bread prices.
What followed after was a medley of Ukraine’s politics, economy and lifestyle
under my byline. Kyiv Post allowed the freedom to cover what I felt passionate
about and the news team to stoke and share that passion.
I was lucky to work with an incredibly talented and
dedicated team. The day when we walked out of the Kyiv Post office in protest to chief editor Brian Bonner’s dismissal was akin to a small revolution, one
of many invisible protests in Ukraine, but nevertheless an important one to us.
We made sure our voices were heard – by U.S. senators, Reuters journalists
and the business community, among others. Mired in anxiety and angst, the
protest was also an event of unanimity, accord and belief in journalistic
integrity. About 30 journalists were ready to quit their jobs and face the
uncertainty of unemployment. It was humbling and inspiring. Luckily the conflict
resolved itself quickly and we all came out stronger from it.
The range of stories I was able to cover was a blessing, too.
From general reporting I switched to lifestyle, which marked my last and most
exciting year at the paper. As a lifestyle editor, I had all the fun in the
world. From opera and film reviews one day to festivals and fashion shows the
next. But not all of them were fun, innocent pieces to read with your morning
coffee. One story that ruffled many feathers in the city is the one I share a lot when asked to
describe what life is like for women in Ukraine.
The story unfolded during an
annual charity gala when Kyiv’s international community celebrates poet Robert
Burns and donates to a good cause. One of the entertainment choices for that
year’s event was go-go girls. I found a concept of semi-clad women performing
to a distinguished audience of diplomats and businessmen obnoxious in relation
to charity and rude towards the female audience. But many readers disagreed and
flooded the newsroom with emails and phone calls. Such is life in Ukraine.
Sexism thrives and if you need a short skirt to help you donate, it raises bigger
questions of ethics and women’s rights. At least it did for me.
The truth is that a job of a lifestyle editor is like that of
any other reporter. You must entertain, but you must also educate – and not
just about upcoming concerts and new restaurant openings. Nothing explains it
better than my story about a Christmas decorations factory just outside Kyiv. Working in dangerous
conditions without masks, nor central heating, glass blowers work hard on
bringing the miracle of Christmas to the millions of people around Ukraine.
That “fairyland” factory is an apt analogy for Ukraine as a country – doting on
tradition and good faith against the harshness of economic realities, factory
workers carry on with a smile and hope.
I miss writing stories like that one. I miss Brian Bonner’s kind
edits and my favorite “too-much-tinsel-on-the-Christmas-tree” remarks in
reference to me losing sight of a big picture.
My journey with the Kyiv Post has never ended. I may live in
another country and no longer cover Ukrainian news but the spirit of KP’s
newspapermen and women lives on.
I sat down to write this post after listening to one of the
U.S. presidential hopefuls discuss the importance of youth vote. A few days
before that, I listened to a Serbian political activist speak about toppling
Slobodan Milosevic’s regime.
Brigade, a startup in San Francisco whose mission
is to boost American civil engagement, organized both events. I now call this
city home and the startup – a new exciting professional challenge. In summary,
I couldn’t be happier to be anywhere else and for this I thank the Kyiv Post.
