S1 E2 Brave New Media: On the Frontline in Ukraine

Welcome to episode two of Brave New Media – a global podcast featuring journalists and editors from around the world telling their stories as part of our mission to help create a healthier media ecosystem. In each episode a specialist digs deep into the issues uncovered by our Brave New Media outlets, and offers solutions.

 

In this episode we explore the stories of Katerina Sergatskova and Roman Stepanovych in Ukraine, they describe turning their culture and society digital platform Zaborona into a war-reporting operation, literally overnight.

 

Zaborona means taboo in Ukrainian, which is what Katerina Sergatskova set out to break when she founded this multi-media platform with her partner Roman amid the new freedoms that flourished after Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution in 2014. But everything changed when the Russians invaded in February this year. Katerina and her partner Roman explain the lessons they had to learn quickly about how to cover war in their own country, how to become eyewitnesses and chroniclers of terrible events. Veteran BBC war correspondent Allan Little finds much in their stories that resonates with his own experiences, and he reflects on the need to expose myth-making in wartime, and on the virtue of bearing witness. But how do you stay motivated and committed when your mission to reveal injustice has no apparent effect?

 

A transcript is available on the Brave New Media homepage or here: shorturl.at/jwX14

 

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Show Links:

https://zaborona.com/

https://www.facebook.com/zaborona

https://www.instagram.com/zaborona_com/

https://twitter.com/zaborona_media

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJrtV4HxObQ5j9DyNE_CiSg

 

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More information on Zaborona: 

 

Zaborona Media is an online publication covering social challenges, freedoms and security, championing those who stand up for basic rights and try to bring about positive change. Zaborona publishes reports, investigations, documentary video projects, comics and multimedia formats (podcasts and visual stories). 

 

Zabarona has a team of over 30 people. Its funding model consists of contributions from readers on the online membership platform, Patreon, and grants from international organisations and partnerships. 

 

It has an audience reach of around one million per month on its platforms, over 45 per cent of whom are female. Its largest audience is based in Ukraine (80 per cent), with 3 per cent in Russia and Poland, and less than 2 per cent in Austria, Germany and the US. The bulk of its listeners are in the 18-34 age group (40 per cent), closely followed by the 35-54 age group (39.5 per cent).

 

Zaborona recently became a laureate of the Free Media Awards from the Frittord Foundation and Di Zeit Foundation. 

 

We asked Zabarona’s founders to describe their recent successes, and hopes and fears for the future.

 

Which of your recent stories are you most proud of and why?

 

Since the beginning of the invasion Zaborona focuses mostly on the coverage of war crimes and the human scale of the war. We report from the regions that are affected by the Russian aggression more than others; we speak to people who survive constant attacks. The most important story for us so far is the investigation of the attack on the Mariupol drama theater. The world still does not know how many people died in this bomb attack, and how many survived. We conducted interviews with dozens of people and you will hear more about that very soon.

 

Where do you hope to be in a year’s time? What do you need to get there?

 

Let’s hope that the war will be over soon and we will be able to focus on other things. For now, we as Ukrainian media are surviving, but we also have a lot to say to the world about our experience and expertise. We would like to show what it is like to live with the invasion, and what kind of world we would like to see afterwards.

 

What’s your greatest fear for the future of media in Ukraine?

 

Media in Ukraine are on the edge of their capacity. People are very tired of the war since it is a great stress, and we face great threats on a daily basis. So my fear is that many very good Ukrainain media will not survive, and many journalists will quit their jobs and even the profession. Society is already very traumatised, and it will worsen.

 

Brave New Media is presented by Maha Taki and is A Holy Mountain Production, produced by Saskia Black, for BBC Media Action - the BBC's international charity. To contact us, email: media.action@bbc.co.uk

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