The Commission on Journalistic Ethics presented the results of a pilot project wherein three Ukrainian media were supported in improving editorial policies and turning them into an effective tool for internal management. These results were presented on July 15, 2024, during an online discussion with experts, journalists, and teachers.
Opening the discussion, the Chairman of the Commission, Andrii Kulykov, emphasized the importance of transparent and integral editorial policies, which are based on the Ethics Code of the Ukrainian Journalist. He pointed out that such documents not only contributed to self-regulation by the media, but also help to resolve ethical dilemmas, to explain the principles and values of the newsroom to the audience, as well as protect newsrooms in conflicts with owners and advertisers.
Project mentor Otar Dovzhenko noted that this pilot project has the potential to reach a much larger number of Ukrainian newsrooms. He spoke in detail about what issues should be taken into account in editorial policies, including rules for editing, intervention in texts, refutation and correction of errors, as well as other aspects that are useful in a newsroom.
Natalia Pakhaichuk, representative of the National Network of Hyperlocal Media Raion.in.ua, shared her experience with implementing new editorial policies in her newsroom. She spoke about the importance of documenting the vision, mission, and values of the media, as well as the introduction of an editorial ombudsman, who is responsible for protecting the rights of the audience.
“At the dawn of our work, for the longest time, we were afraid of publishing our own editorial rules and policies because we were unsure we did not violate our own rules and were not making mistakes. I felt that as soon as we published some declarative rules that we don’t do something or do something else, once we made an error, people would crucify us. That was until we trained the team, and the majority of our employees have been with us for over five years. We are now confident in their professionalism, so we have already published these rules. We summoned up the courage and published them — and nothing happened, nobody is getting crucified,” emphasized Ms. Pakhaichuk.
Kseniia Yarivna, representative of the Kharkiv outlet Objective, which has been working since 2000, said that participating in the Commission’s project helped their newsroom adapt general ethical principles to their specific conditions of work, particularly when it comes to publishing pictures of minors and working with sources of information from social media and from the aggressor country.
“Our first version of editorial policy was an enormous document with a lot of excessive things. It was easier to start over. I decided to work off of the Ethics Code of the Ukrainian Journalist, as well as the principles and nature of our newsroom’s work, so that it would cater to our needs. We had a section “about us,” Otar helped us figure out what had to be there, how it had to be structures, brief self-identification — who you are, how you identify, your current mission, goals, the nature of your work during the war, and the main principle was history. I had the “bones” on which I built the “meat,” which was very convenient because it’s always easier to work according to a plan. Despite my 20 years of work experience and specialized education, I received a lot of useful information and advice. The final product, our editorial policy, is now published on our website in place of the old one. And I am confident that it will be very useful,” said Kseniia Yarivna.
Natalia Liashchenko, representative of Kyiv TRC, said that their newsroom is actively working on adapting editorial documents to new challenges, including the preparation for transformation in line with the new law.
“We must be the largest project, I mean in terms of the scope of budgeting and the reach of our information. There is an entire chapter about us in the new law ‘On the Media’ — we are a municipal television and radio organization, which must fully undergo this path of transformation after the law comes into force. Getting into this project and starting a conversation about public editorial policies was crucial for us particularly for this reason. We understand that we will have to work not only with our team, but also with our owner, Kyiv City Council. As a result, we came up with a document that we call editorial policies, written in a clear language. We hope that the existence of this document will be an additional response why we choose certain news, what news are of interest for Kyiv residents based on our scanners, based on Google trends, and so on. We understand that for us, this document serves as additional protection from an attempt to interfere with events happening within the newsroom on the part of people that have nothing to do with the newsroom itself,” said Natalia Liashchenko, acting CEO of Kyiv TRC.
Otar Dovzhenko concluded that modern editorial policies should be not only comprehensive, but also concise, so that all media workers can easily understand and apply it in their daily work. He also noted that the safety of journalists should be a priority, and newsrooms should take this aspect into account in their policies.
The Commission on Journalistic Ethics will continue working on the improvement of editorial policies in Ukrainian newsrooms. This will contribute not only to improving professional standards, but will also strengthen the trust of the audience for the media.