On October 11, 2024, the Commission on Journalistic Ethics received a complaint from Olha Kozel against the publication of GRUNT online media, which was posted on September 29, 2024, on the online platform Instagram, available at https://www.instagram.com/p/DAf4awON-Ue/. The complainant pointed out that the post contained significant portions of Suspilne’s publication “People Burned for Four Months. How Eyewitnesses Remember the Tragedy in Babyn Yar” by Andrii Stasiuk, which came out on September 29, 2023, accusing the media outlet of plagiarism.
The Commission asked the media to comment on the situation and to consider addressing this violation. As a result of this communication, GRUNT added a disclaimer to their publication: “UPD: the publication has been prepared based on Suspilne’s material ‘People Burned for Four Months. How Eyewitnesses Remember the Tragedy in Babyn Yar’ by Andrii Stasiuk, of September 29, 2023.” Acting Editor-in-Chief Anton Maksymenko also reported that the media provided additional training to new team members on the correct format of such posts.
The Commission welcomes the newsroom’s steps to prevent future violations and address current ones. Additional training of employees is a way to ensure due competition in the media market and to improve the quality of original content, and work to counter plagiarism promotes respect for the work of other independent media. Earlier, the Commission already spoke out about the importance of countering plagiarism and provided recommendations on this issue.