{"id":27157,"date":"2026-06-18T15:13:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/?p=27157"},"modified":"2026-06-18T15:16:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:16:49","slug":"in-ukraine-training-journalists-to-strengthen-the-role-of-local-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/in-ukraine-training-journalists-to-strengthen-the-role-of-local-media","title":{"rendered":"In Ukraine, training journalists to strengthen the role of local media"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As Ukrainian society faces the consequences of the war and numerous challenges to social cohesion, independent local media play an essential role in informing communities and creating spaces for dialogue. This role is all the more important as they must also help citizens understand increasingly complex decisions related to reconstruction, public spending and local governance, often with limited resources and difficult access to information. To support this mission, Fondation Hirondelle and its Ukrainian partners organised a four-day training course in early June for journalists from 12 local media outlets, aimed at strengthening newsrooms\u2019 capacity to cover issues of public interest and engage with their audiences.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The training brought together twelve media professionals from different regions of Ukraine, many of whom work along the front line.<\/strong> Over four days, participants explored investigative journalism tools, open-source research techniques, public budget monitoring and reconstruction issues, learned how to use artificial intelligence, and discussed the role of media in strengthening public dialogue at local level. A dedicated session also focused on the challenges of covering future electoral processes in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many participants, the training provided concrete tools that could be applied directly in their newsrooms. Yuliia Shmatchenko, Editor-in-Chief of the Slobidskyi Krai<\/em> newspaper in Kharkiv, <\/strong>described the programme as \u201ca powerful source of practical experience\u201d<\/em>, noting that each training course organised by Fondation Hirondelle provides her with \u201cnew knowledge, new professional connections, and renewed energy to implement new ideas\u201d<\/em>. The sessions on open-source data and artificial intelligence have already changed the way she approaches certain daily journalistic tasks: \u201cThanks to the skills and tools I gained during the training, I no longer need to send formal information requests to obtain data on local budget spending or company ownership,\u201d<\/em> she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several participants also highlighted the value of the discussions on future electoral processes and on how media can continue to inform citizens about these issues in a context of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The editor-in-chief of the Vorskla<\/em> newspaper in Ukraine hands a copy of the newspaper to the manager of a shop in the village of Riabyn on 2 July 2025. \u00a9 Anton Shtuka \/ Fondation Hirondelle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For newsrooms located in frontline areas or border regions, the training also offered concrete ways to adapt their editorial practices. Oleksii Pasiuha, Editor-in-Chief of the Vorskla<\/em> newspaper in Velyka Pysarivka,<\/strong> in the Sumy region, explained that for a newsroom working \u201cunder near-constant shelling\u201d,<\/em> the most useful topics were the use of artificial intelligence in journalism, data journalism and modern approaches to social media. \u201cWe started applying many of these tools and practices almost immediately after returning from the training,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the coming months, the participating journalists will receive editorial support to help turn these new skills into reports and investigations on issues that directly concern their communities: reconstruction, public spending, local governance and citizen participation. By strengthening the editorial and technical capacities of Ukrainian media, Fondation Hirondelle contributes to ensuring that populations most affected by the war have access to reliable, useful information rooted in local realities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Learn more about our work in Ukraine.<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interview with the local newspaper Mayak in Bohodukhiv, Ukraine, on 2 July 2025. \u00a9 Anton Shtuka \/Fondation Hirondelle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":27190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[196],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-our-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-25 23:29:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27157"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27235,"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27157\/revisions\/27235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}