The Visti Vodolazhchyny newspaper has returned to readers in December. Readers from the small former district center of Nova Vodolaha, which gave shelter to more than 10,000 forced migrants from its regional center – Kharkiv, are getting their favorite newspaper again thanks to the de-occupation of the Kharkiv Region, the restoration of the printing press and post office and, to a large extent, the zeal and loyalty of the small editorial staff.
“In December 2021, the newspaper celebrated its 90th anniversary. Readers of our former district newspaper, there were more than 1,500 of them before the war, live in two communities – Nova Vodolaha and Starovirivka ones. Currently, our newspaper is the only media in the Nova Vodolaha Community having the population of over 25,000,” Editor-in-Chief Polina Afanasenko, who has worked at the newspaper since 1979, told the NUJU press service.
When the war started, Balakliya, where Visti Vodolazhchyny was printed, was occupied. Nova Vodolaha turned into one of the front-line settlements, so the post office stopped operating. It became impossible to print the newspaper, and journalists had to limit themselves to informing readers through social networks.
“Most of our readers are elderly people who do not use the Internet. Many have neither computers nor smartphones. In addition, there is often no electricity from morning to evening, so even those who had it lose access to the Internet. So, we must admit that despite all our desire, we could not fulfill our duty to the readers for several months. And they came and asked to restore the newspaper, because they really wanted to know what the situation was, as well as where grocery kits were issued, what the schedule of blackouts was… People needed a newspaper,” says the editor-in-chief.
After the liberation of the Kharkiv Region, when it became possible to print and distribute publications, Visti Vodolazhchyny returned to its readers. Unfortunately, during the period when the newspaper was not published, four out of six editorial staff resigned, so the editorial staff was reduced to a minimum. But to the two remaining media women had enough zeal and responsibility.
“To everyone subscribed to our publication at the beginning of the full-scale war, we try to deliver the number of issues that they paid for. But the fact is that our audience has even grown. Now people in the Kharkiv Region are thirsty for information, and seeing that the newspaper is being published and reaching readers, they have also started to subscribe to it. In addition, about 12,000 displaced people, most of whom are Kharkiv City residents, live in the Nova Vodolaha Community alone. So far, fortunately, there has only been one enemy hit here, but Kharkiv is under constant shelling. Immigrants also grew interested in our newspaper. As a result, we found ourselves in a difficult situation: we have to both pay off debts for last year’s subscription and satisfy the needs of new readers,” says Polina Afanasenko.
The editors, explaining how difficult it is to revive the media in the border and front-line Kharkiv Region, a large part of which was under temporary occupation, turned to the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) for support. Responding to this appeal, the NUJU, with the financial assistance of international benefactors, provides financial support to the editorial office of Visti Vodolazhchyny to publish another issue of the newspaper.
“The NUJU received with great enthusiasm the news that the weekly edition of the newspaper Visti Vodolazhchyny was resumed in Nova Vodolaha in December. We consider local press to be an extremely important part of the information space of Ukraine, because no one knows the readers as well as the journalists who live next to them and share all their daily concerns, worries and troubles,” says Sergiy Tomilenko, the President of the NUJU.
The resumption of newspaper publishing in the de-occupied and front-line territories is one of the priorities in the NUJU team’s work. Currently, with the financial support of the NUJU and foreign benefactors, one or more issues of newspapers have been printed for Izium (Obrii Iziumshchyny), Lyman (Zoria), Barvinkove (Visti Barvinkivshchyny), Bakhmut (Vpered), Kherson (Novyi Den), Snihurivka (Visti Snihurivshchyny), Zolochiv (Zoria), Kharkiv (Selianska Gazeta), Zmiyiv (Visti Zmiyivshchyny), Blyzniuky (Nove Zhyttia), Bohodukhiv (Mayak), Kupiyansk (Visnyk Kupiyanshchyny), publishing of several more editions are expected.
NUJU information service
