Ukrayinska Pravda to Change its Concept

The US embassy in Ukraine is awarding a $24,000 grant to the Internet-newspaper Ukrayinska pravda. US Ambassador Steven Pifer has announced that the grant, being given by the American Embassy’s press, education, and culture department, would aim to promote the coverage of such issues as freedom of speech, corruption, transparency, and the development of civil society.

Under the grant conditions, Ukrayinska pravda will hold regular discussions on the web, carrying special articles and comments, as well as translating and printing other related materials on its site, the embassy told Interfax-Ukraine.

“We hope this grant will help Ukrayinska pravda in a critical period. We are very much concerned over the destiny of Heorhy Gongadze and expect the Ukrainian authorities to find and make public early information about his whereabouts. The independent press is a vital component of both the political and economic reforms,” The US embassy’s press, education, and culture department quotes Mr. Pifer as saying.

Answering The Day’s question whether the newspaper will change its concept, Ukrayinska pravda’s editor-in-chief Olena Prytula said the UP team is determined to be an example of truly unbiased publishing. According to Ms. Prytula, from now on every compromising piece of information in UP (whether an Internet reprint or an exclusive material) is supposed to be followed by the opinion of the politician who is the object of criticism. There can also be opinions of experts who produce hard evidence to confirm or deny the information. UP will, as before, open its pages to representatives of the whole political spectrum if they have something to say or prove convincingly, reserving the right to carry the editor’s comment on one political statement or another, as well as on the reason why it appeared. “The US Embassy grant will enable us be truly independent, and nobody will be able to reproach us for siding with one political force or another,” Ms. Prytula said. Answering The Day’s question whether this means UP has hitherto depended on somebody, the editor-in-chief said some media claimed UP was financed by Oleksandr Moroz. However, she noted, “although we did not deny this information, it has nothing to do with reality. Simultaneously, given the on-line newspaper’s material hardships, Heorhy had sometimes to turn to certain political elements for assistance.” Ms. Prytula thought it unnecessary to specify which forces.