“Newspaper Independence”

The conference hall of Ukraine’s National Union of Journalists hosts an exhibition of iconic Ukrainian newspapers. The display familiarizes with the history press in Ukraine since our country’s independence – in the years between 1991 and 2016, each one honoring a particular media. In total, 25 newspapers are there. The “Newspaper Independence” exhibition was compiled and presented by historian and journalist Vakhtang Kipiani. The first visitors were the journalists and editors of the presented media themselves.

“The organizers have created a still ‘media image’ of the era. Many publications in one or another way are iconic in the history of Ukrainian newspaper world,” Leonid Frosevych, creative director at Vechirnii Kyiv newspaper, shares his impressions. “One of these iconic newspapers is, for example, Vechernyaya Odessa, whose chief editor was famous journalist Borys Derevianko. He was killed in 1997. This is an example of a media with principles and honest attitude to the contemporary political situation in Ukraine. Also, the visitors can read the first newspapers that had demonstrated a new approach to journalism – Lviv’s PostPostup, the monument to Oleksandr Kryvenko. On display is also another respected publication – Den, which has celebrated two decades’ anniversary this year, and which represents a quality alternative media. As noted at the opening ceremony, Den is an example of how to create high-quality journalism. There is also the oldest Ukrainian-language newspaper in the world, Svoboda, which was founded in 1893, and is based in the State of New Jersey. The visitors pay special attention to private newspapers, which had appeared at the dawn of independence, including Kievskie Vedomosti. This media has been the boot camp for many journalists famous today.”

According to Leonid Frosevych, another interesting side of “Newspaper Independence” is the separatist media, which were being published freely in Ukraine throughout all these years. “I will take note of the Novorossiyskiy Courier, a reactionary separatist newspaper published in Odessa in 2007,” continues Frosevych. “Hard to believe, but it was a legally registered newspaper, which promoted the restoration of monarchy and led the ‘Russian World’ propaganda. The organizers wanted to show a special dimension of newspaper journalism. Ukraine really had a lot of newspapers, some of which were perceived as a mainstream of media fashion. But many of them have disappeared. The exhibition encourages to think about the narrowed media world today, in which the Internet sector receives more attention. In fact, the value of the written word remains very high. And a newspaper becomes almost elitist art.”