Freedom of the press is a must to win the war and to get rid of corruption.
Reality is hard but real, so thank you
Slava Ukraini
I really respect these folks because they are so pro-Ukrainian that they don’t spare criticism of their society. A country, after all, is really just the people in it, and that is who you serve. As an American, I’d much rather see my tax dollars support a country that admits it isn’t perfect than some idealized version of a country that denies it has any problems, and I really respect and admire the general push of common Ukrainian people to reclaim their country from oligarchs and corruption. People deciding to talk about and do something about problems is the only way they get fixed. I’m proud to support such a people, and wish many Americans were half as engaged. Kyiv Independent is also an amazing source of news in English to understand more nuanced parts of the Ukrainian economy and culture (they even have a weekly report on publicly owned enterprises and what is going on with them – a little dry, but important!)
Edit: And I highly, highly recommend their podcast to help understand details of what’s going on, from the war to other current events in Ukraine like judicial corruption or Kolomoisky’s arrest.
It’s a well written piece, I just pray that they mean it.
I think it’s great when journalists actually uncover something bad. But when they do like New York Times, fish out some negative stattements from soldiers and called the Krynky bridgehead a bad idea, even though great Russian losses were documented there for a long time, and then a few days later, 3 Russian jets are shot down, the journalists just look foolish. Seems like wannabe scoop jounalists who don’t care about accuracy as long as they can convince the average reader that they found something significant.
Just please put a second thought into your headlines.
I still can’t forgive the “30% of military aid was stolen” headline and article, that you later removed.
There is absolutely nobody that is criticizing you for publishing ‘unpleasant’ stories. The issue is that you are publishing straight up misinformation.
Here are a few examples.
>Ukrainian government discovers theft of foreign aid.
An investigation conducted by Ukraine’s State Customs Service and together with the Ministry of Defense found that one-third of humanitarian aid donated to the Ukrainian military over the last year did not reach military units.
>President Zelensky and his commanders in chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi haven’t been seen together in months
This is just untrue as they were seen together on 6/12, 25/11, 21/11, 31/10 and 27/10. Again this plays right into the russian narrative that there is going to be a coup soon. You really should check out pro russian leaning subs, they absolutely love articles like this. As for Ukrainians, it doesnt give them any confidense in your article considering that it was written by Oleg Sukhov, former editor at the Moscow times with a masters degree in history from Moscow state university.
>Umerov says he wants to mobilize Ukrainian men living abroad
FALSE. It has been clarified that his words were misunderstood/misrepresented.
“In a comment to “Babel”, Illarion Pavlyuk, head of the Press and Information Department of the Ministry of Defense, explained that Bild had shifted the emphasis. The minister as a whole told journalists about recruiting and the need to convey to Ukrainians abroad how important it is for them to join the army. There are no discussions on the agenda of the mechanisms of conscription into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from abroad.”
russians are loving all of these articles and spreading them with glee, A poll about “Majority of Ukrainians would disapprove of Zaluzhnyi’s resignation” is being spread that Zelenskyy is a dictator and is about to oust him. A poll about “Zelenskyy having 60% approval rating”, is being spread that “the little dictator is hated by Ukrainians” When you dig into these polls, you find that it was done with only 1031 respondents, which is a pretty low representation, and just helps the kremlin with their propaganda.
Reading Ukrainian comments online, they seem to be worried that you are turning into KyivPost 2. There is reporting “unpleasant” things, and there is reporting misinformation or news that has an agenda to hurt Ukraine. Maybe you need to differentiate the two.
If russia succeeds in capitulating Ukraine due to misleading articles that sway public opinion and future aid, there wont be a KyivIndependent. So please, don’t shoot yourself in the foot.
The Kyiv Independent already laid out their stance on this when they published their reports about misconduct in the leadership of the foreign legion, over a year ago.
At one point, when I asked for updates or followups on these reports on this subreddit, my post got removed. Can I finally ask for an update on this?
This is just KI trying to save face after being exposed.
Their own article that they use as an example of good journalism titled “Are Zelensky and his top general really in discord?” Is full of conjecture, assumptions and non relevant statements, not to mention inaccurate facts that they later had to amend. They claim that the reason for the hostility is due to Zelensky seeing Zhalyzhniy as a political rival, even though he never once showed any interest in holding political office. Just an article trying to purposely create tension and divisiveness.
It’s okay not to embellish to make Ukraine sound overly pleasant when that’s not the truth.
Just don’t go out of your way to make Ukraine sound overly unpleasant when that’s also not the truth.
Don’t overdo it. Both ways.
Freedom of factual press is essential to keep Ukraine moving in the right direction right up to the point just before opsec is put in danger. Truth keeps the country moving forward away from historical systemic corruption and calling out corrupt behaviour at a grass roots and industrial level is essential to ensure Ukraines future.
But as an outsider living in the land of far far away, it’s disappointing to read some of the opinions inserted into so called news when someone is misrepresenting an opinion as facts. Truth matters. Opinions don’t. This is where the line gets drawn between factual news reporting and trash tabloid tactics to get clicks. Do a bit better KI. Careful you don’t feed the propaganda machine by contributing fodder to the ruZZian narratives.
For ordinary Ukrainians, you can do your part by reporting officially and publicly on corruption at a grassroots level roots level, whether it be paying to skip a queue, paying bribes to avoid a ticket or paying off the books for government services and preference. Corruption needs to end yesterday.
11 comments
Freedom of the press is a must to win the war and to get rid of corruption.
Reality is hard but real, so thank you
Slava Ukraini
I really respect these folks because they are so pro-Ukrainian that they don’t spare criticism of their society. A country, after all, is really just the people in it, and that is who you serve. As an American, I’d much rather see my tax dollars support a country that admits it isn’t perfect than some idealized version of a country that denies it has any problems, and I really respect and admire the general push of common Ukrainian people to reclaim their country from oligarchs and corruption. People deciding to talk about and do something about problems is the only way they get fixed. I’m proud to support such a people, and wish many Americans were half as engaged. Kyiv Independent is also an amazing source of news in English to understand more nuanced parts of the Ukrainian economy and culture (they even have a weekly report on publicly owned enterprises and what is going on with them – a little dry, but important!)
Edit: And I highly, highly recommend their podcast to help understand details of what’s going on, from the war to other current events in Ukraine like judicial corruption or Kolomoisky’s arrest.
It’s a well written piece, I just pray that they mean it.
I think it’s great when journalists actually uncover something bad. But when they do like New York Times, fish out some negative stattements from soldiers and called the Krynky bridgehead a bad idea, even though great Russian losses were documented there for a long time, and then a few days later, 3 Russian jets are shot down, the journalists just look foolish. Seems like wannabe scoop jounalists who don’t care about accuracy as long as they can convince the average reader that they found something significant.
Just please put a second thought into your headlines.
I still can’t forgive the “30% of military aid was stolen” headline and article, that you later removed.
There is absolutely nobody that is criticizing you for publishing ‘unpleasant’ stories. The issue is that you are publishing straight up misinformation.
Here are a few examples.
>Ukrainian government discovers theft of foreign aid.
An investigation conducted by Ukraine’s State Customs Service and together with the Ministry of Defense found that one-third of humanitarian aid donated to the Ukrainian military over the last year did not reach military units.
You completely misread the [Ukrainian customs statement](https://customs.gov.ua/en/news/novini-20/post/derzhmitsluzhba-u-vzaiemodiyi-z-minoboroni-viiavili-ponad-3-tis-vipadkiv-neotrimannia-gumanitarnoyi-dopomogi-viiskovimi-chastinami-1338) that this is about people putting “Humanitarian aid” as a way to get goods cheaper by avoiding taxes. While your article frames it as 1/3 of aid is being stolen. This of course gets amplified by millions of pro russian bots about how Ukraine is corrupt, hindering future aid.
Then we have
>President Zelensky and his commanders in chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi haven’t been seen together in months
This is just untrue as they were seen together on 6/12, 25/11, 21/11, 31/10 and 27/10. Again this plays right into the russian narrative that there is going to be a coup soon. You really should check out pro russian leaning subs, they absolutely love articles like this. As for Ukrainians, it doesnt give them any confidense in your article considering that it was written by Oleg Sukhov, former editor at the Moscow times with a masters degree in history from Moscow state university.
>Umerov says he wants to mobilize Ukrainian men living abroad
FALSE. It has been clarified that his words were misunderstood/misrepresented.
Source: [Babel](https://babel.ua/news/102045-nimecki-media-napisali-shcho-minoboroni-ukrajini-planuye-prizvati-do-viyska-ukrajinciv-z-za-kordonu-u-vidomstvi-poyasnili)
“In a comment to “Babel”, Illarion Pavlyuk, head of the Press and Information Department of the Ministry of Defense, explained that Bild had shifted the emphasis. The minister as a whole told journalists about recruiting and the need to convey to Ukrainians abroad how important it is for them to join the army. There are no discussions on the agenda of the mechanisms of conscription into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from abroad.”
russians are loving all of these articles and spreading them with glee, A poll about “Majority of Ukrainians would disapprove of Zaluzhnyi’s resignation” is being spread that Zelenskyy is a dictator and is about to oust him. A poll about “Zelenskyy having 60% approval rating”, is being spread that “the little dictator is hated by Ukrainians” When you dig into these polls, you find that it was done with only 1031 respondents, which is a pretty low representation, and just helps the kremlin with their propaganda.
Reading Ukrainian comments online, they seem to be worried that you are turning into KyivPost 2. There is reporting “unpleasant” things, and there is reporting misinformation or news that has an agenda to hurt Ukraine. Maybe you need to differentiate the two.
If russia succeeds in capitulating Ukraine due to misleading articles that sway public opinion and future aid, there wont be a KyivIndependent. So please, don’t shoot yourself in the foot.
The Kyiv Independent already laid out their stance on this when they published their reports about misconduct in the leadership of the foreign legion, over a year ago.
Namely these two:
https://kyivindependent.com/suicide-missions-abuse-physical-threats-international-legion-fighters-speak-out-against-leaderships-misconduct/
https://kyivindependent.com/investigation-international-legion-misappropriation/
At one point, when I asked for updates or followups on these reports on this subreddit, my post got removed. Can I finally ask for an update on this?
This is just KI trying to save face after being exposed.
Their own article that they use as an example of good journalism titled “Are Zelensky and his top general really in discord?” Is full of conjecture, assumptions and non relevant statements, not to mention inaccurate facts that they later had to amend. They claim that the reason for the hostility is due to Zelensky seeing Zhalyzhniy as a political rival, even though he never once showed any interest in holding political office. Just an article trying to purposely create tension and divisiveness.
https://kyivindependent.com/war-may-not-be-at-stalemate-but-zelensky-and-his-top-commander-are/
It’s okay not to embellish to make Ukraine sound overly pleasant when that’s not the truth.
Just don’t go out of your way to make Ukraine sound overly unpleasant when that’s also not the truth.
Don’t overdo it. Both ways.
Freedom of factual press is essential to keep Ukraine moving in the right direction right up to the point just before opsec is put in danger. Truth keeps the country moving forward away from historical systemic corruption and calling out corrupt behaviour at a grass roots and industrial level is essential to ensure Ukraines future.
But as an outsider living in the land of far far away, it’s disappointing to read some of the opinions inserted into so called news when someone is misrepresenting an opinion as facts. Truth matters. Opinions don’t. This is where the line gets drawn between factual news reporting and trash tabloid tactics to get clicks. Do a bit better KI. Careful you don’t feed the propaganda machine by contributing fodder to the ruZZian narratives.
For ordinary Ukrainians, you can do your part by reporting officially and publicly on corruption at a grassroots level roots level, whether it be paying to skip a queue, paying bribes to avoid a ticket or paying off the books for government services and preference. Corruption needs to end yesterday.