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from GFMD IMPACT
Tuesday February 21, 2023
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Scroll down for the latest engagement opportunities marking the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine as well as the latest research on how to support Ukrainian media and journalists. But first, this month's GFMD IMPACT Briefing on providing psychological support for Ukrainian journalists


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24 February marks a year of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Since the first day of the war, Ukrainian journalists and media outlets have been reporting on war crimes, fighting Russian propaganda, and informing the world about the atrocities of war.

GFMD continues to stand in solidarity with Ukrainian media and journalists and explore new areas for emergency media support. 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS

  THE BRIEFING   

 Background:  According to a recent needs assessment by Lviv Media Forum 36 per cent of editorial boards have identified psychological support as a priority area, and international organisations have been quick to offer counselling services. Still, there is uncertainty about what formats are likely to be helpful and effective.

As a response to a need identified by GFMD’s Ukraine media support information-sharing group, the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma has compiled a briefing on providing psychological support for Ukrainian journalists.  The document draws on the Dart Center’s twenty years of experience working with journalists in crisis zones, as well as recent conversations with Ukrainian journalists and staff working in media support organisations. It is also informed by scientific research into best practice interventions during mass violence crises.

 Content:  The briefing presents preliminary orientations that provide a foundation for recommendations on three key levels of psychosocial support. Additionally, it contains a list of recent psychological support initiatives for media workers in Ukraine as well as resources for psychological and psychosocial support available in Ukrainian.
 

ACCESS THE BRIEFING IN ENGLISH
ACCESS THE BRIEFING IN UKRAINIAN

 Starting points:  Creating spaces for acknowledgement and connection is a particular challenge for newsrooms right now, one that has been exacerbated by the stresses generated by the post-October 10 attacks on critical infrastructure. The stigma around expressing vulnerability may sometimes be an issue. Or journalists may feel that if everyone is in the same situation why should my difficulties be of any note? Both attitudes can narrow the space for practical problem-solving.

Keeping teams together, avoiding latent conflict between colleagues, and motivating staff are all concerns that managers and editors have raised in conversations with the Dart Center. Finding ground for talking about these issues is not easy but it can be done.

 And so, what helps?  The Dart Center suggests we can place psychosocial support measures on three-tiered levels, with the higher ones having the widest potential for reach:
 Level 1:  First, it is important to recognise that many of the measures that network members already have in place contain crucial elements of psychological support. One can’t emphasise enough how important in a psychological sense fundamental support is when done well. 
More broadly, all support interventions in a time of war need to be trauma-informed, which means being attentive to how subtleties in programme design and implementation can either augment or diminish feelings of safety.

 Level 2:  One major conclusion in trauma research is that resilience is not just an innate quality that simply exists in specific individuals, it is also crucially a product of people’s social and work environment – the sense of validation they receive, the role models around them, the information they have access to and the opportunities which exist to give as well as to receive support. 

And so, the interventions that are likely to have the greatest reach are those that seed knowledge and encourage peer-to-peer mentoring and connection.


 Level 3:  Therapeutic support is clearly important for individuals experiencing psychological emergencies. Talking to a mental health professional can also be useful for journalists who are struggling with mental health issues that predated the war or who are feeling stuck and unable to cope.
For more issues to bear in mind when configuring support offerings click
here.

TO KNOW MORE

 
  • Reporting War. The Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma has put together this booklet, collecting recommendations for meeting the emotional challenges of covering war, from a group of seasoned veterans. Also available in Ukrainian.  A more comprehensive selection of relevant resources is available here.
  • GFMD has curated a comprehensive list of mental health resources for Ukrainian media and journalists available in Ukrainian and English.

  WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?  

Our HELP DESK uses a network of experts and resources brought together by the GFMD IMPACT team to respond in a timely fashion to requests from donors, media development and journalism support practitioners and policymakers. Email helpdesk-impact@gfmd.info for more information and to submit a request. 

  TOWN SQUARE  

📄 Consultation on the Tech and Journalism Crisis and Emergency Mechanism (T&JM): The Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD), in collaboration with the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law and Policy (ITLP), held a consultation on establishing the Tech and Journalism Emergency and Crisis Joint Industry Mechanism (T&JM) on February 21 at the UNESCO Internet for Trust conference in Paris. 

More context: Initially focused on Ukraine and the neighbouring countries as a pilot for possible wider application, T&JM specifically targets small and medium-sized media, community, and investigative journalism organisations and their professional communities.

How to engage: Further details are available here.
📅 Launch of the report Shielding Democracy: Civil Society Adaptations to Kremlin Disinformation: Join the International Forum for Democratic Studies for the launch of its new report on 22 February at 16:30 CET. With commentary from Peter Pomerantsev, Olha Bilousenko, Veronika Víchová, and Adam Fivenson, this lively, virtual discussion will feature the voices of experts and civil society activists deeply engaged in this fight and highlight lessons the broader democracy community can learn from Ukrainian successes to date.

More context: Further details are available here.

How to engage: You can watch the webinar online here. Participants must register in advance to attend and will receive connection instructions by email prior to the event.
📅 GIJN Webinar on Investigating the War in Ukraine One Year On: Join the webinar on 23 February at 3 pm CET to explore how investigative journalists continue to expose wrongdoing — from war crimes and sanctions busting, to corruption by government officials and oligarchs, to Russian “filtration” camps.

More context: In this webinar, GIJN will bring together four senior investigative journalists who have investigated the war in Ukraine. They will offer tips, tools and advice on how to cover this particular conflict — but also what they have learned about integrating different investigative methods.

How to engage: Sign up for the event here

MORE ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

 
  • As a response to the emergency situation, the IFJ and EFJ launched a special Safety Fund in March 2022 to provide crucial support to their two affiliates in Ukraine, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) and the Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine (IMTUU). They are now launching a new appeal to support Ukrainian journalists on the ground. Please donate and share the campaign #SupportUkrainianJournalists on social media

  WHAT TO READ THIS MONTH   

Helping Ukraine’s women journalists to keep telling their stories (Feb. 2023). A year ago, Russia invaded Ukraine, destroying lives and livelihoods. A partnership between the Ukrainian Independent Regional Publishers’ Association (AIRPPU) and WAN-IFRA’s Women in News programme awarded reporting grants to ensure the stories of women in Ukraine and their everyday struggles – and triumphs – continued to be told.

Ukraine: "The preservation of local media is essential to support Ukrainian democracy" (Feb.2023). In an interview with IJF ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, Sergiy Tomilenko, president of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) looks back on a year of relentless work, in which NUJU has supported journalists on the ground and assesses the challenges they face as the war enters its second year. 

Ukraine: a year of information warfare in numbers (Feb.2023). With the help of its Ukrainian partner, the Institute of Mass Information (IMI), Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has put numbers to the acts of violence and abuses against journalists and media outlets in Ukraine – and to the resources deployed to support reliable journalism and combat Russian propaganda – in the year since Russia launched its invasion on 24 February.

GFMD IMPACT

This newsletter is brought to you by GFMD's International Media Policy and Advisory Centre. GFMD IMPACT enables informed, evidence-based decisions about media development and journalism support strategies, programming, funding, and advocacy by:

  • facilitating meetings of donors, practitioners and academia to enable knowledge sharing, experience exchange, learning and collaboration;
  • commissioning research, publishing briefings and curating the most relevant resources for the sector;
  • managing a Help Desk, which uses GFMD's network of experts and resources to respond to requests for research, surveys, and insights in a timely manner.
Sign up to join our community or share with colleagues!
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