About Us

The Institute of Mass Information is a civil society organization specializing in the media, operating since 1996. IMI defends the rights of journalists, studies the media landscape and reports on media-related events, fights propaganda and disinformation, and provides media workers with safety equipment for trips to combat areas (since the start of the Russo–Ukrainian war in 2014). IMI carries out the only monitoring study of freedom of speech in Ukraine, keeps a list of transparent and responsible online media outlets, and tracks Russia's media crimes in the war on Ukraine. IMI has representatives in 20 oblasts of Ukraine and runs a network of Media Hubs that provide journalists with unfailing support. IMI's partners include Reporters Without Borders (RSF); the organization is also a member of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX).

Our Values

Freedom of Speech

Innovation

Teamwork

Quality

Responsibility

Our Mission

Building a high-quality independent media environment.

Our Achievements

Analysis and monitoring studies

The Freedom of Speech Barometer

The Institute of Mass Information has been tracking violations of freedom of speech in Ukraine since 1998. This monitoring study, now titled the Freedom of Speech Barometer, is released online monthly.

The project’s methodology aligns with the standards of prominent international organizations defending freedom of speech.

Based on the study’s findings, IMI makes annual assessments of the freedom of speech situation in Ukraine and issues recommendations for state authorities, international organizations, and civil society institutions accordingly.

The Freedom of Speech Barometer is the primary media sector development indicator for audiences in Ukraine and beyond. The findings of this study are used as the basis for campaigns, addresses to the government, statements and assessments by the civil society, lawmaking initiatives in Ukraine. They are also used by the EU, UN, OSCE, Reporters Without Borders, Freedom House, and other international organizations to assess Ukraine’s democratic evolution, create rankings, evaluate election legitimacy, etc.

In 2014, IMI compiled a list of media workers who suffered in the course of the Revolution of Dignity, featuring over 200 persons. This list later became an important piece of evidence of the Yanukovych regime’s crimes and Russia’s crimes against Ukrainian journalists.

At the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, IMI started tracking the Russian forces’ crimes against Ukrainian media outlets and journalists separately in a dedicated monitoring study.

The monitoring study of Russia’s crimes against journalists and media

The Institute of Mass Information has been tracking and recording facts about about Russia’s crimes against journalists and media outlets since the start of the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. These include murder, enforced disappearances, abducting and injuring journalists, shelling strikes at TV towers, taking over or attacking media offices, disabling Ukrainian broadcasting and replacing it with aggressive Russian propaganda, cyber crimes, media outlets closing down due to Russia’s war on Ukraine, etc.

The list of transparent and responsible media outlets, known as the High Quality List

The Institute of Mass Information has been releasing a list of the most high-quality Ukrainian online media outlets once every six months since 2019. The list includes national online media outlets which scored the highest in the assessment of adherence to professional journalism standards and had the lowest indicators of manipulation, covert advertising, fake news, sexism, and hate speech. The average level of adherence to professional standards by resources featured in the High Quality List is about 96%.

The Recommended Media Map (project co-founded with NGO Detector Media)

The Recommended Media Map features high-quality online media outlets, radio stations, and TV channels across Ukaraine. The Institute of Mass Information and Detector Media launched the project in 2023. It includes high-quality media outlets from regions throughout Ukraine. The online map shows projects whose adherence to journalism standards was deemed the best. The Map aims to boost the visibility of independent and responsible regional media outlets in Ukraine and to help people search for reliable sources of information.

The monitoring study of adherence to journalism standards

The Institute of Mass Information carries out a quarterly analysis of adherence to professional journalism standards by the prominent Ukrainian online media outlets. Our experts assess adherence to standards such as balance of opinions and perspectives, accuracy, and distinguishing between facts and comments.

The monitoring study of covert advertising in online media

IMI releases quarterly monitoring reports on covert advertising (“jeansa”) in national media outlets, listing the entities or persons commissioning most of such material and outlining the latest tendencies. “Jeansa” is covert advertising disguised as reporting and not labelled in any way the audience might recognize. 13% of the journalists surveyed by IMI anonymously in September 2023 said that the media outlets they worked with required them to write news stories with covert advertising.

IMI carries out quarterly monitoring studies of popular online media outlets in Ukraine to analyze the spikes or drops in the amount of covert advertising. The studies include a ratio of political to commercial actors commissioning covert advertising in media.

IMI names the beneficiaries of news stories with signs of covert advertising and the actors commissioning most of such content in Ukrainian media. We also list media outlets of high integrity whose content bears no signs of being commissioned.

The monitoring study of gender balance in media

IMI has been monitoring the observance of gender balance by Ukrainian national online media outlets continuously since 2013. We track the representation of women experts in key topics, the presence of women as subjects in reporting, stereoptypes, sexism, discriminatory vocabulary, ageism.

IMI was the first to start monitoring gender balance in Ukrainian media and developed a unique methodology for this purpose. The study aims to point out errors to media outlets in order to help them achieve gender balance and to facilitate the improvement of visibility and representation of Ukrainian women.

The monitoring study of Russia’s aggressive propaganda narratives

IMI developed the concept for the monitoring study aiming to bring Kremlin-affiliated propagandists to justice based on the Rwanda case, where the genocidal rhetoric of the Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines played a significant role.

IMI researchers have collected a body of evidence covering over 300 Kremlin-affiliated propagandists complicit in genocidal rhetoric targeting Ukraine. IMI encourages the use of the terms “aggressive propaganda” or “genocidal rhetoric” to refer to Russian propaganda.

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Lawmaking

IMI’s media lawyers co-authored or were involved in the development of the fallowing Laws:

- The Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public Information” (2011);
- “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Due to the Adoption of the Law of Ukraine ‘On Information’ and the Law of Ukraine ‘On Access to Public Information’”;
- The Law of Ukraine “On Information” (new edition, amended in 2011);
- “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on Ensuring Mass Media Ownership Transparency and Implementing the State Policy Principles in Television and Radio Broadcasting”;
- “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on the Language Used by Audiovisual (Digital) Mass Media“;
- “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on the Quota of Musical Works in Ukraine’s Official Language in Television and Radio Programming”;
- Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On the Public Broadcasting and Radio of Ukraine” (2015);
- “On the Condemnation of the Communist and the National-Socialist (Nazi) Totalitarian Regimes in Ukraine and the Ban on Promoting Their Symbols”.

Moreover, IMI lawyers have developed suggestions for amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine regarding the protection of reporting, as well as amendments to the media-related part of the election law.

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Manuals for journalists

IMI has released over 20 manuals for journalists, such as:

Pro-Russian and Anti-West Conspiracy Theories in the Information War
Working under PRESSure. Safety Manual for Routine Work in Media
Media and Elections: Self-Regulation, Safety, Laws
Manual for journalists “Reporting on Local Authorities”
The Journalist and (Un)Safety. Manual for Journalists Working in Unsafe Environments
Mediacompass: A Guide for a Professional Journalist
Communications for Civil Society Initiatives. For Those Making a Change
Practical Manual for Communications Staff in State Bodies
The Contents of Local News in Ukraine’s South and East
Courtroom Reporting 101
Gender for the Media: A Manual for Journalists

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Our History

Institute of Mass Information

The first Ukrainian civil society organization to be founded by Ukrainian and foreign journalists (on October 10, 1995). Breaking with the Soviet tradition of the media being controlled by state bodies, trade unions, or political actors, IMI was created to facilitate the evolution of independent and professional journalism in Ukraine. The CSO was officially registered with the Ministry of Justice on February 20, 1996.

The organization’s primary goal was to introduce international journalism standards in Ukraine and to overcome the Soviet approach of treating the media as propaganda outlets and providing the public with information that is in line with the state policy. IMI aspired to create a system of free and professional press, which is integral to a democratic society.

IMI’s first international partner was École du Louvre (France). IMI worked with the journalism departments at the Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, the National University of Zaporizhzhia, the Bohdan Khmelnytskyi University of Cherkasy, and the Ivan Franko University of Lviv, as well as with French professors, to develop new journalism syllabi. These became the basis for specialized courses taught in higher education institutions and for around 15 handbooks. One of the better-known ones, A Journalist’s Guide, was widely popular among journalism students in the 1990’s and early 2000’s.

IMI eventually branched out into defending the rights of journalists. Partnering with the international watchdog Reporters Without Borders, and drawing on the methodology of international organizations, IMI was the first to begin continuously monitoring freedom of speech violations in Ukraine. IMI has been releasing the monthly Freedom of Speech Barometer since 1998, tracking instances of censorship, pressure on journalists, and restrictions on media freedom.

The organization’s executives

Oksana Romaniuk (since 2013) — current director of the Institute of Mass Information.
Viktoria Siumar (2004–2012) — was the CSO’s director for eight years.
Yulia Sabri (1998–2003) — ran IMI for five years.
Iryna Chemerys (1996–1997) — headed the organization for one year.
Svitlana Artementko (1995–1996) — IMI’s first director, worked at the UNIAN international news department at the time.

Alla Lazareva is a co-founder of the Institute of Mass Information and was the organization’s CEO in 1995–2004; she is a member of the IMI Supervisory Board to this day.