The Institute of Mass Information and the Mediabaza hub network are opening the Mediabaza Journalism School, offering free training to students and amateur journalists in eight cities: Zhytomyr, Chernivtsi, Poltava, Khmelnytskyi, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Odesa, and Cherkasy. Best-performing graduates will have the opportunity to enter paid internships in their respective regions’ leading media outlets.
The project aims to help young media professionals obtain the knowledge necessary to work in modern newsrooms, master the practical tools of the trade, and gain their first professional experience, overseen by veteran journalists, editors, and media experts.
The course will start on 29 October and end on 4 December 2026. The program consists of ten classes held twice a week. Media professionals of national renown will host five online classes, which participants from all cities included in the project will be able to attend. Five more classes, in person or in mixed format, will take place in each region and feature local journalists and editors.
In addition to learning the theory, participants will do practical exercises, work with real news, and search for subjects and topics to cover in their material.
Speakers include:
- Oksana Romaniuk, Institute of Mass Information director;
- Kristina Berdynskykh, freelance journalists with the French newspaper Liberation;
- Vlasta Lazur, journalist with RFE/RL, host at Suspilne and Radio NV;
- Maksym Opanasenko, journalist, Bihus.Info editor.
The project will close with a two-week paid internship, offered to four best-performing graduates from each region: they will get to work at a leading local newsroom, overseen by a mentor.
The Journalism School is free to attend. Participants receive no allowance for accommodation or travel to in-person classes.
Fill in the registration form to join.
For more details, contact the project’s coordinator Pavlo Lisnychenko by calling 0987270551 or reaching out to him on Facebook.
The project is implemented with financial support from the European Union and n-ost.
The Institute of Mass Information (IMI) is a Ukrainian 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).
The Mediabazas are a network of 15 regional hubs created by the Institute of Mass Information in 2022 to support the work of independent journalists amid Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine. The Mediabazas offer journalists free safety equipment, training, a work space with a power supply and Internet connectivity, etc.
IMI, Mediabazas open journalism school for amateurs, students
Sign up