29 years of fighting for truth: how the IMI defends Ukrainian media in wartime

On February 20, 2025, the NGO Institute of Mass Information (IMI) turns 29.

Technically, Ukrainian and foreign journalists founded the IMI on October 10, 1995. However, on February 20, 1996, the civil society organization was officially registered with the Ministry of Justice. You can learn what we have been doing throughout these years, how we have evolved, changed, and what we have achieved in the last year's article.

Today, we want to tell you about the IMI's role in defending journalists and the media. And to ask for your support so that this defense work does not stop.

IMI documents crimes against the media

The IMI has documented 4559 crimes against journalists and the media since 2012, recording freedom of expression violations and helping to bring perpetrators to justice.

Since the first day of the full-scale invasion, the IMI has been monitoring Russia’s crimes against the media. Over the years, this data has become the basis for hundreds of investigations, human rights campaigns, and international pressure on Russia, the aggressor.

• Since 2014, the Russian forces have killed 104 media workers in Ukraine. Of these, 97 died during the full-scale invasion.
• At least 112 Ukrainian and foreign journalists have been detained or taken hostage by pro-Russian and Russian forces since the start of the Russia–Ukraine war in 2014.
• At least 30 Ukrainian journalists are unlawfully held in custody by Russia as hostages.
• 332 Ukrainian media outlets have shut down due to hostilities, occupation, shelling, and financial hardship caused by the war.
• Over the three years of the full-scale invasion, the IMI has documented over 800 crimes committed by Russia against the media.

In order to bring perpetrators to justice, the IMI works with the Prosecutor General’s Office and other law enforcement agencies. We share new data on violations with law enforcers with on a monthly basis and monitor the progress of investigations. A significant number of cases on violations of journalists’ rights have been opened thanks to the IMI’s efforts.

The IMI regularly initiates and joins meetings aiming to develop methodologies and improve the process of investigating crimes against journalists – both those committed by the Russian and by the Ukrainian side.

For example, on February 3, 2025, the Journalist Protection Task Force under the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) agreed on the definition of the term “journalist” as used in documenting crimes against media professionals committed by Russia. The criteria for defining this concept were proposed by experts from the Institute of Mass Information.

The results of the IMI's monitoring studies serve as the basis for law amendments, campaigns, statements and assessments by civil society and international organizations, as well as for decisions by state authorities.

On February 24, 2025, the IMI will release a full report on the three years of full-scale war with detailed facts and new evidence.

Technology and safety: IMI helps journalists to work in wartime

In the three years since the start of the full-scale invasion, the Institute of Mass Information has become a reliable source of support for journalists, providing them with the equipment necessary for staying safe and working effectively.

📌 We have provided journalists with critical equipment over 11000 times:
✔ 6695 times – life-saving bulletproof vests and helmets;
✔ 1750 times – first aid kits;
✔ over 900 times – tourniquets and other first aid supplies;
✔ over 1200 times – generators, power stations, power banks that are helpful while working on the ground;
✔ over 1000 times – other technical and protective equipment, satellite phones, gas masks, sleeping bags, tactical goggles, water filters, gadgets for reporting, etc.

Body armor for journalists

This equipment enabled journalists continue their work even in the toughest conditions: on battlefields, under fire, during blackouts and telecom outages.

The IMI does not just provide equipment – ​​we help journalists stay safe, stay connected and record the truth that matters to the whole world.

IMI Mediabazas: security, knowledge, and support for journalists

In the fall of 2022, the Institute of Mass Information launched the Mediabaza hub network – safe spaces for journalists which became an answer to the challenges of the war. During Russia's mass attacks on energy infrastructure, it became obvious that media workers in the regions need places to work with access to electricity, the Internet, and necessary resources.

Today, IMI Mediabazas operate in 15 cities across Ukraine: in Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Slovyansk, Poltava, Kropyvnytskyi, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Odesa, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy, Khmelnytskyi, and Chernivtsi. These are not just points of access to electricity and connection, but support centers for journalists where they can receive:

✔ Protective equipment: ​​bulletproof vests, first-aid kits, tourniquets.
✔ Energy equipment: ​​generators, power stations, power banks.
✔ Education and training to help them work in wartime.
✔ A supportive community that helps them overcome the war's challenges.

In Mediabazas, journalists learn:

🎯 to provide first aid and act correctly during emergencies;
🎯 to use artificial intelligence for analyzing information;
🎯 to create video content;
🎯 to work transparently and ethically and create high-quality reporting;

and much more.

The Mediabazas have hosted a total of 523 events since their first opening, attended by 8497 journalists.
Media workers used the Mediabazas as co-working spaces over 5000 times, receiving the amenities necessary for work.

Training for journalists

Financial support for the media: IMI helps journalists persevere in wartime

The full-scale war has hit Ukrainian media hard, with advertising markets collapsing and many journalists leaving their jobs to join the army. The situation has been particularly difficult for regional media outlets, which often only have a few employees but play a key role in their respective communities.

To ensure that these outlets do not go extinct and citizens are not left without reliable information, the IMI launched a mini grants program. It has helped media outlets survive the war and continue their work in places where a lack of independent news would certainly cause disinformation and propaganda to flourish.

Mini grants for the media

What we achieved

📌 325 mini grants for regional media outlets that were able to survive and continue operations.
📌 120 new mini grants for energy equipment will soon be provided to enable journalists to work during blackouts.
📌 361 journalists received emergency financial support to overcome the most difficult crisis situations.

This assistance was a real rescue for local media outlets, which, despite all of the war's challenges, continue to work, inform their communities and fight back against the enemy's information influence operations.

Financial support for journalists

The IMI continutes to support independent media because powerful journalism is a cornerstone of a country's resilience in wartime.

High-quality media: IMI helps Ukrainians find reliable sources of information

In times of war and information threats, trust in the media becomes critically important. To help Ukrainians navigate the information space, the IMI has been keeping a List of Transparent and Responsible Media, known as the High Quality List, since 2019.

This list includes national online media outlets that operate transparently, adhere to professional standards, and are safe news sources. The IMI continued this initiative despite the challenges of the full-scale war, helping Ukrainians distinguish quality journalism from manipulation.

Real change in the media field

📌 The IMI's High Quality List has become part of the business ecosystem; for example, YouControl analysts use it to check the reputation of counterparties.

“YouControl’s innovative tools include 'Reputation in the Media.' It helps to check companies and individuals for mentions in journalist investigations. When compiling the list of reliable media outlets, our analysts refer to recommendations from the High Quality List by the Institute of Mass Information,” says the YouControl team.

📌 The IMI partners with NGO Detector Media to develop the Recommended Media Map: a catalog that currently includes 205 high-quality regional and local media outlets. This project motivates editorial team to improve their adherence to standards.

📌 In 2024, IMI experts consulted 42 regional Ukrainian online news outlets and helped them:

✔ improve editorial policies;
✔ improve transparency of advertising labeling;
✔ publish data on their owners and contact information.

Why this matters

The transparency of a media outlet directly affects its reputation. When the audience knows who is responsible for the content, they trust the information more.

📌 Thanks to the IMI, Ukrainians have clear guidelines that help them find honest and professional media amid an information war.

Life-saving support: donors and partners helping Ukraine's journalists

None of the IMI’s achievements in defending journalists, supporting the media, and documenting war crimes would have been possible without our donors and partners who have consistently supported freedom of expression in Ukraine. In particular, Internews (USAID), the US Embassy in Ukraine, the EU Delegation to Ukraine, Reporters Without Borders, the British Embassy in Ukraine, the International Renaissance Foundation, IMS, n-ost, and many other partners and colleagues.

Back in 2014, the IMI began providing journalists reporting from the battlefield with body armor and helmets. Following the full-scale invasion, the demand became hundreds of times more urgent, so we channeled all our resources into ensuring that media workers receive Class 4 body armor, Kevlar helmets, and tactical first aid kits. Thanks to our partners and donors, we were able to supply hundreds of these critical items.

New challenges: how everyone can help

Like the majority of the media sector, we have felt the impact of the US funding cuts. This directly affects our ability to:

⚡Buy new body armor and first aid kits for journalists to replace the worn-out ones.
⚡Support media outlets with mini grants in critical situations.
⚡Help media outlets adhere to high journalism standards.
⚡Record Russian crimes and seek justice for journalists.

We would be grateful if our readers could lend us a hand and contribute to this work. Every hryvnia you donate will be converted into:

🔹 physical protection for a filming crew on the battlefield, showing Russia's crimes to the world;
🔹 high-quality news for a community that has little to no independent media;
🔹 electricity and internet connection in a Mediabaza for a journalist working on an important news story.

👉 How to support the IMI? Click here.

Together we can save independent journalism, defend the truth, and make Ukrainian media even stronger.

The Institute of Mass Information (IMI) is a Ukrainian non-governmental media organization that has been operating since 1996. The IMI defends the rights of journalists, analyzes the media field and covers media-related events, fights propaganda and disinformation and has been providing media outlets with safety gear for trips to the combat zone since the start of the Russo–Ukrainian war in 2014.

The IMI carries out Ukraine's only freedom of speech monitoring and keeps a list of high quality and sustainable online media outlets, documents Russia's crimes against the media committed in the course of the war on Ukraine. The IMI has representatives in 20 oblasts of Ukraine and a network of "Mediabaza" hubs to provide journalists with continuous support. The IMI's partners include Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House; the organization is a member of the International Organization for the Protection of Freedom of Expression (IFEX).