IMI director: There is a massive funding gap between national and regional media

A massive financial gap between national and regional media has become evident recently, said the director of the Institute of Mass Information (IMI), Oksana Romaniuk, during the National Media Talk 2024 in Kyiv on September 20.

"National media outlets have somewhat recovered from the crisis, they have advertisers and multiple sources of income. In the regions, the advertising market is still in crisis, some media offices have been bombed and have no money to even buy a charging station. The Institute of Mass Information offers mini-grants with the support of Internews Network. And some media outlets have written to us saying that if we don't give them a mini-grant, they will simply have to close down," Oksana Romaniuk said.

In the spring of 2024, the IMI surveyed a large sample of media outlets regarding their needs, with 254 newsrooms in 20 oblasts participating. 39% of respondents needed technical equipment to ensure the operation of their offices (from generators, power banks and Ecoflow charging stations to professional filming equipment). 20% of the reported needs related to financial support. According to Oksana Romaniuk, the media outlets were cutting administrative staff, even journalists – some have only one journalist left.

Oksana Romaniuk stressed that the grants helped increase media transparency and their ability to plan ahead.

"The media teams learned to plan and write budgets. When we first started working with mini-grants two years ago, we encountered some media outlets receiving a grant and being very surprised to learn that they had to report on it. Now the media understand these things much better," said Oksana Romaniuk.

At the same time, she notes, the media need not just fragmentary, but also institutional support from donors.

"It is important that donors tie this support to the situation on the ground, and not to, say, their own vision that it is necessary to fight Russian disinformation in the Ukrainian media. Our experts monitor the content in the media, and we see no Russian disinformation there. Fortunately, there are donors who engage deeply with the subject and understand this," added the IMI director.

In the last wave of mini-grants, 41 Ukrainian media outlets received support from the Institute of Mass Information in partnership with the international organization Internews Network. Almost 76% of contestants applied for content creation grants; the rest of applications were related to purchasing equipment necessary for the teams to keep working in winter and for journalists to work.