Ukraine’s media sector is in a state of permanent struggle for survival, with overall viability scoring at 2.7 out of 5, Lviv Media Forum found after applying the Media Viability Index to Ukrainian media for the first time.
The study, which covered 2025 and 2026, showed that most newsrooms operated in constant crisis management mode, focusing on day-to-day tasks due to depleted internal resources and inability to make strategic long-term plans. This, the study notes, leads to critical financial dependence on several sources of income, staffing shortages, and vulnerability to digital threats.
The study identified financial stability as the weakest component of the media outlets’ viability. Most newsrooms rely on a single source of funding losing which could prove critical.
The study also revealed a staffing crisis in the industry. More than half of newsrooms (53.5%) operated with teams of up to five people, and three-quarters had no personnel reserve. At the same time, 82.8% of the media outlets surveyed reported that they operated at the limit of their staffing capacity.
71.6% of media outlets have been looking for new employees over the past year, and the shortage of necessary specialists has become a consistent problem for 32.7%. The study cited low salaries, lack of qualified professionals on the market, employees relocating, burnout and other mental health factors as the main causes of the staffing shortage. For 30.2% of the newsrooms surveyed, employees getting drafted into the army was an additional challenge.
The study aimed to gather verified data on the state of the Ukrainian media sector, systematise key challenges within the “People”, “Money” and “Safety” clusters, and identify newsrooms’ actual needs. The findings are supposed to serve as a basis for developing recovery programs and targeted support for the media industry.
The full study is available here.