Ukrinform's chief of regional news says they did not follow Matsuka's "topic guidelines"

Ukrinform

Olha Korostylyova, Ukrinform's chief of regional news, confirmed facing pressure by Oleksiy Matsuka's management and receiving "topic guidelines" for different oblasts from him. The editors considered it as censorship and decided to disregard the instructions.

Korostylyova spoke to Suspilne about this.

The manager's answer as to who was sending out the guidelines and what instructions they included was as follows: "The management. The director. Perhaps it was his initiative. I don't know, let the police figure it out. The tables were forwarded from him."

According to her, the tables included three columns, but not all of them were filled out – unwanted guests were not listed for some oblasts.

"We took these instructions very negatively, we regarded them as censorship and responded accordingly. This issue was brought up at the weekly call, where the deputy CEOs of the old team and the staff approved a statement where we confirmed receiving the guidelines and said that we considered this as censorship and would not comply with it," Olha Korostylyova said.

The editors' decision that there are no unwanted guests or topics at Ukrinform was communicated to the correspondents as well. "We report on everything as it is, there is an event, we write about it. That's how we worked," she said.

"Say, the lists said it was preferable not to include [comments] from people who suffer from a lack of water supply in Dnipropetrovsk oblast. After this instruction came in, our correspondents immediately went to Marganets, where this problem was the biggest, and made a big report from there," the manager added.

Korostylova also said that Ukrinform's former deputy CEO Maryna Synhaivska has addressed ambassadors and journalists with the approved statement. At that time, Ukrinform employees were facing repression, checks, changes to staff rosters, etc., Olha Korostylyova noted.

She and two other deputies – Maryna Synhaivska and Oksana Noskova – were first offered to resign "quietly", and then conditions were created for them to resign of their own will. Korostylyova told Suspilne that this resulted in her being hospitalized with high blood pressure, while two of her colleagues could not stand it and left the team.

Previously

On May 29, "Ukrainian Pravda" released the article "No outisders around. How the President's Office is taking control over Ukrinform", reporting that during his time as the director of the news agency Ukrinform, journalist Oleksiy Matsuka, who is considered a protege of the President's Office, introduced censorship, "topic guidelines", and planned to overhaul the agency so as to appoint the "right" people to certain positions.

On May 30, Suspilne released a program featuring Yuriy Stryhun, the Ukrinform correspondent for Chernihiv and Cherkasy oblasts, who confirmed receiving "topic guidelines" with a list of preferred and unwanted guests for Chernihiv oblast from the editor in December 2023.

On May 31, Yuriy Stryhun received a conscription notice with a demand to come to the enlistment office by his registered address. The notice was not delivered to the journalist's registered address, but sent to the Kyiv office of Ukrinform (his workplace). Yuriy Stryhun also told IMI that Ukrinform's newly appointed CEO Serhiy Cherevaty had issued a separate order for the journalist to visit the enlistment office as soon as possible and report back. According to the journalist, he was also offered to come to Kyiv and physically sign a confirmation that he received the notice and the corresponding order from the Ukrinform management.

The Ukrinform CEO, Serhiy Cherevaty, confirmed signing a document ordering five employees eligible for conscription, including Yuriy Stryhun, to update their data at the enlistment office.