Thread by @risj_oxford

Kicking off today's seminar on journalism in Ukraine:

🇺🇦 A conversation between our own @CaithlinMercer and our former Fellow @SMusaieva, from @ukrpravda_news #RISJSeminars

💬 Transcript
otter.ai/u/X3bTKgCf-VDq…
🧵 Highlights in thread
📺 Watch below twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

📰 On her newspaper

"Before the invasion began, our newspaper had 1m readers a day and 26m unique users per month. We launched a reader revenue model right before the pandemic in 2020," says @SMusaieva from @ukrpravda_news
twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

🧳 On how they relocated

"We relocated part of our team to Western Ukraine. Many didn't understand this back then. But 2 of the editors who left were from Bucha. The father of them was killed in Bucha by Russians," says @SMusaieva from @ukrpravda_news
twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

📊 On metrics

"Our website received 783 million pageviews in march 2022. We also launched an English version because it was extremely important to publish information on Ukraine in English," says @SMusaieva from @ukrpravda_news
twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

📊 On their business model

Before the war:
80% ad revenue | 10% donors | 10% reader revenue

After the war:
30% ad revenue | 60% donors | 10% reader revenue

Figures from our seminar with @SMusaieva from @ukrpravda_news
twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

🎯 On impact

"In March we publish a list of Russian yachts. 2 hours later, I received a call from an ambassador of a European country asking for a translation of the piece. Eight days later, several yachts was taken," says @SMusaieva from @ukrpravda_news
twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

🧘‍♀️ On mental health

"It's impossible to tell my team how to rest and how to grief. We don't time for self-reflection now. But every single person of our newsroom is affected by this war," says @SMusaieva from @ukrpravda_news
twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

🇺🇦 On how this war should end

"This war started in Crimea in 2014 and it should end in Crimea too. Without this, nobody can feel safe. Because Crimea is not a place for vacations anymore. It's a huge military base," says @SMusaieva from @ukrpravda_news
twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

📱 On citizen journalism

"We received thousands of photos, videos and comments from our readers in places like Kherson and Mariupol. We verified them and it helped us to report the full picture of the war," says @SMusaieva from @ukrpravda_news
twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

📍 On Crimean Tatars

"Many Tatars in Crimea don't want to take part in this war against Ukraine. Some of my relatives left Crimea after the start of the mobilisation and they now live in Kazakhstan," says @SMusaieva from @ukrpravda_news
twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

🔴 On Bucha

"Of course I have friends in Russia and they texted me with support. But for me the like redline was Bucha, where Russian soldiers killed Ukrainian civilians. I cried and I felt only fury," says @SMusaieva from @ukrpravda_news
twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

🎙 On foreign coverage

"Every Ukrainian became a volunteer, and I'd like to see more stories about the Ukrainian resistance. Our army is made of journalists, artists, musicians. That's why we talk about genocide," says @SMusaieva from @ukrpravda_news
twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

🎙 On what she'd like to do when victory comes

"I have a dream: I go to Crimea and hug my relatives whom I haven't seen for the last eight years. This is only my dream," says @SMusaieva from @ukrpravda_news
twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…