Independent media outlets have called for their involvement in Ukraine's recovery

Independent media outlets have called for them to be made full participants in Ukraine’s recovery process, rather than merely a platform for covering the reconstruction. Representatives of the media sector propose involving newsrooms in shaping the agenda of the Ukraine Recovery Conference, organizing thematic discussions, and ensuring public oversight of the recovery.

This is stated in a joint appeal.

It was signed by 55 media and civil society organizations, including the Center for Public Investigations, Intent, the Institute of Mass Information, Media Detector, the Lviv Media Forum, Public Broadcasting, Reporters Without Borders, Local Media, and others.

The authors of the statement emphasize that Ukraine’s recovery is not limited to the construction of housing, roads, hospitals, or energy facilities. In their view, it also involves strengthening democratic institutions, public trust, community resilience, and public oversight.

The appeal specifically highlights the role of regional and local newsrooms. They work directly with communities and can monitor how reconstruction projects are being implemented, whether they meet residents’ needs, and how transparently funds are being used.

The media canalso identify corruption risks, ineffective decisions, and discrepancies between stated plans and actual results. At the same time, the authors of the appeal note that the Ukrainian media sector itself has suffered as a result of the full-scale war. Newsrooms have lost their offices, equipment, staff, advertising revenue, and part of their audience.

According to them, the situation for independent media in frontline, de-occupied, and affected communities remains particularly challenging. For this reason, the appeal proposes treating the recovery of the media sector as a separate priority in Ukraine’s reconstruction.

The signatories also noted that the topic of media was already included in the main program of the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2026. Specifically, there was a panel titled “Recovery Under Attack: Safeguarding Trust, Media, and Transparency against Russia’s Cognitive Warfare,” as well as a roundtable discussion on Ukrainian media and information resilience.

At the same time, representatives of independent news organizations were not included as speakers on the panel directly dedicated to the role of the media. Furthermore, according to the authors of the appeal, accreditation procedures remained complicated, and the format of participation did not always grant journalists access to the thematic discussions of the main program.

In light of this, the organizers of the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2027 are urged to include representatives of independent media in the program as speakers, experts, moderators, and panelists. Separately, they propose involving regional, local, frontline, and relocated newsrooms in shaping the program.

Other proposals include consulting with the media sector before finalizing the conference program, ensuring a separate session on the role of the media in recovery, simplifying and making the accreditation process for journalists more transparent, and guaranteeing them access to open thematic panels.

The authors of the appeal also propose holding an official event during URC 2027 on the role and recovery of independent media, with the participation of newsrooms, government institutions, civil society, donors, the business community, and international organizations.

Separately, the appeal highlights the need to include independent media in recovery programs and financial instruments. The authors emphasize that support for newsrooms should not be limited to funding communications or coverage of individual projects.

Organizations and experts are invited to sign the appeal.

Ірина Глухова