Frontpage of the Telegraf, featuring an investigation into corruption in Ukraine. Photo: Telegraf, Ukraine

Investigative journalism in Ukraine is now experiencing the fruits of years of support and training of journalists, says the local coordinator of SCOOP in Ukraine. However in a country, where 50 percent of the population thinks that corruption is appropriate, well documented investigative journalism faces huge challenges and obstacles

Located on the banks of the river Dnieper, the historical city of Kremenchuk became the focus of attention in an unusual story about corruption in Ukraine. Local authorities had approved a plan to build apartment buildings in a school yard in a deal which favoured a company connected to high-ranking officials.

What made this story unusual was the fact that a reporter managed to dig out documented proof of the deal disclosing the legal violations involved. When the story was published with support from SCOOP, the city council of Kremenchuk was forced to cancel the construction project.

Investigative journalism on the rise

- During the past years investigative journalism has developed rapidly in Ukraine, says Oleg Khomenok, who is the local coordinator for SCOOP in Ukraine. SCOOP is a peer-to-peer support programme for investigative journalism in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, founded and managed by the Danish Association of Investigative journalism (FUJ) and International Media Support.

- There is a growth in investigative journalism in Ukraine and though this kind of journalism is only practiced by a minority of the Ukrainian journalists it might set an excample for other journalists to follow, says Oleg Khomenok, who points out that not only is Ukraine experiencing more investigative journalism - the quality has also improved tremendously.

In the past it could take weeks for lawyers to do legal screening of the articles because of lack of documentation to verify the points raised, which lead to a lot of back and fourth communication between the journalist and the lawyers.

- Today the legal screening is done very fast because the journalists have done their work and provided documentation and verification from the out set, explains Oleg Khomenok.

Documentation improves credibility

This means that investigative journalism in Ukraine today gains much more credibility than it did five years ago and subsequently also lead to more direct results in terms of stories leading to the prosecutors office picking up cases based on information brought into the daylight by investigative journalists.

- In the past revealing stories on for example corruption would have very little or no impact, because they were not properly documented, says Oleg Khomenok.

According to Oleg Khomenok it is a variety of factors that has lead to the increase in investigative journalism in Ukraine. One of them being support to carry out this challenging kind of journalism and also increased experience exchange between Ukrainian and Western journalists. Further there has been a change of the mindset of people as well as the political climate. And last but not least the laws on access to information has changed, which has enabled journalists to access more information.

Success with a twist

But even though investigative journalism is on the rise in Ukraine and it is highly valued and well respected, Oleg Khomenok stresses that it is only a maximum of 100 journalists out of thousands in Ukraine that are actually practicing it.

Unfortunately the day-to-day journalism in Ukraine is marred by corruption and advertisers journalism and the professional levels of journalist are low.

- There are two main problems: people and money. The problem with people means that professional standards in Ukrainian journalism are still very low, and practical experience in investigative reporting is minimal. Moreover very often journalists are rejected to open official information access and then make no effort to get this information or to change the fact that bureaucrats violate their rights, Oleg Khomenok explains.

Further there is a widespread tendency to leave big advertisers out of the spotlight to secure the income of the media:

- The problem with money is not only in reduced media budgets because of the current crisis. It is also about "advertiser censorship" - situations, where coverage of certain topics will never happen if big advertisers are involved. A reporter might face the difficulties in publishing an investigation disclosing illegal activity of the companies which advertise in the newspaper, says Oleg Khomenok.

You can read more about SCOOP and the situation in Ukraine on: www.i-scoop.org