Den was pleasantly surprised to get a fresh issue of the journal Pamiatky Ukrainy: Istoriia ta Kultura, in which 24 out of 80 pages are about… Den. These pages focus, to a large extent, on the newspaper’s 20th anniversary and its contribution to the development of national journalism. The material includes an interview with editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna, the article “The First 20 Years: the Phenomenon of Den” by Doctor of History Stanislav Kulchytsky on the editorial board’s numerous projects, a lot of illustrations about our photography exhibit, and a series of excellent photos about the newspaper’s daily routine. Naturally, we sent the words of sincere gratitude to Pamiatky Ukrainy editor-in-chief Anatolii Sierykov and his team as well as to Andrii Shchekun, director general of the National Newspaper and Journal Publishing House which publishes not only the abovementioned journal, but also the journals Ukrainska Kultura, Ukrainskyi Teatr, Teatralno-Kontsertnyi Kyiv, Muzyka, and the newspapers Kultura i Zhyttia and Krymska svitlytsia. We asked Mr. Shchekun about what caused this idea.
“IT WOULD BE WRONG NOT TO SPOTLIGHT THE NEWSPAPER’S ACHIEVEMENTS”
“Firstly, we think that Den is really one of Ukraine’s leading and best print media that cover impartially the realities and events around us. Besides, you have very good projects about historical heritage and culture, which arouses our interest in line with the culturological profile of our publications. It would be wrong for our publishing house not to spotlight Den’s achievements over this period. I am glad and deeply grateful to our team for taking up the subject of the newspaper Den. I also want, on my part, to thank the newspaper’s editor-in-chief and editorial board for what they are doing. It is a professional level, and I think we should support it. This newspaper is a historical figure now, a historic event.”
“THE DISTRIBUTION MARKET IS IN FACT DEFUNCT HERE”
What do you think in general about our media space in terms of its contribution to the development of the Ukrainian state?
“Unfortunately, I must say that the situation is deplorable. We recently discussed this matter with Vice Premier Viacheslav Kyrylenko who, thank God, hears and supports us. Also present at this meeting were ministers of the infrastructure and education, as well as representatives of the Ministry for Youth and Sport. We publicly raised the question of why there are no Ukrainian-language patriotic print publications at railway facilities, such as, for example, Intercity trains. I hope this problem will be duly addressed and we will be able to do something. Besides, the distribution market is in fact defunct here. There is a monopolist, Soyuzdruk, on the market, which sets unfavorable product sale conditions. For example, we refuse now to recycle our publications because it is intellectual property – we take it and still have to pay 18 percent for this. It’s terrible! In other words, the market of distribution and normal support for patriotic publications does not exist. There must be governmental target-oriented support in distribution and some kind of grant system for such newspapers as Den and for National Newspaper and Journal Publish House’s products.
“The problem of our publishing house is that we have been given the same budget – 5,381,000 hryvnias – for three years in a row. Meanwhile, work conditions have changed and the salary fund has increased several times over. This means we cannot develop. For this reason, Andrii Kurkov, the chair of our publishing board, and I have requested the Parliamentary Committee for Culture and Spirituality to tackle these problems. For it’s the giddy limit. Moreover, this figure was neither discussed nor agreed upon with us.
“This is why we can only see Russian-language media on the market. I am 100-percent sure that the newspaper handed out at a subway station is a loss-making one. But it is free of charge. In other words, the aggressor’s regime is systemically working against us, while we offer no resistance. Everyone in the state must understand at last that this policy must be revised, all the more so that we have a new ministry in charge of information policies. Why is this not being done at a high level and with due consideration of the generations to come? I have a lot of thorny questions to ask.”
