Can independent news outlets in Ukraine survive loss of USAID funding?
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Howard LaFranchi Staff writer
| Sumy, Ukraine
Aliona Yatsyna was exhausted. Along with several friends, she had worked nonstop since 2023 to create a new media site that would be an independent news source covering the Sumy region鈥檚 embattled border with Russia in northeastern Ukraine.
But the cofounder and CEO of Kordon Media was also buoyed by the modest journalistic venture鈥檚 early success and prospects for growth. With the help of a grant from USAID, the United States鈥� foreign aid program, Kordon Media had grown from an idea to a news site with six reporters covering a region rife with Russian disinformation.
鈥淯SAID was our first big financial support. It helped us get on our feet,鈥� Ms. Yatsyna says. 鈥淚t was USAID,鈥� she adds proudly, 鈥渢hat allowed us to pay for and equip our first war correspondent.鈥�
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onUSAID funding helped nurture new independent media outlets in Ukraine to play their part in strengthening democracy. Now there are concerns about a return to the days of media owned and dominated by oligarchs, political parties, and the state.
Kordon Media was about to add another war reporter in February, just as Russian forces began amassing on the Sumy border and intensifying cross-border incursions. Then word circulated that the new Trump administration in Washington planned to slash, and perhaps even shut down, USAID.
Shortly thereafter, that grant money stopped.
鈥淟osing USAID was a critical issue for us,鈥� Ms. Yatsyna says. 鈥淚t was like the intense pressure we were already under just to keep going suddenly tripled.鈥�
Kordon Media is just one of a roster of new media ventures 鈥� from news and investigative journalism sites to cultural magazines and podcasts 鈥� that USAID funded or helped to launch in Ukraine, primarily since 2020.
Under the Biden administration, Ukraine became the world鈥檚 single largest recipient of USAID funding. Grants were awarded for everything from humanitarian assistance, especially following Russia鈥檚 invasion in 2022, to small-business development, the modernization of farming and transportation, fighting corruption, and democratization.
USAID funding for Ukraine jumped from $200 million in 2021 to $16 billion in 2023, and totaled $35 billion for the three years preceding President Donald Trump鈥檚 return to the White House.
Shifting priorities
That largesse did not survive Mr. Trump鈥檚 demands that foreign aid be cut back to align with 鈥淎merica First鈥� policies and promote American interests and values 鈥� now much more narrowly defined than under most recent administrations.
For example, such traditional targets of foreign aid as human rights, marginalized communities, and democracy promotion were virtually eliminated as core U.S. interests.
The Biden administration had considered the development of free and independent media to be key to strengthening a young democracy, budgeting $75 million in USAID funding over five years for that purpose.
By the end of 2024 USAID had helped launch and sustain more than 300 local media outlets in Ukraine 鈥� nearly three-quarters of all such outlets in the country.
With USAID鈥檚 demise, some of Ukraine鈥檚 fledgling media have now folded, while others 鈥� like Kordon Media 鈥� hang on as they explore new funding and revenue models.
While no one in Ukraine鈥檚 media environment is celebrating USAID鈥檚 exit, some say at least while it lasted the U.S. assistance acted like seed money.
鈥淯SAID money formed a basis for independent media to launch and operate from,鈥� says Ola Myrovych, CEO of Lviv Media Forum, one of Ukraine鈥檚 largest international media events and journalist development and support organizations.
鈥淟osing that funding was a crisis for sure, but in Ukraine we are living in a constant crisis from the war,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat has forced us to learn to adapt, and I think that ability to adapt will help us avoid this crisis for independent media becoming a catastrophe.鈥�
鈥淩enationalization鈥� of the media
Still, some Ukrainian experts worry USAID鈥檚 absence will encourage a return to the days of media dependent upon oligarchs, political parties, or the state.
鈥淭he loss of USAID is beginning to highlight the risk of what I call a renationalization of the Ukraine media market,鈥� says Otar Dovzhenko, an expert at Lviv Media Forum.
Indeed, he sees the post-USAID moment as a period of both promise and peril 鈥� of 鈥渙pportunity鈥� for media outlets to develop new revenue models that sustain their independence, but also of 鈥渄anger鈥� of reverting to traditional revenue sources promoting their own interests.
Mr. Dovzhenko says it鈥檚 inevitable that some outlets will disappear. 鈥淭his is not a tragedy,鈥� he says, given the recent proliferation of new media. 鈥淲e have more mouths than we can feed.鈥�
His hope is that the outlets that survive take advantage of the moment to enhance their independence.
鈥淭his is a chance for Ukrainian media to think about how to organize their economic model in a better way,鈥� he says. 鈥淢y worry is that some will take what seems like the easy way out and return to a dependence on government.鈥�
Securing revenues
Cukr Media in Sumy is determined to pursue the 鈥渙pportunity鈥� option.
The news site, magazine, and news-related events organizer created in 2019 has relied in part on U.S. funding but since its inception has aimed for a diversified revenue stream to maintain editorial independence.
鈥淥ur goal is a budget that is spread out over a variety of income sources 鈥� about a third from subscribers, a third from businesses, a third from grants 鈥� but doesn鈥檛 leave us dependent on any one of them,鈥� says Aliona Serhiienko, Cukr鈥檚 operations manager.
Paid subscribers recently topped 840 鈥� boosting subscription revenue to over half of the goal of making up a third of Cukr鈥檚 budget. Revenue from businesses includes sales at Cukr鈥檚 store selling everything from Cukr promotional items to Sumy gear and locally made products.
鈥淭he loss of USAID was like a blow to the head across the media community,鈥� Ms. Serhiienko says. 鈥淏ut the way I see it, we are like startups. USAID provided the seed money for some of the startups, but as we know, not all startups survive.鈥�
With the largest international source of media funding gone, many media outlets turned to a logical replacement 鈥� Ukraine鈥檚 European neighbors. Indeed, shortly after USAID鈥檚 demise, the European Union announced $18 million in new grant money for Ukrainian media.
But Oleh Dereniuha, managing editor of 鈥淢ykNews鈥� in the southern river port city of Mykolaiv, recounts how his publication realized that the competition for European grants was going to resemble a stampede.
鈥淩ecently the U.K. government announced they were planning to award about six media grants 鈥� and in response they got more than 600 applications,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the USAID effect.鈥�
In any case, Mr. Dereniuha says he advises media to be wary of simply turning to the Europeans as the new saviors of Ukraine鈥檚 independent media.
鈥淚 think the European assistance and development budgets are going to be shrinking as well,鈥� he says, 鈥渂ecause the same right-wing political forces that attacked USAID are gaining ground in Europe.鈥�
Mr. Dereniuha says MykNews鈥� diversified revenue stream has it on pretty solid operating terrain for now. But he cautions that Ukraine will lose if media like his that focus on local issues disappear.
He cites the exhaustive investigation MykNews did recently into the city鈥檚 failure to repair war-damaged water infrastructure, which left much of Mykolaiv receiving nonpotable water.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the kind of essential service media should perform in a democratic society,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut who will do it if the local outlets are gone?鈥�
U.S. interests
Ms. Myrovych in Lviv says of course the future of Ukraine鈥檚 independent media matters most to Ukrainians. But she says one can also argue why it should matter to Americans as well and thus why USAID funding worked in America鈥檚 interests.
鈥淯SAID funding made possible investigations into Russia鈥檚 war crimes in the occupied territories, and it funded reports about churches that were prohibited from operating in the occupied territories,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 think the issue of religious freedom is important to many Americans.鈥�
One overarching U.S. national security interest that in her view USAID was addressing was the threat from Russian disinformation.
鈥淎merican support was critical to our ability to counter the disinformation narrative,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut USAID鈥檚 withdrawal is a big loud signal to Russia and China that says, 鈥極K, this space is open to you now.鈥欌��
