Ukraine Press Room Media Discussion Report Eng

7/29/2019 Ukraine Press Room Media Discussion Report Eng

1/12www.britishcouncil.org/ukraine

WHATS EATING

CULTURAL JOURNALISM?

Analysis of the results of the British Council Ukraine

initiative roundtable Whats Eating Cultural Journalism?

on 26 February 2010


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The British Council Ukraineinitiated this roundtable withassistance from monitors fromUkrainian cultural media outlets,local journalists who coverthe arts, cultural managersand representatives and non-governmental organizations.

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Margaret Jack Director of the British Council Ukraine

Volodymyr Sheyko British Council Ukraine

Yuriy Makarov Forum Moderator

Yuriy Volodarskyy Scho? Magazine, www.sho.kiev.ua

Maryna Vitrova Russian Media Center, www.rmc.org.ua

Serhiy Vasylyev Kommersant Ukraine, www.kommersant.ua

Oleksandr Rutkovskyy Newspaper 2000, 2000.net.ua

Dmytro Desyateryk Den Newspaper, www.day.kiev.ua

Oleksiy Ananov Radio Era FM, www.radioera.com.ua

Tina Peresunko Information Agency for Cultural Industries, www.i-pro.kiev.ua

Iryna Plekhova Information Agency for Cultural Industries

Bohdana Kostiuk Radio Svoboda, www.radiosvoboda.org

Oleg Smal Dzerkalo Tyzhnya

Hanna Parovatkina Ukrayinska Kultura i Zhyttya Newspaper

Dmytro Ivanov Master Class

Oksana Melnychuk PromKom

Mariya Khrapachova GogolFest

Oleksandr Butsenko Demokratiya Cherez Kulturu Center

Kateryna Botanova Foundation Center for Contemporary Art

Taras Melnyk Open Ukraine Foundation

Serhiy Semenov Expert-Ukraina

Vadym Siverskyy Dom MagazineVira Makoviy Ukrayinska Kultura i Zhyttya Newspaper

Olha Khvostoviy Bookshelf

Our primary goal was to address and define

the challenges facing contemporary cultural

journalism, such as:

Does it provide sufficient coverage of

cultural processes and events?

Is it long on information, but short on

analysis? Which is more important, art reviewing or

other forms of art reporting?

By arranging the roundtable along these lines,

the organizers hoped to, simultaneously; elicit

from the participants constructive discussion

and ideas in order to determine what is lacking

in Ukrainian cultural journalism and, to suggest

what help might be needed from European

cultural centers currently working in Ukraine.


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Mrs. Margaret Jack, Director of the British

Council Ukraine opened the discussion by

welcoming those assembled. After thanking

them for their willingness to take part in this

forum, she reasserted that cultural media in

Ukraine should understand that help is available

to them. She took the opportunity to remind

the assembly that, theres a huge international

recognition of the role that you, the media, are

playing in Ukraines journey towards an open

stable and democratic society. You act as the

eyes, the ears and the voices for all levels

of society, exciting and stimulating debate,

influencing public opinion, and shedding light on

some of the darker areas of public life in Ukraine.

In the British Council we believe that cultural

relations, like media, has a vital role to play in

shaping the world we live in. For us cultural

relations does three things: It builds trust and

understanding, it generates opportunities for

individuals to fulfill their potential and it fosters

the cooperation that contributes to a stable

world.

Our approach as the British Council to cultural

relations in Ukraine draws on the sphere of

education, of arts and creativity, of English

and governance in building relationships that

benefit both UK and Ukraine and respond to the

aspirations of the young people of Ukraine.

The European Union is also increasingly

recognizing the power of cultural relations. And

in fact I have just come this morning from a

meeting that has been discussing the technical

and financial assistance that the European Union

will be offering to its eastern and southern

neighbors. The British Council is the founding

member of EUNIC, a body called the European

Network of Institutes of Culture. And together

were working to respond to the needs of the

cultural sectors in Ukraine and the five neighbors

in the Eastern Partnership.

So culture and creativity are high on the

international agenda in Europes relationships

with Ukraine. Turning to today, our purpose

today is to explore together what you as media

need to do in your vital job in the field of cultural

journalism and what role we, as the British

Council, and EUNIC, can play in responding to

your needs.

In the British Council we believe passionately

that the way to make a positive difference in our

world is through partnership. And I look forward

to hearing the outcome of our discussions how

we as the British Council can bring best value to

partnerships with you, the media, and support

the vital and important work that you do.

Margaret Jack, British Council Ukraine Director



During the course of the conversation, it

became apparent that, in general, cultural

journalism in Ukraine is in a rather bad state,

and its role, influence and importance insociety is decidedly underwhelming. Oksana

Melnychuk, representing PromKom, a

Ukrainian association providing promotional

support for international art presentations,

asserted this sad truth convincingly by decrying

the absence of cultural journalism as such

(in Ukraine).Pointing out, in her view, the

shortcomings of Ukrainian cultural journalism

in its attempts to focus on cultural events, she

offered, by way of illustration:

a) the apparent absence from the working

lexicon of journalists covering culture

of the concept of cultural policy and its

implications in the context of contemporary

political relations in Europe

b) the heavy concentration of coverage on

show business

c) the naive coverage of the academic arts:music, theater and dance

d) the informational vacuum about

international cultural events, particularly

those

in the sphere of high art, juxtaposed with

the glut of so-called pop-celebrity news

e) an attitude that is, traditionally, far too

tolerant of blatantly invalid claims of artisticmerit which arise from a general lack of

competence and ability in comparison with

other cultural spheres

f) the low level of cultural reporting

correlates directly with the general publics

low level of cultural sophistication.

A MARGINAL DOMAIN

Taras Melnyk of the Open Ukraine Foundation

commented further on the lack of competence

and absence of specialization among journalists

who handle the cultural dialogue with theobservation that

the majority of journalistsregard cultural events to be onlythose things which stand out tothem, never departing from thegenerally-held notion of whatculture entails.

It is of note that journalists who were present

also offered their impartial criticism of the

state of things in their profession. Serhiy

Semenov, editor of the cultural department of

the periodical Expert-Ukraina (Expert-Ukraine)

sees the chief problem in Ukrainian cultural

journalism as a lack of requisite understanding

among the majority of journalists, incidentally,

most of whom are female as, among us, cultural

journalism is considered to be, in a double

offense, womens work. By and large, our mass-

media throws only the young and inexperienced

at culture. The result is, drawing from

experience, a young reporter who pens a critical

review of an Ingmar Bergman film having never

watched another piece by him, and thus lacking

the understanding of where this silver thread

fits in his overall body of work. This applies to

articles about other modes of art as well. Briefly,

articles appearing in the Ukrainian cultural press

are routinely stripped of any legitimate cultural

context, which is then replaced with the limited

impressions of an inexperienced writer telling us

only what hes seen or heard. A cultural journalist

with no regard for cultural context is like a

business journalist who is sent to the factory

to find out how the new tractors are coming

along and ends up writing about his general

impressions on the outlook of manufacturing.



One likely explanation of the current state of

affairs is the level of relative unimportance,

even disdain, with which cultural matters

are treated in Ukrainian publications. Asevidence, consider the number of general

editors of journals, weeklies, and internet

sites who have ignored the British Councils

invitation to this roundtable. In the end its not

surprising, as culturologist and journalist forum

moderator Yuriy Makarov observed: the

cultural department of almost any periodical

is, to one degree or another, marginalized, out

there someplace on the periphery of editorial

attention, a tradition left over from the soviet

period that just hangs on.

Scho? (What?) magazine critic Yuriy

Volodarskyy employed Markarovs well-aimed

terminology, gettoization, to explain that:

Mass media here has alwaystreated matters of cultureaccording to the table scraps

principle.

In order to overcome the situation its necessary,

absolutely, to work from within, gradually righting

the course. The thing is, cultural dialogue is

being further and further removed, to the

point where cultural writing cant be found in

magazines, and to the extent that it is found,

it has almost nothing to do with culture. Its all

show business, celebrity news, and the like.

Picking up the thread, Master Class journalist

Dmytro Ivanov held up the survey showing

that 46% of Ukrainians dont buy books, adding:

They are not to blame. They are victimized by

this situation which has occurred in our country

and is artificially manufactured by business

interests in Ukraine that control mass-media.

Yes, people we work for. They have business

goals, but are not interested in elevating the

cultural level of the state. This is a process ofthe social degradation of society and gives us

things like Radio Chancon (Prison Song Radio)

which is popular from one end of the country to

another. This informational policy that dominates

the cultural sphere is supported by the largerpart of mass-media ownership and their top

management. It has several clear, and yet shady,

characteristics which identify an intentional

policy aimed at doing away with cultural themes

in the mass-media and replacing them with

entertainment. I submit, and offer up evidence,

that this is not simply a commercially-effective

direction of business-development adopted

by the owners of our mass-media outlets, but

a conscious policy aimed at the primitivization

of societys tastes and the creation of a

corresponding degradation of the intellectual

level of the general population. Let it be said that

in some instances, the work of journalists, our

work, must be dictated by personal conviction

and professional conscience in direct

contravention of the aims and interest of our

employers.

Yuriy Volodarskyy, Scho? (What?) magazine



Journalist Hanna Parovatkina from Ukrayinska

Kultura i Zhyttya newspaper adopted a similarly

fatalistic tone. Focusing on the retooling of

cultural departments into celebrity feature

departments, she lamented the miserlysalaries and lack of prestige which typify

cultural journalism, as well as the increasing

number of uncultured and unlettered writers

who are handling cultural themes. Soberly yet

disturbingly, she reported: Our influence on

management is minimal. We are not listened to,

but told to write according to the prescribed

format. What can you do when an editor throws

your copy in your face and then dresses you

down for using words that the readers dont

know?

Bohdana Kostiuk of Radio Svoboda (Freedom

Radio) commented on the mass media

managements indifference to coverage of

cultural life and the analysis of cultural topics

in general, as well as the practice of shifting

cultural coverage into traditional areas of

yellow journalism and celebrity features.

Its the table scraps principle at work, andculture and cultural journalism are in the same

boat. Its impossible, financially and logistically

speaking, for a journalist to cover any cultural

event outside her own city, or do a quality

report or, on occasion, to break the story of

a previously undiscovered cultural gem, or a

new name in the arts,she worried. Too few of

our mass-media moguls, themselves potential

backers of the arts in the best Ukrainian cultural

tradition have no interaction with the Ukrainian

cultural sphere.

Mrs. Kostiuk then shared the following painful

observations: It is certainly understood that

those who are in government are intimidated

by a populace that knows how to read, write,

use the internet, and who go to the theater,

buy books, learn foreign languages. Among

them are those who are responsible for cultural

policy in Ukraine. When I covered international

news, I began to evaluate the cultural activities

of Poland, the EU, Russia, Ukraine and the state

institutions which were occupied with cultural

affairs in these countries. I was stunned to learn

that in Ukraine, in our analogous agencies there

was no one working there who was affiliated withthe world of Ukrainian culture.

There will be no moneyforthcoming from our potentialpatrons. They earn it here, buttheir families dont live here.

Their children, in many cases, dont study here.

They are not and never will be linked withUkrainian culture, but with pop-culture, and

Radio Chancon (Prison Song Radio), and its

a problem everywhere you look. Not just in

Ukraine, but in many countries. The difference

here is that in Ukraine there is no cultural

industry to speak of. On the odd occasion when

our media elites show interest in the latest hot

writer or a premier at the National Opera, its

simply, unequivocally, a function of somebody

being in need of some image-making. Pure

status symbol stuff.

Bohdana Kostiuk, Radio Svoboda (Freedom Radio)



Sadly, no ruling authority ever needs thinking

people,Serhiy Vasylyev of Kommersant

Ukraina (Ukrainian Merchant) affirmed. In his

view it is axiomatic that the sexual exploits ofthe stars and politicans wardrobes have always

attracted a far greater share of attention than

high culture has. There is an irrefutable number

in front of us: 4%.

Only 4% of the population isconcerned with matters in theworld of art and, more broadly,with spiritual life in general.

Its no big deal, its just the way the world is.

Ordinary people are faced with more pressing

problems than films, theatrical performances

and classical music concerts. In the end we need

to grasp that the priorities and slant of the press

is changing, reflecting social tendencies. In the

past it was considered that a newspaper was

the chief propagandist and agitator and served

some unconscious educational function. Society

now, in the times were living in, is far lessinterested in some aesthetic advice and far more

interested in knowing whether to buy this book,

or that ticket to a concert or the philharmonic.

Theyre concerned with their money and the

press is reacting to it, shifting the paradigm.

Its not only ignorant editors or cynical

ownership dictating these standards; its also

journalists who are fully complicit in pandering to

the call for plebianization of the aims and criteriaof art. Bit by bit an extremely important thing

is disappearing from the media: a plurality of

viewpoints and independent analysis of singular

art events and the works of world art. This is a

bad, and dangerous precedent. Operating purely

like agents shilling adverts, we not only reflect

societys twisted consciousness, but we give it

form and strength. We dont need to look further

than our own sins for those to blame.

Oleksandr Rutkovskyy, a reviewer from the

magazine 2000 expanded on this theme: It

seems to me that talking about the problems,

the solutions, the options, and the changesneeded in cultural journalism has no sense at

all if we arent going to talk about the culture

of journalism itself. After all, cultural journalism

writing about culture, analyzing, critiquing,

and chronicling it is a product of our general

journalistic culture. And hows journalism in

general doing these days? Id characterize it as

completely drunk on politics. Or maybe suffering

from a political hangover. Journalism is fixated

on, no, corrupted by politics and is starting to

spit out untruths, go foul, and to lose any sense

of feeling for society in general.

Serhiy Vasylyev urged that critics and

reviewers be individuals, but in their

individuality often acquit themselves like boors:

Certainly, we need to writebetter, but its not enough.

We also need to checkourselves. Live according to ourconsciences as it is the only wayto self improvement.

PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF

Oleksandr Rutkovskyy, Magazine 2000



Oleksandr Rutkovskyy reproached journalists

for their haste, prejudice and intolerance.

Dmytro Ivanov intoned regarding the low level

of knowledge and skill among journalists and

Iryna Plekhova, from Informatsina Ahentsiya

Kulturnyx Industriy (Information Agency of

Cultural Industries), decried their passivity

and laziness. Returning to the theme, the

participants continued to discuss the current

situation in cultural journalism, and offer acomprehensive and constructive basis for

support, encouragement, and self-respect. One

must add, not unsuccessfully.

Forum moderator Yuriy Makarov forcefully yet

gracefully returned the conversation to a more

productive line, with this offering: People of

my generation went out into the world, reading

Marx, Engels, and forgive me, Heavenly Father

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. To this day I struggle

to purge myself of the residue of this kind of

thinking. Nonetheless, there is one of Karl Marxs

ideas which we ought to hold on to: Production

dictates demand. Any worthwhile marketing

specialist will tell you what happens when there

is overproduction of some product, I dont know,

wool, for example, and the next thing you know,

and after a short time a new product appears

and then it isnt long until society decides that

it cant live without this thing. Take sanitary

napkins, for example. I chose this exampleintentionally, to help provoke our examination of

the idea: production, suggestion, demand.

In principle, mass-media can dictate whatever it

wants. Certainly, there are limits. One cant force

a cat to prefer the smell of gasoline to that of

valerian! Human perceptions need to be taken

into consideration. Finally, everyone can picture

what it takes to capture the public, and also

what is not even theoretically possible. Withouttrespassing on the limitations of human abilities

of perception, I hold that the mass-media is

capable of dictating market priorities. Explain

and point out what is important and what is less

so. What is prestigious and what is not. Perhaps,

tactically-speaking it wont see so beneficial, but

looking at things strategically, after a campaign

has gone on for a season, a quarter, or a year,

and well see that it will justify itself.

Of course, this isnt a question only for the oddjournalist or editor working in some cultural

department but, first and foremost, a question

for owners, operators publishers, and chief

editors. If able to alter their established point of

view, they would benefit strategically. We are all

aware that if not all, most cultural events these

days are promoted through a diverse set of

fairly snobby mechanisms; due to some widely

perceived sense of prestige attached to it, this

or that cultural phenomenon takes on great

importance for society in general, affecting the

social map and soon, the whole paradigm. Im

not sure to what degree this is true, but theres

a rumor going around that in Russia these days

its getting to be stylish not to show what make

of watch youve got on, or which brands youre

wearing, or which car youre driving. However,

boasting that, so they say, youve read this or

that book, attended this or that exposition, are

listening to this or that kind of music is all the

thing. I suggest that similar approaches wouldnot be difficult to introduce here.

The only problem I see is thatof the quality of journalismnecessary to accomplishit. Writing interestingly andattractively are, I grant, atechnical objective.



Dmytro Desyateryk, a reviewer writing for the

Den (Day) newspaper, added: Id like to offer

an example, similar to that which Yuri brought

up with his illustration of the feminine pads. Im

speaking specifically about the film Avatar

which was destined, long before its release to

be seen by virtually the entire world. It may be a

slight exaggeration, but this is a pristine example

of the influence of the media on art. No one

had seen the painting, but they were lining up

to buy it, damn the cost. Cultural journalism is

shaping this process, and any director who says

he doesnt care what the critics or the crowd

thinks, is lying. Everybodys looking for feedback.

We influence this process whether we want to or

not. If we stop what were doing, the process will

turn from a mighty river into a stagnant bog.

Oleksiy Ananov of Radio Era FM (Radio Era

FM) pursued this line of thinking, taking issue

with what he regarded as an overly optimistic

take on the situation by Yuri Volodarskiy,

namely: that financial backing is available, and

that it just needs to be uncovered, allowing

cultural journalism to flourish. He said: Peoplewho arent working for pay work more diligently.

Honestly, Im thoroughly idealistic in this.

Im convinced: there is so much that can be

accomplished without money or institutional

forms of support, what have you. However,

germane to this discussion is the manner in

which we present (cultural) information. How

we do it. We cant distance ourselves from our

audience.

We so often talk about cultureso academically, like insidersspeaking in code.

We certainly need to take into account what the

audience can absorb, and it is indeed valuable

to release information thats understandable,

without violating the sense of it, but in a

contemporary, accessible format. Im talking

about a dynamic, vivid, concise pace.

Only then, when the dialogue about high art will

become as exciting to the public as Lives of the

Stars will the attitude toward high art begin to

change. Im extremely optimistic as I look at the

situation and I have faith in our mass-media.

Im thinking especially about the more

humble approaches, like that which has been

going on over the last several years with the

popularization of ethno-cultural events. Thanks

to the constant efforts of a number of agencies,especially those in media, this phenomenon

has become a meaningful trend. Weve got, so

to speak, a ground up, democratic movement

going in our culture. Whats more, this example

is universally applicable. Arrogance and phony

political-correctness should be foreign to us. We

must support the variety, the diversity that exists

in the Ukrainian cultural space and by that, hone

the level of our professionalism.

Far from becoming ingratiating, the dialogue

produced the opinion that, at present, the

strength of cultural journalism lies largely in the

rugged individualism characteristic of working

reviewers and analysts. And so the question

arose: how to assist them? Specifically, what can

the British Council do in this regard?

Oleksiy Ananov, Radio Era FM (Radio Era FM)



STILLING THE ANXIOUS HEART

Some of those present at the roundtable

saw as perhaps the most pressing problem

confronting journalists as that of the lack of a

reliable mechanism for communication, witheach other, with artists. They also worry about

the perceptible deficit of information about

the processes, about whats going on in world

culture, and no news about how culture and

journalism correlate outside Ukraine. Similar

questions, either raised during the discussion

or received separately in written form from

other journalists, commanded much of the day.

We have assembled some of the main points in

what follows.

Yuriy Volodarskyy raised the issue of the lack

of a serious, culture-related internet portal.

Dmytro Desyateryk took up the theme in

spirited fashion:

What do we need? A powerfulresource in the form of a culturalUkrayinska Pravda (Ukrainian

Truth).

If such a portal were to be created, it would

help our culture immensely. However, if the

main point of this examination is to feel good

about ourselves, then all will be fine. Financially.Creatively. Seriously, promotions, analysis and

the resources to access any sliver of cultural

information need to be put on the site. It needs

to be constantly updated. A place where more

or less good writers are working. So what we

need is a portal that is simultaneously hugely

informative and absolutely culturally relevant.

Journalists would like the British Council and

other cultural centers to introduce a program

that helps broaden cultural awareness

and provides the opportunity to sharpen

professional qualifications. Art director of Dom

(Home) magazine, Vadym Siverskyy put it

sincerely and simply: this is undoubtedly more

about my need for self-improvement, but Master

Classes and Press Tours sound really good to

me!

Vira Makoviy of Kultura i Zhyttya (Culture

and Life) heartily supports the idea of MasterClasses conducted by British journalists: It

could be either accredited Ukrainian journalists,

or those who travel here to cover important

developments. They also dont necessarily need

to come from the cultural sphere.

Oksana Melnychuk further proposed a few

lectures, meetings to go over approaches to

cultural policy at play in Europe; a project

to help define the impact of culture policy onsocietal development overall, that we might, at

least among Ukrainian journalists, find a common

language to discuss the issue on the table,

namely, that society will not progress culturally,

as long as culture continues to be afforded only

the crumbs from the table.

Oksana Melnychuk, PromKom



Serhiy Semenov expressed doubts about

the feasibility of western journalists coming to

teach their eastern counterparts. The western

perspective does not easily, or automatically,

transfer into a Ukrainian context. Western culture

exists in a completely different cultural setting.

However, seminars about various models of the

cultural process as its organized in western

countries, is an entirely different thing.

Bohdana Kostiuk agreed with her colleague,

adding: I suspect that roundtables, conferences

and the like will always be practical.

If the desire and ability are there,journalists will always show up totalk about the nuts and bolts ofcultural life.

Maryna Vitrova reminded the roundtable

of two matters: the experience of another

visiting seminar conducted by the Rosiyskiy

Media Tsentr (Center for Russian Media) in

collaboration with the Swedish Institute FOYA,and the work of the Russian Mediasoyuza

(Media Union) an alternative journalists union

organized along the lines of a guild, with

units focusing on ecology, economy, politics,

photojournalism, and so on.

Hanna Parovatkina posited whether it would

be possible for a similar initiative to serve as

a matrix for a professional journalism union

specializing in cultural themes. Olha Khvostoviy

from Bookshelf offered the carefully

considered idea of a establishing a prize for

cultural writers. In addition, she emphasized

the strengthening of collegial and professional

communication among journalists, not

excluding those outside Kyiv. Dmytro Ivanov

added a persuasive call for a professional club

that discusses assigned topics, meets regularly,

and serves as the guiding force of the discourse

and approaches among journalists, and whats

more, in the media industry and the broader

circle of cultural players and intelligentsia. In the

end, we could end up, finally, with a civil society

in Ukraine.


12/12

British Council Ukraine 2010

On cover image: Yuri Makarov, Forum Moderator

Report prepared by Serhiy Vasylyev

Ukraine Press Room Media Discussion Report Eng

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