It was around this time last year that the BBC’s first ever news bulletin in the Ukrainian language went on air – online and on our Ukrainian partner TV station, the national public channel, Hromadske. After 19 years of the BBC’s Ukranian-language radio ended in 2011, our TV bulletin was launched on 26 February 2018.
The first broadcast of the BBC News Ukraine TV news programme, which was followed by a launch event linking NBH and the Hromadske headquarters, was a result of five months of relentless preparatory work centred in the production team which was hired to deliver this new 15-minute programme.
Stepping into each other’s shoes
As part of a group of five journalists (that’s including myself), I could see from the word go that we wouldn’t have been able to do it had it not been for the help, guidance, knowledge and expertise of our BBC News Ukraine colleagues who had years of BBC experience behind them, as well as journalists, studio managers and countless other specialists from across the World Service. It was thanks to the support and amazing dedication of each and every one of them that, despite many challenges, we managed to launch the bulletin on schedule.
As the core team, we were also very clear that we could not afford to limit ourselves to just one specific role. In such a small team there is always a chance that you have to step into someone else’s shoes. In a successful TV operation every person can play a crucial role – from make-up and floor managers, to studio directors and lighting engineers. And, to quote my colleague Irena Taranyuk – who started years ago as part of the BBC’s Ukrainian radio team – presenter’s skills are usually a cherry on a cake that is a sum total of the efforts of all those people.
So everyone had to learn everything – from presenting to outputting, from building touchscreen sequences to reporting on a breaking news story. If someone asks me now if it is possible to have a good news programme with a “newsroom” of five journalists, I would say, definitely. (But please don’t ask me when we can have proper lunch breaks, because I still don’t know.)
Winning fans
The Novichok story broke during our first month on air. We managed to report it fast and to deliver exclusive material as it developed. While BBC News Ukraine journalists reported from Salisbury and Amesbury, we used the wider BBC materials and gave our audience the most relevant and comprehensive perspective of that story. I think this was how we won our first true fans.
From the very start, we made the most of the excellent content the World Service’s TV Unit provides – but we have also made sure we add original pieces, tailored for our audience, from a unique perspective. We are really lucky to have journalists in Kiev/Kyiv[1], who film powerful, exclusive stories from Ukraine.
One of a few
Following the events of late 2013-early 2014 (which are referred in Ukraine as the Revolution of Dignity), the annexation of Crimea and the ongoing war in the country’s east, Ukraine continues to face many challenges. One of them is a need for strong, independent journalism. Today, many media organisations are still influenced by ‘oligarchs’ – super-rich investors who expect political dividends from the media they own.
In such an environment, BBC News Ukraine is one of a few truly independent services that provide unbiased, accurate and high-quality content in the region. I am proud to be part of the team which, supported by best values and guided by high aspirations, offers the audiences the best of the BBC. It’s been a good first year for the BBC’s first Ukrainian TV news bulletin. Our team knows: it can only get better.
[1] “Kyiv” is the English spelling of the name of the country’s capital accepted by the Ukrainian government as well as the FCO, UN and many other government bodies, agencies and major international media.
