Vitaly Sych, the longest serving chief editor of Korrespondent magazine, was removed on Nov. 18 from the position he held for more than a decade, publisher UMH Group said in a news release.
At least one other reporter, political correspondent
Kristina Berdinskikh, has also announced she was leaving at the end
of the week.
The moves come just days after 13 journalists quit
Forbes Ukraine, published by the same company, over allegations of
censorship by the new owner, young multi-millionaire Serhiy Kurchenko
who closed on the UMH acquisition deal earlier this month.
“These two events at UMH are certainly connected,” said Natalia Ligachova, head of media watchdog Telekritika. “They are connected to the new owners, who once they closed the deal (to purchase UMH), want to sharply change the editorial policy.”
Lidumyla Nesterenko, head of the communications department of UMH, said the company has repeatedly announced that it will not change the editorial policies at its newly acquired media outlets.
The UMH statement said that Sych decided to leave the
50,000-circulation publication by “mutual agreement,” however.
Andriy Ovcharenko, until now the chief editor of the
Ukrainian edition of Argumenty I Fakty newspaper, was appointed as
acting chief editor of Korrespondent.
“I led Korresondent for 10.5 years and during this
time I did all that I can to turn the publication into a market
leader,” said Sych. “I had previously planned to leave, and gave
prior notice to the new owners (UMH Group). I am certain that the
appointment of the new editor, who has abundant editorial experience,
will provide continuity and maintain the high standards the
publication.”
The online and print versions of the magazine, which is
known for its Western style of news reporting, are market leaders in
their segments.
Prior to becoming chief editor of Korrespondent, Sych
was a staff writer for the Kyiv Post when the two publications
belonged to American Jed Sunden under KP Media. In April 2011, former
Foreign Minister Petro Poroshenko purchased KP Media, which included
the korrespondent.net website and bigmir.net web portal. Sunden sold the Kyiv Post separately, to current publisher Mohammad Zahoor in July 2009.
Poroshenko later sold his shares to UMH Group, which in
June was sold to multi-millionaire Kurchenko’s VETEK holding.
Kurchenko closed on the deal earlier this month, which includes
Forbes Ukraine and some 50 other brands on the internet, radio, and
print in Ukraine and Russia.
Previously in one of its annual reports UMH had singled
out Sych and Yulia McGuffie – the longtime editor of
korrespondent.net – as being the carriers of the Korrespondent
brand, and people of major importance for the company.
McGuffie is leaving UMH at the end of this month,
several sources in the company said. She could not be reached for
comment.
The overall news of Sych’s departure doesn’t bode well for the nation’s media landscape.
“Events at UMH negatively affect media pluralism in Ukraine,” said Ligachova. “We could say freedom of speech is worsening in the Ukrainian media space, as is censorship.”
Kyiv Post editor Mark Rachkevych can be reached at
[email protected].
