However, it’s not a new episode of “The Newsroom” television series. It’s just another day at Impact Media, a professional development program that started in July and ends in October. The four education modules, sponsored by the Foundation for Effective Governance, expose a select group of Ukrainian journalists to some of the best minds in the industry for tips on how improve coverage of economic and financial issues.

The whiteboard in the corner is full of notes – describing such themes as a “source wheel,” “creativity traps” and “beat maps.” All eyes of the attendees focus on Jacqui Banaszynski, who holds the Knight Chair in Editing at the University of Missouri’s journalism school. Banaszynski served as coach of the first session in summer. When she briefly outlined her Pulitzer Prize-winning series called “AIDS in the Heartland,” about a gay couple who suffered from AIDS yet stood by each other until death, the room became silent.

Banaszynski, a former reporter and editor at several American newspapers, shares her “access strategies,” giving her Ukrainian students useful tips in how to communicate with government bodies or church representatives. A journalist’s job is to come up with good stories. “If you don’t understand the situation, you should find somebody who explains it to you. Don’t be afraid to ask as many questions as you need,” she stresses.

The program has brought to Kyiv more than a dozen leading journalists from Columbia Journalism School, The New York Times, Reuters and Boston University and other places around the globe.

Besides Banazynski, the first session lineup includes Romanian editor Cristian Lupsa, former Fortune magazine executive editor Rob Norton and New York Times writer Diana B. Henriques. From them, we learn six paths to a good story, learn how to write a good “nut graph” – the part of every story that tells the reader the main point of the story and why it’s important. We get lessons in the complicated intricacies of the U.S. Federal Reserve system and how to apply those lessons in Ukraine.

We also get a chance to learn how to cover financial and business topics from the likes of Dean Starkman, editor at Columbia Journalism Review; Chuck Jaffe, senior columnist for Market Watch; Joanna Ossinger, a team leader at Bloomberg news and others.

At a recent session, we talk about Ukraine’s place in the financial world with Jerome Vacher, the International Monetary Fund’s representative in Ukraine. We find out more about real estate in Ukraine from Nick Cotton, the managing director at DTZ Ukraine. We learn what to focus on when analyzing a company’s financial statements from Andriy Bulakh, a partner in the audit department at Deloitte.

One of the most interesting experiences is a case study method, conducted by Donald Nordberg, a professor at Bournemouth University in Great Britain. While preparing an exercise on Metro Cash & Carry’s expansion to India, I understand the importance of details and analysis from all angles. The journalist’s trick is to make even complicated business stories easily understandable.

Rob Norton, former executive editor at Fortune magazine, and New York Times journalist Diana B. Henriques conducted training seminars for Impact Media in Kyiv.

“As one of my editors once said, paraphrasing Einstein, your story should be as simple as possible, and no simpler,” Nordberg told us.

Ivan Verstyuk, one of the Ukrainian journalism fellows in the program who works as a news editor at RBC-Ukraine news agency, says learning from the Western experts is a powerful driver for his professional growth.

“All the components of the program have been useful, but what we heard about the coverage of the world financial crisis of 2007-2009 is critically important. I also think, each of the program participants should share his or her knowledge on this issue with one’s colleagues,” Verstyuk sahys.

Impact Media gives strong journalism education – lots of active discussions, long reading lists and practical exercises. Ukrainian journalism schools should adopt at least part of this program.

Nataliya Bugayova, a project manager at the Foundation for Effective Governance and a former Kyiv Post journalist, hopes that Impact Media will boost the profession. The organization, funded by billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, is considering make the program an annual event.

“The goal of the foundation is to foster economic development in Ukraine. The quality of economic journalism affects greatly such developmental factors as quality of economic discourse among policymakers and society, and, in particular, the demand for economic reforms,” Bugayova says.

Henriques says it’s important for journalists in emerging democracies to have a benchmark for their work.

“It’s a yardstick that allows the journalists to mark their progress. Impact Media provides that, by bringing in established journalists from other countries to share their experience and expertise,” Henriques says. “I am personally impressed that Impact Media made business journalism its initial focus, because strong financial and economic reporting is so important to readers, regulators, everyone! As Ukraine’s economy finds its future, good journalism must be overseeing and monitoring that process.”

Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova can be reached at [email protected]. Kyiv Post staff writer Anastasia Forina contributed to the story. Goncharova, Forina and Kyiv Post staff writer Kateryna Kapliuk are taking part in Impact Media.