Editor’s Note: In light of the March 21, 2018, sale of the Kyiv Post by Mohammad Zahoor to new owner Adnan Kivan, the Kyiv Post answers the most frequently asked questions about the newspaper.
What is the Kyiv Post?
The Kyiv Post is a general interest newspaper in Ukraine that published its first print edition on Oct. 18, 1995. American businessman Jed Sunden founded the newspaper and sold it on July 28, 2009, to British businessman Mohammad Zahoor, who has now sold it to Adnan Kivan, a Syrian businessman based in Odesa.
What does the newspaper do and what is its editorial policy?
On the news pages, the two publishers in Kyiv Post history have adhered to a policy of editorial independence and high ethical standards of fairness and honesty. This means that the journalists decide what is the news and how to present it. This also means that journalists do not accept bribes or payments for stories, an unethical practice known in Ukraine as “jeansa.” Moreover, advertising is not disguised as news and is labeled so as not to deceive the reader. On its opinion pages, the Kyiv Post editorial policy has supported democracy, Western integration and free markets for Ukraine. The newspaper covers politics, business and entertainment. The newspaper also has covered two revolutions, Russia’s war and major scandals dating back to ex-President Leonid Kuchma’s autocratic regime, from 1994-2005, including the unsolved Sept. 16, 2000, murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze, in which Kuchma was a prime suspect.
The newspaper has published several investigative stories through the decades, including “Oligarch Watch” in 2016, a series on top eight oligarchs. The newspaper routinely features its best coverage online in the “Kyiv Post Classics” and other “Hot Topics” from the drop-down menu on the home page. Those “Hot Topics” include first-hand coverage of Russia’s war, Reform Watch, the $20 billion banking crisis and President Donald J. Trump’s Russia connections.
The Kyiv Post also publishes several supplements, including the Legal Quarterly, Real Estate Guide and Kyiv Post Doing Business.
The Kyiv Post hosts events such as the annual Tiger Conference; the Kyiv Post Employment Fair and Kyiv Post CEO Breakfast and Kyiv Post CEO Dinner as well as other events.
The Kyiv Post also published an e-book titled “Witness to Revolution: How Kyiv Post journalists saw EuroMaidan.” The book is available for purchase online at Amazon while the rest of our special publications can be purchased in PDF format in our online shop.
The Kyiv Post won the 2014 Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service to Journalism for its coverage of the EuroMaidan Revolution that ended Viktor Yanukovych’s presidency and the start of Russia’s war agaisnt Urkaine. (Pavlo Podufalov)
Who funds newspaper?
The Kyiv Post is a commercially independent operation, earning most of its revenue from advertising, subscriptions and events. In 2013, Kyiv Post journalists also started a non-profit Media Development Foundation to raise money for investigations, journalism exchanges and training. Mohammad Zahoor, the former publisher of the Kyiv Post, also supported the newspaper financially, which has not been consistently profitable since the ownership of founder Jed Sunden, who sold the business to Zahoor in 2009.
Why does the Kyiv Post charge customers for reading news on its website?
The Kyiv Post started its website in 2002 and all stories remained free until 2013. The Kyiv Post, like most American and European newspapers, started a paywall to compensate for declining print advertising. Financial support from readers provides newspapers with an increasing share of revenue needed to pay for our 40-member staff of writers, editors, photographers, videographers, sales managers, accountants and so on. The news has never been free, but the economics have changed with the advent of the internet.
What is the readership of the Kyiv Post online?
The Kyiv Post’s online audience peaked in 2014 with 65 million pageviews, amid the EuroMaidan Revolution that drove President Viktor Yanukovych from power and Russia’s war against Ukraine and seizure of the Crimean peninsula. In 2017, the Kyiv Post website had 1.5 million users and 7.6 million pageviews. About 25 percent of online readership is from Ukraine, while the other 75 percent of traffic comes mainly from the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Germany.
What about in print?
The Kyiv Post currently prints nearly 6,000 copies every Friday and thousands of special supplements. Delivery is available by subscription and also freely at more than 160 locations in Ukraine, mainly in Kyiv, but also in Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro and other major cities.
What about its social media following?
As of March 2018, the Kyiv Post has more than 180,000 followers on Twitter, more than 33,000 followers on its Facebook page and more than 12,000 members in its Facebook group.
Has the Kyiv Post won any awards or recognition?
The Kyiv Post won the 2014 Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service to Journalism. That same year, Moscow-based AGT Communications Company released the findings of its survey from November 21, 2013, to May 21, 2014, that found the Kyiv Post is the most-quoted Ukrainian source of news by American and European news organizations and the second-most quoted in Ukraine and Russia, after Russia’s Kommersant.
Additionally, numerous stories have been written about the Kyiv Post.
Among them:
Nieman Lab, “The Newsonomics of the Kyiv Post’s embattled work,” by Ken Doctor.
Columbia Journalism Review, “Kyiv Post’s Unlikely Success,” by Olliver Bullough.
Where can I watch videos or learn more?
The Kyiv Post maintains a frequently updated Wikipedia page about its history and current affairs. It can be found here.
There are also several videos on the Kyiv Post YouTube channel.
Here are three of them:
The Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service to Journalism video.
The 20th anniversary celebration video in 2015 featuring 20 personal stories about the Kyiv Post, including from Ukrainian First Lady Maryna Poroshenko and many other community leaders in Ukraine.
The 20th anniversary celebration video in 2015 about the Kyiv Post’s history and role in the community.
Who are some successful journalists who worked for the Kyiv Post?
Many talented journalists have worked for the organization. While some have left journalism, those who remain active among Kyiv Post alumni include: Nathan Hodge, CNN Moscow bureau chief; James Marson of the Wall Street Journal; Jake Rudnitsky of Bloomberg News; Roman Olearchyk of the Financial Times; Vitalii Sych, chief editor of Novoye Vremya magazine; Katya Gorchinskaya, CEO of Hromadske TV; Christopher Miller of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Maryna Irkliyenko, financial reporter for Debtwire and Mergermarket and many others.
Is the staff mostly foreigners or Ukrainians?
The Kyiv Post is staffed mainly by multilingual Ukrainians, but also includes a contingent of expatriates. Currently, the 40-member staff includes six foreigners. Employee names and contact information can be found in the “Contact Us” section of the website.
How can I support the Kyiv Post?
Tell people interested in Ukraine about us, take out a subscription or donate.
