Kyiv, 29 April 2014 – Ukrainian Crisis Media Center was established to support Ukrainian and foreign media during the Russian military invasion of the Crimea and eastern Ukraine. It will work as an independent platform for the media during the upcoming presidential, regional, and local elections in Ukraine.
The main objective of the Center’s stream of activities focusing on elections will be providing a venue in “Hotel Ukraina” for different political forces and candidates to speak, as well as delivering to the Ukrainian and international media objective information about the upcoming elections and related events. In the Center, the key candidates running for President of Ukraine will share their vision towards settling the Ukrainian crisis, as well as their approaches for solving problems in the economic, military and information spheres.
Also, KIIS, “Democratic Initiatives,” the International Republican Institute, the sociological agency “Rating” and Razumkov Centre will present their research at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center. Moreover representatives of the Central Election Commission, the Committee of Voters of Ukraine and leading analysts and commentators will also speak at the UCMC. The Centre will also spread information gathered in the regions by its regional press centers.
The Center plans to hold at least 1-2 press briefings daily related to the elections and with the participation of the main candidates running for President of Ukraine and the Mayor of Kyiv, political scientists, sociologists and analysts. Considering the previous performance of the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center and the fact that during the first month of its operation more than 500 media organizations from all over the world have visited it, the Center has achieved a reputation as an alternative source of objective information not only on the situation in Ukraine, but also on the upcoming elections. This is crucial because of the dependency of the Ukrainian media on advertising support, especially during the election period.
Journalists will be able to receive news in Ukrainian, Russian, English, French and German, as well as the simultaneous translation of press briefings, which are held in the Centre in the Ukrainian, Russian and English languages. In addition, a 24-hour hotline for journalists is operational in the Centre, which provides Ukrainian and foreign media representatives with the contact information of the press-secretaries of political forces, government institutions, candidates for President of Ukraine, as well as providing more general assistance. During the first month of its work, the Centre’s hotline operators handled over 1,200 queries from the media, and more than 40 fixers in the Ukrainian regions supported journalists who worked in the east and south of Ukraine.
The Center is located in the hotel Ukraina (4 Instytutska Street, Kiev), 3rd floor. Hotline – 050 1578159, 050 1578423, fax: 044 5937407, e-mail [email protected]. For more information please visit uacrisis.org, and follow us on twitter.com/uacrisis, facebook.com/uacrisis, youtube.com/user/UACrisisMediaCenter.
Additional Information:
The Ukrainian Crisis Media Center was created by the efforts of leading Ukrainian experts in the field of international relations, communications and public relations, which have agreed to provide their time and experience for free in order to help Ukraine getting a strong voice in the global dialogue about the latest happenings. Center is not funded by any political force and is solely a public project. During the first month 120 press briefings were held in the UCMC, attended by 160 speakers, including government officials, diplomats, experts and public figures. 183 original materials for the Ukrainian and international media were developed and distributed. 500 representatives of Ukrainian and international media visited the UCMC within a month of its work, 1,200 of journalists have been receiving press releases from the Center. 1200 queries from the media were handled by hotline operators. Over 40 fixers worked with foreign media in the regions of Ukraine.
