How to inform in times of war? For journalist Lisa Svetlova, the answer is partly in her children’s bedroom where she has set up a radio studio. Every quarter of an hour, she provides the news flash ofInformator FM, a radio station of the main private media in Dnipro, eastern Ukraine. “With the curfewit’s complicated to get to work, but you have to be able to disseminate information as frequently as possible.”she explains.
Every day, Lisa and one of her colleagues present these bulletins from 6 a.m. to midnight. All entertainment broadcasts have been removed, only music and the airing of anti-aircraft alerts remain. On the 2:30 p.m. flash program on Tuesday March 23: the resumption of bus service, the arrest of eight saboteurs and Russia, which is struggling to recruit soldiers. No negative information for Ukraine.
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In downtown Dnipro, in the premises of the radio’s web editorial office, there is a lack of photos to illustrate the articles. Christina Lakh, the editor, explains that these are security reasons: “We are not filming the city. This is not a ban, but a recommendation, not to give information, and to prevent Dnipro from being the target of air attacks.”
Security is now a priority, as is the hunt for false information: “We are fighting two wars: physical and psychological. Verifying information is even more important than in peacetime.”
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In addition to information, the editorial staff is active in providing humanitarian aid to civilians and support to the army. Some journalists, like Margarita Turchan, have family or a military spouse: “I want to be sure that they have what it takes to be safe, and to face the Russians. We remain objective, but we keep our ideology, which we broadcast via informant. Here, there can be no other ideology than the national ideology.”she admits.
A positioning that seems to suit their listeners. Since the start of the war, the site’s audience has jumped 50%.