Euromaidan Press is an Internet-based English newspaper launched in 2014 by contributors from Ukraine. It shares its name with the Euromaidan movement in Ukraine. Registered as a non-governmental organization, its goal is to provide English-language material to those interested in military conflict in Ukraine, business issues, the Ukrainian economy, and tourism. The organization received positive reception, and was selected as a finalist in the category of "Best Video" in the 2016 Rockit Digital Communication Conference Awards. Their social media initiative #LetMyPeopleGo garnered 2nd place in a social media competition online. Euromaidan Press was discussed in the journal Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society, and the 2016 book The Return of the Cold War. It was used as a resource by books The Perfect Storm of the European Crisis, New GenerationPolitical Activism in Ukraine, Online around the World, and Near Abroad.
News organization
Euromaidan Press was founded in by Ukrainian volunteers as a newspaper based online in order to provide independent news reporting on issues relevant to Ukraine. The news organization first launched in January 2014. It shares its name and values with the Euromaidan movement from Ukraine, and the news organization states they, "support initiatives developing independent media and democratic initiatives in other states that uphold the core democratic values." The lead creator of the site was Kiev-based journalist Alya Shandra. Shandra had previously helped translate Ukrainian news reporting into English during the 2013 wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine known as Euromaidan. Other journalists contributing to the newspaper have included Maksym Nedrya, Oleh Gychko, Mykhailo Honchar, Paul A. Goble, and Matt Babiak. The goal of the newspaper's foundation was to provide information to English-language consumers on journalism from Ukraine. The organization registered in Ukraine as a non-governmental organization with the same name. The news organization developed its focus on stories related to military conflict in Ukraine, business issues, the Ukrainian economy, and tourism. The newspaper's founding was an attempt to "collect, rely on, and promote non-partisan, non-religious, non-biased information", as a way to address what the organization saw as a disinformation campaign by Russia in Ukraine. News content was setup to be delivered online through the newspaper's website euromaidanpress.com. The newspaper maintained social media accounts on Twitter and Facebook at Euromaidanpr. A sub-project Friends of Ukraine network released semi-regular news reporting about Ukraine political issues. The newspaper's Reft & Light project was setup in order to analyze totalitarian groups. The news organization worked in conjunction with Euromaidan SOS to bring attention through the website letmypeoplego.org.ua to political prisoners of Ukraine origin jailed in Russia. The International Renaissance Foundation supported the initiatives of Euromaidan Press.
Reception
The organization was selected as a finalist in the category of "Best Video" in the 2016 Rockit Digital Communication Conference Awards. Their social media initiative #LetMyPeopleGo garnered 2nd place in a social media competition online. Writing in the Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society, contributor Tatiana Bonch-Osmolovskaya characterized the news organization among, "a series of online initiatives aimed at raising global awareness of Ukrainian issues". She described Euromaidan Press as, "an online newspaper specializing in translations of materials from local Ukrainian news outlets". J. L. Black and Michael Johns in their book The Return of the Cold War cited the news organization as a resource, commenting it had a "colourful website". Euromaidan Press has been relied upon for research on Ukrainian news analyses by The Perfect Storm of the European Crisis, New Generation Political Activism in Ukraine, Online around the World, and Near Abroad.
