Dear Friends,

We are delighted to invite you to a special event dedicated to supporting Ukrainian media.
 

Date: June 4, 2025, 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. ET

Format: Hybrid

• Online – the link will be provided
• In person – 1350 I Street NW, Floor 11, Washington, D.C. 20005

Moderator: Eileen Shields-West, IREX Board Member

Eileen Shields-West has served as a Correspondent and Bureau Chief for Time Magazine and reported for CBS, CNN and NPR. She holds a Master of Foreign Service (MSFS) Degree from Georgetown University, and Master of Arts in Global Risk (MAGR) from Johns Hopkins University (May 2022). From 1996 to 1999, she served as the Board Chair for the Beauvoir School in Washington, DC, where she coordinated a building project and a $7 million campaign. Ms. Shields-West authored The World Almanac of Presidential Campaigns (1992) and edited and contributed to Choosing the Right Educational Path for Your Child: What Are the Options (2008). She has been a guest columnist for Politico and The Huffington Post. She is the chair of The SEED Foundation, responsible for the first public charter boarding schools in the nation, a member of Georgetown University’s MSFS Advisory Board, a board member of IREX, an international development and education organization, and recently stepped down as chair of Refugees International, an independent advocacy group, after serving from 2010 until 2019. She is also on the Advisory Council of Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health.

Speakers:

Myroslava Gongadze – Media Expert, former Chief of Voice of America, Ukraine 

Myroslava Gongadze is a veteran award-winning journalist and broadcaster, Gongadze joined VOA in 2004. Recognized for her reporting on the eve of Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, she also covered developments during the Euromaidan revolution and the ensuing crisis period. She moderated Ukraine’s first nationally televised post-Maidan general election debates in 2014. Acknowledged by numerous media outlets for her expertise on U.S.-Ukraine relations, Gongadze appeared multiple times in Focus Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential women in Ukraine. She recently completed a yearlong Nieman Foundation for Journalism Fellowship at Harvard University where she focused on strategies for covering Russia’s information warfare.

Oksana Romaniuk – Director, The Institute of Mass Information, Kyiv 

Oksana Romaniuk is the Director of the Institute of Mass Information (IMI), one of the leading media watchdog and advocacy organizations of Ukraine. Under her leadership, IMI has become a key player in defending press freedom, including during the wartime, conducting monitoring and documenting of violations, exposing war crimes against media and journalists, and supporting journalists’ safety and resilience. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, IMI has provided emergency assistance and small grants to hundreds of Ukrainian media outlets, conducted in-depth research on information warfare, and expanded its presence by opening 15 regional hubs along the frontlines of Ukraine. With over 25 years of work, IMI remains a cornerstone of Ukraine’s media landscape, promoting ethical journalism, freedom of expression and democratic values.

Anastasiia Rudenko – Editor-in-chief, Online media Rubryka, Kyiv 

Anastasiia Rudenko is the initiator and coordinator of Recovery Window Media Network, uniting over 130 media outlets and NGOs to support Ukraine’s reconstruction. Founder of Rubryka, a nationwide independent media outlet focused on Solutions Journalism. Publisher of Eastern Variant, a leading local independent platform covering the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Recognized as a laureate of the Georgy Gongadze Prize’s “30 Under 30: Who Creates the Future of Ukrainian Media,” a global “30 Under 30” awardee by INMA, recipient of the 2024 Democracy Courage Tribute, and an accredited trainer with the Solutions Journalism Network.

Jonathan Katz – Senior Director, the Brookings Institution, Washington, DC 

Jonathan Katz is the senior director for the Anti-Corruption, Democracy, and Security (ACDS) Project in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and co-editor of the 2025 Democracy Playbook. He is recognized as an anti-corruption, national security, international development, and democracy expert. Katz has held senior positions in the U.S. government at the State Department, USAID, and in Congress. Just prior to Brookings, Katz served as the national security fellow for Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). In this capacity he advised on key areas of his foreign policy expertise: Transatlantic relations, Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Turkey. Before that, Katz was a senior fellow and director of Democracy Initiatives for the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) where his programmatic activities and research focused on investigative journalism and free media, anti-corruption efforts, civil society and democracy promotion, and good governance reforms in Central and Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus, and Turkey. While at GMF, Katz served as executive director and managed the Transatlantic Democracy Working Group (TDWG) and help create and served as co-chair for the Transatlantic Task Force for Ukraine (TTFU). He also co-directed and co-hosted the Cable Podcast focused frontline threats to democracy and the transatlantic relationship. Before his time at GMF, Katz served as the deputy assistant administrator in the Europe & Eurasia Bureau at USAID, where he managed and developed a multimillion-dollar assistance portfolio and U.S. development policy, democracy, anti-corruption, and good governance programs and economic growth and energy security projects.

We will come together to celebrate resilience, share insights, and explore ways to empower independent journalism in war-torn Ukraine. We will discuss the post-war reconstruction of the Ukrainian media sector and the importance of building a stronger community equipped to counter the ongoing flood of disinformation, which will persist even after the fighting on the frontlines has ceased.

At this event, IREX will also launch its Media Emergency Fund for Ukraine. Journalists and media outlets in Ukraine have lost most of their funding this year, which has been crucial for their survival through the years of war. With very few alternative sources of revenue available, the situation has become dire. Although the Fund we are launching will not replace the lost financial support, it is designed to provide immediate and critical assistance to the media. This fund will prioritize supporting young Ukrainian journalists and youth-operated media outlets serving various communities across Ukraine.

The panel will feature Ukrainian journalists, media experts, and development community members.