The winners of the Iryna Tsybukh Young Journalists Support Program — Ruslan Kalinin, Olena Teslya, and Alisa Zhinkina — visited Sweden from October 19–24, where they observed the work of Swedish Television (SVT) and Swedish Radio (SR). In Stockholm, they visited newsrooms, a youth program, and the fact-checking department, and in Kiruna, they learned how the Swedish public broadcaster covers the life and culture of the Sámi, the indigenous people of Northern Europe.
The trip was organized by the Suspilne Ukraine team with support from Swedish Radio’s Media Development Office (SR MDO) as part of a long-standing partnership with Swedish public media.
“SR MDO and Suspilne have built a strong, long-standing partnership, and we continue to explore new opportunities for cooperation and knowledge exchange.
We warmly welcome the establishment of the award for young journalists in memory of Iryna Tsybukh. This important initiative honours her legacy while recognising and supporting the next generation of Ukrainian journalists. We hope to see more initiatives of this kind in Ukraine.
Near the Swedish Radio office with Uliana Kalush
Laureates of the Program with Cecilia Andersson in one of the SVT studios
During the study visit to Sweden, the award winners had the opportunity to exchange experiences with colleagues from Swedish Radio and SVT, gain insights into Swedish public service media, and learn more about different approaches to journalism. The programme included visits to editorial teams in Stockholm and Kiruna, where participants also explored issues related to Sámi culture and the representation of national minorities in public service media.
The visit provided valuable opportunities for professional exchange and learning. We were particularly impressed by the curiosity, engagement, and commitment of the young journalists, which gives us great confidence in the future of Ukrainian journalism,” notes Uliana Kalush, project manager at SR MDO.
“I am grateful to our Swedish partners for their openness and willingness to share their experience. And I am especially pleased that we can create additional opportunities for young journalists to grow, find new points of reference, and share their own experiences,” said Yevheniia Haifer, project manager at Suspilne Ukraine.
In Stockholm, the award winners visited the youth program “Nyhetskoll,” observed the preparation and live broadcast of the program “Sverige Live,” spoke with staff at SVT’s main newsroom, and learned about the work of the Verify fact-checking department. They also visited the newsroom of Swedish Radio and met with the broadcaster’s music producers.
“This field trip provided an opportunity to see how the media operates in peacetime, what challenges they face, and what approaches they use in their work. For us, who are currently living and working amid a full-scale invasion, this experience is particularly significant — it gives us a reason to reflect on how Ukrainian journalism will develop after the war ends,” said Ruslan Kalinin.
A separate part of the program was a meeting with the “Nyhetskoll” team, which works with a teenage audience. The winners of the Iryna Tsybukh Program gave an interview to the show, in which they spoke about life in Ukraine and the unique aspects of Ukrainian journalism.
“Swedish television highlighted the need to create content for teenagers where they are spoken to in a comfortable setting and without judgment. It inspired me to think about such content for various media in the Ukrainian context,” said Alisa Zhinkina.
At the SVT verification department, young Ukrainian journalists learned about methods for verifying information and saw examples of how to work with video.
“We had many interesting meetings. We were told about various methods and shown different case studies of fact-checking. I was particularly impressed by how they were able to determine the time a video was filmed by analyzing the shadows in the footage,” added Olena Teslya.
After Stockholm, the participants traveled to Kiruna in northern Sweden, visited the SVT Sapmi newsroom, and learned more about the work of journalists who cover national communities. The program also included a meeting with the editorial staff of Sameradion — a division of Swedish Radio that focuses on topics related to the Sámi people.
“We traveled to Kiruna, where we learned more about the Sámi — an indigenous people. We discussed their culture, traditions, way of life, and how public media covers issues related to national communities. It was interesting to learn more about the experiences of Swedish journalists in this field,” shared Olena Teslya.
For Alisa Zhinkina, learning about the work of the Kiruna branch proved to be the most valuable experience.
“My Sámi and Swedish colleagues have a different approach to creating content in the languages of indigenous peoples. I hope this will be useful to me in my future work on this topic,” she noted.
“It was interesting to see how the media address the needs of the local community and preserve cultural identity,” added Ruslan Kalinin. “I’d like to thank our Swedish colleagues and everyone who accompanied us during the trip for their warm welcome and willingness to share their knowledge; we learned a lot even in an informal setting. Thank you to everyone who was willing to satisfy our curiosity, even during walks and lunches.”
As a reminder, the Iryna Tsybukh Program to Support Young Journalists is an annual initiative of Suspilne Ukraine, launched in 2025. The program begins on June 1, Iryna Tsybukh’s birthday, and is designed to support a new generation of media professionals from across Ukraine, foster independent media, and uphold the values championed by Iryna Tsybukh: responsible journalism, preserving historical memory, and serving society.
Suspilne Ukraine is an independent media company with a strong presence across all platforms: the TV channels Pershyi, Suspilne Kultura, Suspilne Sport, and a national network of local channels; the radio stations Ukrainske Radio, Radio Promin, Radio Kultura, Radiotochka. Find only verified news on suspilne.media, as well as on our national and local digital platforms. We broadcast in minority languages, represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest, develop the children’s platform Brobaks, and train media professionals through the Public Media Academy. Our Suspilne Mediateka platform offers unique video and audio archives dating from the 1920s to today. Defending freedom in Ukraine.
