When a country is living in conditions of full-scale war and constant crises, news from communities often goes unnoticed by the media. Not because nothing is happening there, but because of the lack of resources, time, and physical ability to get there. This is how information “deserts” appear on the map of Ukraine.
To get rid of them, in 2021, Public Broadcasting began building a hyperlocal network of correspondents — people who live in communities and talk about life there. The project started with three regions — Chernihiv, Sumy, and Kharkiv. In 2023, the network grew to five more regions, and in 2025, it reached the all-Ukrainian level (except for temporarily occupied territories), writes Public Broadcasting project manager Yevheniia Gaifer in a material for the Institute of Mass Information.
In 2025, Suspilny teams visited 84 communities in 12 regions and reached over a thousand residents. As a result, the team was able to recruit almost 50 new hyperlocal correspondents. The distance from regional centers to the communities where correspondents work is sometimes measured in hundreds of kilometers (like from Odessa to Izmail).
50 correspondents — hundreds of stories from communities
Thanks to the research conducted by Suspilne as part of the hyperlocal network development project (which involved community residents aged 18 to 70), the branches received a clear understanding of the information needs of communities and feedback on the quality of work in the regions. This data was also confirmed by live communication during community meetings: people lack verified local information that explains the context and answers the key question – “what does this mean for us?”.
Official messages from local authorities often remain dry and formal, without explaining the consequences for residents. At the same time, anonymous Telegram channels react quickly and emotionally, but often spread unverified or incomplete information. It is in this gap between official communication and informal sources that the need for reliable local media that can be trusted arises.
The hyperlocal correspondent of Suspilny has become the same “verified entry point” – a person who lives in the community, knows the local context well, personally sees the problems and can promptly and responsibly report on events, relying on journalistic standards. This is confirmed by the results of the study: the Kantar Ukraine report states that Suspilny's materials have high audience trust, digital pages perform the function of an early warning system, which is important during blackouts or in frontline communities, and radio in conditions of unstable internet is the only connection people have with the world.
Hyperlocal correspondents prepare content about the life of their communities and at the same time fit local events into a national context: how forcibly displaced Ukrainians live, reforms in communities, tell the stories of servicemen, how budget money is used in communities, inform about the situation in front-line areas, in particular about the consequences of shelling. If earlier events in cities such as Brody, Sheptytskyi, Burshtyn or Kalush made it into regional news only in case of emergency, today Suspilne provides a systematic information presence there.
How do hyperlocal correspondents work?
A hyperlocal correspondent for Suspilny is a journalist who lives in the community, rather than traveling from the regional center, knows the context of the community, and reacts to events faster than classic field crews. He works on several platforms at once — for the Suspilny website, social networks, radio, and TV channels, is involved in the editorial planning of the branch, and has an editor and clear work standards. The correspondent can shape the local agenda and become a source of content not only for Suspilny branch news, but also for nationwide broadcasts and international exchanges with the European Broadcasting Union.
For regional teams, the hyperlocal network means not only more news, but also a change in the approach to work: some topics no longer need to be searched for – they come directly from the communities. This reduces the burden on field crews, provides a deeper understanding of the local context, and allows newsrooms to work more strategically.
Hyperlocal correspondents are integrated into the Suspilny editorial system, undergo training, and receive constant feedback from editors.
Regional distribution of correspondents in Ukrainian communities (as of December 2025): number – number of correspondents in the region; orange – network expansion in 2021 and reinforcement in 2025, green – 2023, blue – 2025. Social
Behind each number is a specific name. Here are a few of them.
- Tetyana Boyarchuk from the city of Stryi in the Lviv region chose Suspilne Lviv because of its independence. At the beginning of the cooperation, she was convinced: “ The Stryi region is “rich” in topics worth talking about.” And so, in five months of active work, she prepared 39 materials for the website and nine videos.
Tetyana Boyarchuk. Social
Antonina Hlushchenko joined the Suspilne Zhytomyr team in September and has already prepared 56 news items. She is a teacher by profession. She worked in education and in print publications Malyna, and for over 15 years as a communications officer. Antonina says: “Our community deserves to be heard about more and its people seen more.”
Antonina Glushchenko. Social
Training as the basis of quality
As part of building a network of hyperlocal correspondents in communities across Ukraine, Public Broadcasting has created an online training course on universal journalism on the Prometheus online education platform – “Journalism 360: Tools and Techniques from Public Broadcasting.” The course was developed by journalists and editors from Public Broadcasting, and it covers key aspects of modern journalistic work: news standards, working with sources and fact-checking, ethics, journalist safety during war, features of multimedia storytelling, and content creation for different platforms.
About half a thousand applicants for the position of hyperlocal correspondent for Suspilny received access to the course, and based on its results, regional teams selected candidates for employment.
“For a long time I worked mainly with texts, and now I see how much journalism has changed. Now there are many new formats, tools, and approaches ,” Antonina Glushchenko from Zhytomyr region shared her impressions of the course. ” The materials are presented in an accessible way, with examples. I especially liked the section on storytelling – I already use this knowledge. People love to read about others, those who are nearby.”
“Modules, tests, and practical tasks provide an opportunity not only to try your hand at journalism, but also to test your skills and knowledge. To facilitate learning, examples of reports, essays, interviews, and photo reports are provided. Everything is clear and accessible. It is very important that this course also includes a module on journalist safety. I advise everyone to take training from Suspilny, it can be the beginning of changes in life,” adds Maya Kovinchuk from Vinnytsia region.
From October 31, 2025, the course became open to all interested parties, and as of today, more than 1,087 students have already registered for it.
When local history becomes national
The first results were not long in coming. The materials of the new hyperlocal correspondents have received and continue to receive tens of thousands of views on the pages of Suspilny. And each video report also means from 5 to 20 shorts and reels for social networks.
For example, the article about Serhiy Vorona's family, which moved from Zaporizhzhia to Ivano-Frankivsk more than three years ago, is learning farming, and is “turning their yard into a place of harmony between humans, animals, and peace.” The story has garnered over 100,000 views on YouTube, and has received a total of 618,700 views on social media. Yulia Chaborak, a hyperlocal correspondent for Suspilne Ivano-Frankivsk, worked on it. In five months, the branch's three correspondents published 65 materials, 26 of which are videos.
The story about the Italian Renato Stagnoli, who has been living in a village in the Lviv region for almost 10 years, cannot but be moved. The man has joined the life of the community, sings in the choir, takes care of the garden and the monuments in the village cemetery. And every evening he plays church songs and hymns of the two countries on the trumpet near the house. The material became one of the first for Khrystyna Kahnych, the new hyperlocal correspondent of Suspilne Lviv. The story gained about 45 thousand views on YouTube, and the total reach of the reels on Instagram and Facebook is almost 700 thousand. In total, in five months, five correspondents of the branch prepared 123 materials for the site and shot 44 videos.
In frontline areas, verified information becomes especially valuable because it can save lives. And when it is exclusive information, the material becomes the leader in views on Ukrainian YouTube. For example, the documentary project “Senezh. Operation Revenge,” filmed by Nadia Martyshko, a correspondent for Suspilne Chernihiv, in 2025, collected over 1 million views and went viral even among the military.
Next will be
Although the Suspilny hyperlocal network emerged as a response to information “deserts,” it has grown much larger over time. It is a network of people who know their communities by name, personally see the changes, and report on them responsibly – according to journalistic standards and with an understanding of the local context.
At a time when trust in information is crucial, hyperlocal correspondents for Suspilny's local editorial offices are a long-term investment – a model that changes the way regional teams work, strengthens the national agenda with local voices, and ensures the sustainability of independent journalism in times of war.
*The project to expand the hyperlocal network was implemented by Suspilne within and thanks to the project “Support for editorial and digital transformation and development of corporate culture of public media in Ukraine”, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency Sida.
First published on the website imi.org.ua.