Top Western media managers and experts join Ukrainska Pravda's advisory board
Ukrainska Pravda has set up an advisory board of five leading media executives to bring in external expertise and draw on best global practice in media management.
The UP Advisory Board will provide impartial collective advice on a regular, voluntary basis to the management of the Ukrainska Pravda media group regarding its long-term strategies and overall vision of development. It will uphold adherence to journalistic standards and ensure absolute editorial independence.
"Full editorial independence is one of the fundamental values of Ukrainska Pravda. The Advisory Board will provide practical advice to UP’s leadership on sustainable development, brand recognition globally, and overall advocacy for free journalism – without any interference in editorial policy," emphasises Sevğil Musaieva, Editor-in-Chief of Ukrainska Pravda.
The Advisory Board brings together experts with impeccable reputations, an innovative vision of the media market’s potential, and a profound understanding of Ukrainska Pravda’s DNA.
The members of UP's Advisory Board are:
Alan Rusbridger (United Kingdom) – formerly editor-in-chief of The Guardian, with 20 years of experience at the newspaper. Rusbridger now edits Prospect magazine, the most respected political magazine in the United Kingdom. He has also been Principal of Lady Margaret Hall at the University of Oxford. A graduate of Magdalene College, Cambridge, Rusbridger is a professor of history at the University of London.
The author of three books, he received a special award from the European Press Prize in 2014 and is a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award. In 2014, he was honoured with the Pulitzer Prize (jointly with The Washington Post) for an investigation into the extensive surveillance of US citizens, based on information from Edward Snowden.
Mea Dols de Jong (Netherlands) – a leading Dutch documentary maker, listed as one of Variety’s top 10 filmmakers to watch in Europe. She is also recognised as one of the hundred most influential artists in the Netherlands, according to the NRC newspaper. Her debut film If Mama Ain't Happy, Nobody's Happy won 27 awards at international festivals. Mea's directorial style involves presenting personal stories where human relationships and broader political issues intersect. Guided by realism, she portrays multidimensional characters and shares poignant stories that evoke genuine emotions.
Mea was granted a Nieman Fellowship to study at Harvard University.
Charles M. Sennott (USA) – one of the world’s most experienced war correspondents, who has covered conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the events of the Arab Spring in 2011. He is the founder and editor of The GroundTruth Project (2014). Sennott graduated from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. He worked as a reporter for the New York Daily News and the Boston Globe, where he became Bureau Chief for the Middle East and Europe.
In 2017, he launched a local reporting initiative, Report for America. Sennott is also a co-founder of GlobalPost, an acclaimed international news portal. An author of three books, he holds an honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree from Providence College. In 2019, he received a National Emmy Award.
Gulnoza Said (USA) – journalist, communications expert, and Europe and Central Asia programme coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists. In addition to advocating for journalists' rights, Gulnoza also covers politics, media, religion and human rights in Central Asia and Türkiye.
Myroslava Gongadze (USA) – journalist, analyst, human rights advocate and global leader. A graduate of the Law Faculty at Ivan Franko National University in Lviv, Myroslava also graduated from the Nieman Fellowship program at Harvard University. She was a scholar at George Washington University and received the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellowship at the National Endowment for Democracy.
Before her appointment as Voice of America’s Eastern Europe Chief in 2021, Myroslava was a correspondent, TV host, editor and the Head of the Ukrainian Service at Voice of America. As an expert on Ukraine and the region, she has been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NPR, and The Journal of Democracy. Since 2000, she has actively advocated for journalists' rights and freedom of speech.
Myroslava is a co-author of the research publication "Torn Nerve" about the protest movement in Ukraine from 2000 to 2004. In 2015, she was awarded the Order of Princess Olha III from the government of Ukraine, and in 2023, she received the Inamori Ethics Prize for Ethical Leadership from the Inamori Center at Case Western Reserve University.
The Advisory Board will operate independently of UP’s Editor-in-Chief, executive director and ultimate beneficial owner. The Advisory Board will convene twice a year or on an emergency basis to stabilise the situation in crisis scenarios.
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