Olga Rudenko: How to Run a Successful Media Start-up in Times of War

The Kyiv Independent, an English language start-up in Ukraine, was only a few months old when Russia invaded. When – in one of the biggest media scandals of the Zelensky’s presidency – the editorial team of an older English language publication, the Kyiv Post, were fired for defending editorial independence, they came together to form the Kyiv Independent in November 2022. Olga Rudenko was elected by the team to be its new chief editor.

Olga comes to #CIJSummer Conference to talk about running a media start-up while Russia was amassing troops on the Ukrainian borders; reporting on the full-scale invasion; conducting investigations, including into their own side, in times of war; and their drive to succeed, “because if we don’t, then the bad guys win.”