Top Ukrainian English-Language Newspaper Kyiv Post Sold

Ukraine’s top independent English-language newspaper – the Kyiv Post – has been sold to Odesa multi-millionaire Adnan Kivan.

“We are shocked,” said Editor-in-Chief Brian Bonner. “We knew that Mohammad Zahoor was looking to sell for some time, but when it happened, it happened very quickly. It happened during a single meeting that Zahoor had with Mr. Kivan – and it happened at a price.”

The Syrian native purchased the paper for significantly more than the $3.5 million asking price, from its previous owner, billionaire Mohammad Zahoor. Kivan is a controversial figure and the sale has raised questions over whether Kyiv Post will be able to retain its editorial independence.

The businessman has been linked to a number of political figures, including President Petro Poroshenko and Odesa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov, who is suspected of embezzlement.

“The Kyiv Post has been the target for politicians throughout its history because we have taken very honest and critical stands against corruption and so forth. So, we’ve been a target for elimination, shall we say, from the media scene for quite some time,” Bonner explained.

Kivan, who owns a construction company and TV station in Odesa, has assured the paper will retain its independence, although the response from the Ukrainian community has been critical.

Nevertheless, Bonner remains optimistic about Kivan’s intentions for the paper. “In the best of all worlds, he will invest in the Kyiv Post, he will allow us to retain our strong and independent voice,” he told Hromadske.

The Syrian native will become the publication’s third owner in its 22 years.

Hromadske spoke to Kyiv Post’s Editor-in-Chief Brian Bonner about the future of Ukraine’s top English-language newspaper.

We are pretty much sure that the Kyiv Post’s editorial policy is independent. But your publication did an investigation into your new owner in this new issue. What are your concerns? What do you have to say about your editorial position before you start working with Mr. Kivan?

Well, we are shocked. I mean you can be 100 percent sure we've been editorially independent – and that goes all back to our founding in 1995 as Ukraine's English-language paper – that’s been the policy. And editorial independence means the journalists decide what is the news and how to present it. Obviously, that's a big concern for us.

We knew that Mohammad Zahoor was looking the sell for some time, but when it happened, it happened very quickly. It happened during a single meeting that Zahoor had with Mr. Kivan. And it happened at a price that, well, I was rather impressed with the price. But there are a lot of questions about what he is going to do with the paper. I'm waiting to meet with him right now. So far I’ve only had like one 5-minute conversation with him by telephone. He was ill, he told me he believes in democracy, [is] strong against corruption, he wanted to see more coverage of the Syrian situation. He is from Syria, he’s against Assad. But beyond that, we don’t know what he’s going to do with the paper.

How fast did your team learn about that? It was more or less a very fast decision but what did Mr. Zahoor say? And did Mr. Kivan call you or did you try to reach out to him?

I tried to reach out to him several times by phone, by texting and he did call me back as I was on the street. And it happened just at blazing speed. Because I've been the acting CEO for some days now, I was given documents to sign to transfer the assets – that happened the same day we learned who Mr. Kivan was. I never knew him, unfortunately, but after you start looking into it, everybody in Odesa knows him. He’s one of the wealthiest business people in Ukraine. As I understand it, he has other media assets and he is trying to increase his investments in Kyiv. I’m told he wants a stronger Kyiv presence and he also has had some troubles with rumors, allegations, and investigations of him. So I think he also sees – like many owners – the media as a defense mechanism. In the best of all worlds, he will invest in the Kyiv Post, he will allow us to retain our strong and independent voice. Of course, we are concerned, obviously. Because the Kyiv Post has been the target for politicians throughout its history, because we have taken very honest and critical stands against corruption and so forth. So, we’ve been a target for elimination, shall we say, from the media scene for quite some time – and, you know, we are only a year before the elections. So, obviously, there are some political concerns here – [we’re] waiting to hear from the owner himself.

What have you learned about Mr. Kivan during this time? Yes, he is known in Odesa, but he is more or less not known outside of this big southern town. Any politician is blamed to be dubious in Ukraine because that's how business is done. So really what are the concerns? Because often the weak points of the owner later become the weak points for the media company.

We know that he has been very successful in construction – we know that – and for two decades. We also know something about the media, the TV station that he has there [in Odesa]. We also know he has ties to politicians. That, by itself, is not a bad thing. I mean, business people need ties to politicians.

Which politicians? We knew about his connection to Mr. Trukhanov – who was the Odesa mayor and then later accused of having Russian citizenship – and at the beginning, of also being close to the President Poroshenko.

Yes, we have heard all those same things. We heard he was close to Trukhanov, the mayor, that they did deals together, that they got approval. We heard that he is close to Serhiy Kivalov, the notorious MP of the opposition block who is probably the most famous suspect in rigging – accused of rigging the elections in 2004 that triggered the Orange Revolution. We know that... We hear that Channel 7 is pro-Poroshenko. We here he likes Tymoshenko. But what’s concerning to us is that... I mean business people in this country – because of the connection between business and politics – they do have connections. What we are interested in is not whether he has connections or is for somebody or against somebody but actually [whether he] will allow us to write the news as we see it: honestly, without fear or favor, without any partisan bias, just the way the journalists see the story. The value comes not from our computer or our equipment, it comes from the people, the reputation, the asset. And our readers will not accept political PR, rag, they will not accept [paid journalism,] they will not accept any of these compromises on editorial independence that I think other stations have made.

What are the safeguards for your team and where are you looking? You still haven't talked to Mr. Kivan about the paper, about the editorial policy of the paper. But really, what would be for you the “dos and don'ts” and how would you build the strategy?

Ultimately, it's up to the advertisers, the subscribers and readers to defend us. But we’ll know very soon whether he wants an independent newspaper or he doesn't want an independent newspaper, very quickly. And there is nothing we can really do. It is his newspaper. We built this brand and we built the reputation and we enjoy high levels of trust. We hope and we consider it sacred, a sacred trust to the public. We hope he does as well.

About the media situation in Ukraine and to raise all our concerns. Hromadske has also issues with the pressure from the politicians and we always stand by our standards and values. And I know that the President himself is extremely critical of Kyiv Post. In particular, accusing the paper of being panicking when it's too early to panic, of overdoing the level of repression which is happening here, of sometimes running and kind of portraying Ukraine in more black colors than white especially knowing that Ukraine is struggling for the support of the investors. What would you say on that? What would you say to the people who say that sometimes Kyiv Post is really a bit overdoing the threats?

I don't think we are overdoing the threats at all and what we do in a democracy, the media's role is to hold those into power accountable. What we do, we do out of love for Ukraine, not out of hate. We want this to be a better country. We live in it, we work in it, most of the staff are Ukrainian. But the record is clear: there has been no rule of law, there has been no significant improvement in the investment climate, there have been no prosecutions or convictions of anybody for high-level corruption. It looks like a lot of deals with oligarchs have been made, which goes counter to the de-oligarchization. A lot of people's hopes and dreams have been dashed and they blame Poroshenko for the power. If he doesn't recognize that... Listen, most Ukrainians don't read the Kyiv Post, they do not. But they are not supporting Poroshenko because they understand what is going on, they understand the disappointment in his record. So, if anybody thinks that getting rid of... And by the way, representatives of Poroshenko did try to buy us. We have a long history of this. Kurchenko, Yanukovych's guy, attempted to buy us. Firtash attempted to buy us, Firtash sued us for libel. Yanukovych’s agriculture minister got me fired – the first time – for refusing to censor a story. We have a long history – going back to Kuchma’s time and the Melnichenko tapes – of irritating politicians. Why? Because we are telling the truth as we see it. Whether we are right or wrong, whether we make mistakes or not – we are very accurate, I think we are very fair. But sometimes we can be harsh but our mistakes are honest mistakes. And I have to tell you: we don't all do politics, we [also] do business, we do entertainment, we cover the war, we've covered the revolution. We are here, we are part of the community. The Kyiv Post is not going to become the Prague Post or the Washington Post. We’re going to stay and we’re going to stay as independent. And if we're not... I know that there is a demand in the market for independent journalism. And we will have to find a new place where we can practice that.

/Interview by Nataliya Gumenyuk

/Introduction by Eilish Hart