RPDI Annual Report (2020) | Page 20

new investigators : skhemy in regions

* A project started in 2019 but was active also at the beginning of 2020 . All commenced with an idea of Maksym Savchuk , a journalist of Skhemy : koruptsiya v detalyah ( Schemes : Corruption in Details ). RPDI supported the initiative and it was in full swing in the winter to nurture

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regional investigators and give them an opportunity to broadcast on the air about abuses and corruption in the regions .

We

* Maksym became a mentor of the school and selected a list of 8 super members . They were trained by leading journalists of Skhemy : Natalka Sedletska , Oleksandr Chornovalov , Serhii Andrushko , Mykhaylo Tkach , Valeriia Iegoshyna , and Kyrylo Lazarevych .

Oleksandr Voloshyn , coordinator of investigative journalism development at RPDI

were happy filming together , « fighting » with border guards because of cameras and analyzing the effectiveness of rescuing Odesa ’ s historic buildings . We were running out of a hotel early in the morning to catch a Transcarpathian customs officer who ( accidentally ) lives nearby . We were sitting in an ambush for hours . We were following officials in elite cars to the border , and then traveling to Slovakia ».

What are the results ?

* Almost 270 000 views of regional investigations on YouTube and also a contract of Pavlo Lisnychenko with Radio Svoboda ( Radio Liberty ), and the fifth investigation ( within a special project ) « Slidamy lvivskogo paliia : khronologiia pidpalu avta zhurnalistky Radio Svoboda » ( In the Footsteps of the Lviv Arsonist : a Chronology of the Arson of a Radio Svoboda Journalist ’ s Car )

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