EDITORIAL: Why we do what we do (10/18/98)

EDITORIAL

Why we do what we do

Every once in a while we feel the need to explain why we do what we do, and why we do it the way we do. This need to explain is usually provoked by changes in the community, changes at the paper, or the passage of time.

The Ukrainian Weekly, which as our readers know recently celebrated its 65th birthday, began as a weekly English-language newspaper for second-generation Ukrainians. Those were the days when daily newspapers were the major source of information for people, before the advent of radio, television and the Internet.

Now The Weekly provides English-language information about Ukrainian topics to fourth-generation Ukrainians, post-war immigrants, a new group of second- and third-generation readers. Also, as our subscriber lists indicate, our readers include U.S. and Canadian legislative and government officials, subscribers from all continents, non-Ukrainian spouses and in-laws of those of Ukrainian descent, universities, lobbies, think-tanks, defense and public policy institutes, and various embassies and consulates. We recently heard a story of how a visitor at the one of the offices of the State Department saw a receptionist clipping out articles from The Ukrainian Weekly to be included in a staff reading file. Makes us proud.

And we realize that this is the third week in a row that we are using this space to write about ourselves. But our 65th anniversary coincides with other events in our community that have required reflection and vision - The 2020 Conference and the 15th Sobor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA, to name just two. So, we thought that we also would take the time to expand on our purpose.

The Weekly's purpose is rooted in responsibility: we believe that The Weekly's obligation to its readers is not only to provide quality news and feature information on Ukrainian topics, but to provide a forum for discussion. Careful readers of The Weekly will understand that, when it comes to news stories, we adhere to accepted Western journalistic practices - such as identifying the source of information; focusing on facts, not sensation in headlines; fact-checking for accuracy, separating news stories from opinion pieces. The opinion pieces, such as those by our columnists, the letters to the editors, the news and views section, and the paper's own editorial serve as the give-and-take forum for our readers.

Our choice to provide information in the way we do, to be both open and accurate, is at its core an ethical decision: we believe information is a powerful tool, and it should be used to sustain people's dignity and integrity. This does not mean we should sugar-coat information or pretend all is good (somewhat impossible when it comes to things Ukrainian), rather it means the process should be fair.

Ukraine and Ukrainians have long suffered from disinformation, lies as truth, political propaganda instead of reality, sensation and emotion instead of facts. As editors and writers, we believe that the fairness that comes with accuracy - though this requires more hard work, is often dull and takes more time - in the long run is more respectful of our reader. And, though we cannot vouch for the 100 percent accuracy of information presented by our regular columnists, as well as guest columnists and letter writers, we also trust that they understand their responsibility to be fair, even if their opinions and interpretations of facts differ from one another.

And in case we find openness and accuracy uncomfortable, let us look at the results of decades of Soviet secrecy and abuse of information. Soviet manipulation of this powerful tool, which put the interests of the Communist Party first and respect for the individual last, has destroyed the psyche of millions of people in Ukraine, resulting in cynical "Soviet people" (Homo Sovieticus) who no longer believe in anything or trust anyone. We'd rather stick with our approach, grounded in the Western value of respect for the ability of every individual, having been exposed to a free exchange of ideas, to make up his or her own mind.

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