KERHONKSON, N.Y. – The professional organization Ukrainian Journalists of North America (UJNA) held its third conference here at the Soyuzivka Heritage Center on May 20-22. The event brought together a group of journalists from the United States and Canada who represented various news media outlets – including Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly of Parsippany, N.J., Kontakt Ukrainian TV Network and Kontakt Ukrainian Media of Toronto, Ukrainian News of Edmonton, Alberta, The New Pathway of Toronto, Forum TV of Toronto, Nova Hazeta of Rego Park, N.Y., Chas i Podii of Chicago, as well as the Washington-based Voice of America, the Washington correspondent of the TV channel Ukrayina and free-lance writers. Elected to head the UJNA for the next two years were: President Jurij R Klufas (Toronto); Vice-President, U.S.A., Leo Iwaskiw (Philadelphia); Vice-President, Canada East, Walter Kish (Oshawa, Ontario); Vice-President, Canada West, Marco Levytsky (Edmonton); Vice-President, International Relations, Michael Bociurkiw (Sidney, British Columbia); Secretary/Treasurer Alexander Kharchenko (Toronto); and Immediate Past President Roma Hadzewycz (Morristown, N.J.). The 2012 conference’s keynote speaker was to be Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Valeriy Chaly, but he sent word that he would be unable to attend after all due to a visiting delegation from Ukraine. The ambassador forwarded a Ukrainian-language message to the UJNA in which he underscored that “journalism is a key factor in the development of democracy.” He cited the ongoing information war by the Kremlin against Ukraine, and underscored that it is journalists “who are the main defenders of our freedom on the information front, a firm foundation of the Ukrainian struggle in this hybrid war.”
“Ukraine is living through difficult times: the Revolution of Dignity, the Russian attempt to illegally annex Crimea, the horrible and perfidious war in the Donbas.