Olena Yuriivna Prytula ( uk, Олена Юріївна Притула; russian: Алёна Юрьевна Притула; born March 10, 1967) is a Ukrainian

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

, the former editor-in-chief, owner (and earlier co-founder) of the ''

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukrai ...

'', an influential online newspaper that focuses on news and political coverage in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

Early life

Born in Zavolzhye,

Gorky Oblast Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (russian: link=no, Нижегородская область, ''Nizhegorodskaya oblast''), is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Nizhny Novgorod. It has a population of 3,3 ...

, Prytula with her parents moved to the city of

Izmail Izmail (, , translit. ''Izmail,'' formerly Тучков ("Tuchkov"); ro, Ismail or ''Smil''; pl, Izmaił, bg, Исмаил) is a city and municipality on the Danube river in Odesa Oblast in south-western Ukraine. It serves as the administra ...

on the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...

. She was educated as an engineer in electroacoustics and ultrasound at Odessa Polytechnic Institute. Influenced by the dramatic social changes in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, Prytula quit her engineering career and became a journalist. She began her journalism career as a correspondent of UNIAR news agency, later working as a

stringer Stringer may refer to: Structural elements * Stringer (aircraft), or longeron, a strip of wood or metal to which the skin of an aircraft is fastened * Stringer (slag), an inclusion, possibly leading to a defect, in cast metal * Stringer (stairs), ...

for

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

, correspondent for Interfax-Ukraine news agency in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

and Crimea.

''Ukrayinska Pravda'' and Gongadze

In 2000, Prytula became one of the founders of ''

''. The murder of the site's co-founder, journalist

Georgiy Gongadze Georgiy Ruslanovych Gongadze ka, გიორგი რუსლანის ძე ღონღაძე, Giorgi Ruslanis dze Ghonghadze (21 May 1969 – 17 September 2000) was a Georgian-Ukrainian journalist and film director who was kid ...

, who had openly protested against growing government censorship, focused attention on freedom of speech issues in Ukraine. Prytula has also been a

mistress Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to: Romance and relationships * Mistress (lover), a term for a woman who is in a sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a ...

of married Gongadze. She never stated it publicly but repeatedly mentioned her deep personal ties to him after his death. She was the very same "friend" of Gongadze whose apartment he left just before he was last seen alive. Since 2013 Prytula was the partner of a married Belarusian journalist

Pavel Sheremet Pavel Grigorievich Sheremet (russian: Павел Григорьевич Шеремет, be, Павел Рыгоравіч Шарамет, 28 November 1971 – 20 July 2016) was a Belarusian-born Russian and Ukrainian journalist who was impriso ...

. On July 20, 2016 after leaving her apartment, he was blown up in her car. Prytula returned to Ukraine in 2004 after her fellowship year at Stanford, where she was a Lyle and Corrine Nelson International Journalism Fellow, studying Internet-based communications and

new media New media describes communication technologies that enable or enhance interaction between users as well as interaction between users and content. In the middle of the 1990s, the phrase "new media" became widely used as part of a sales pitch for ...

technologies. Soon after her return, Ukraine witnessed the

Orange Revolution The Orange Revolution ( uk, Помаранчева революція, translit=Pomarancheva revoliutsiia) was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate afterm ...

during which Prytula's site played a pivotal role in providing timely information to the public in an atmosphere of upheaval and press restrictions. In the 2000s (decade), Prytula complemented Ukrayinska Pravda with news sites dedicated to economy, lifestyle, local news and tabloid, creating an integrated Internet-media group.

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

-speaking Prytula insists that her news sites' home pages should remain in

Ukrainian language Ukrainian ( uk, украї́нська мо́ва, translit=ukrainska mova, label=native name, ) is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family. It is the native language of about 40 million people and the official state lan ...

, although translated Russian version is also provided. Earlier available English-translated version is discontinued and put offline. In May 2021 owner Prytula sold 100% of the corporate rights of ''Ukrayinska Pravda'' to Dragon Capital. The parties agreed that the editorial policy of the newspaper would remain unchanged. According to Dragon Capital the investment was "another step towards supporting free media and

freedom of speech in Ukraine Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving one ...

."Tomasz Fiala became the new owner of Ukrainska Pravda

(26 May 2021) Prytula intends to leave ''Ukrayinska Pravda'' in 2023.Letter to readers

(27 May 2021)

References

External links

Prytula page at ''Mother Jones''

A CV at UNESCO portal
*
''Gongadge case. The Final dot?''
Article in Ukrainian ''Antenna'' newspaper {{DEFAULTSORT:Prytula, Olena 20th-century Ukrainian journalists 21st-century Ukrainian journalists Ukrainian women journalists Ukrainian mass media owners Living people 1967 births People from Zavolzhye Odessa National Polytechnic University alumni Russian emigrants to Ukraine Ukrayinska Pravda