Local Government Media Funding in Ukraine: Information or Disguised Political PR?
Ukrainian cities spend millions of hryvnias on media coverage of their activities, but critics argue this often turns into self-promotion for officials rather than objective reporting.
Ukrainian local governments regularly allocate budget funds to media outlets to cover their work. However, an investigation reveals that this practice often serves not to inform residents but to polish the image of politicians.
In Ivano-Frankivsk, 17 media outlets received over 12 million hryvnias last year to cover the city council's activities. Additionally, the municipal channel "Vezha" cost about 13.5 million hryvnias. A similar situation exists in other cities. For example, Vinnytsia, besides 60.5 million hryvnias for municipal media, paid an extra 3.7 million to private media for coverage. Dnipro spent 5.9 million hryvnias on top of 75.2 million for its TV channel "Dnipro TV".
Kyiv stands out as an exception: it spends about 200 million hryvnias annually on municipal media but zero on third-party coverage. In contrast, cities without their own media have relatively low expenses: Cherkasy spent 418 thousand hryvnias, Odesa 161 thousand, and Chernivtsi only 37 thousand (2025 data).
Analysts point out that this system creates "information bubbles" dominated by positive narratives about authorities. For instance, in Vinnytsia, more than half of all coverage expenses go to the regional channel OA VGTRK "Vinnychchyna". According to the CHESNO movement, 62% of this channel's news stories in December 2025 featured at least one Vinnytsia city official, most often Mayor Serhiy Morhunov. Almost all stories focused on providing aid to the Defense Forces – a topic that generates only positive impressions.
The question arises: why does the city council pay for this content to be aired on a regional channel when it already has its own media? According to experts, the goal is to reach a broader audience and build a positive image for the political force "Ukrainian Strategy of Groysman", which the mayor represents. Moreover, when media outlets receive funding from the local government, they rarely engage in critical oversight.
In today's world, where official information is available on council websites and social media, such spending seems excessive. Natalia Bakhament, an analyst at CHESNO, emphasizes that mass media support is no longer necessary and appears more as a relic of the past than an effective tool for informing the public.
