A Ukrainian journalist blinded in an acid attack for her belief in an independent press vowed Wednesday to keep writing despite government pressures.
Tatyana Goryachova writes for the Berdyansk Delovoy, the only independent newspaper in the city of Berdyansk on the coast of the Azov Sea. During the mayoral election in January, the Delovoy pledged to provide equal coverage for every candidate, a move considered controversial in a press dominated by “official” newspapers of the government. Shortly after, Goryachova’s husband, publisher of the Delovoy, was involved in a suspicious accident, and on Jan. 28, a stranger approached Goryachova on her walk home and threw acid in her eyes.
Her doctors in Ukraine told her she would need surgery in the United States or Western Europe where more advanced technology was available. But on the $40 monthly salary she earned as a reporter, Goryachova said her family could not afford to send her overseas for medical treatment. But thanks to Hal Foster, a journalist in Ukraine with the International Research & Exchanges Board, and an anonymous Dallas donor, Goryachova landed in Texas early this week to meet with ophthalmologists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.
Foster met Goryachova while working with the Delovoy as a media consultant to independent newspapers in the Ukraine. Inspired by her story, he searched for a donor to sponsor her trip to the United States; he found more than he bargained for in an affluent Dallasite who asked to remain anonymous.
“Yesterday Goryachova was in to see eye doctors at UT-Southwestern, thanks in large part to the influence of the donor,” Foster said. “I really wish we could say who it was so they could get recognition for it.”
In a positive turn of events, it appears the Ukrainian doctors had misdiagnosed Goryachova. What was thought to be a film growing over the eye is in fact healthy scar tissue. Doctors say she will not need eye surgery after all.
Making a difference
Goryachova spoke through an interpreter to a Media Ethics class Wednesday afternoon about the state of the Ukrainian press following the fall of the U.S.S.R. According to Goryachova, Ukraine, although a democracy in name for over 10 years, is still run by communist leaders elected by an older generation who grew up in the U.S.S.R.
“Ukraine journalism is about 200 years behind America,” she said. “This is because Ukraine democracy is so young.”
Out of the eight newspapers published in Berdyansk, only Goryachova’s paper is independent of authorities and this goes for TV and radio, as well. Goryachova said those with power put pressure on the independent press to cover news how the authorities want it covered.
“They (official newspapers) pretend there are no problems in the country,” she said,” so they do not publish the truth.”
Goryachova admires the way American journalism can actually change policy. In her country, she says it “doesn’t always happen that way.”
“We have very few cases when journalists can make a difference,” Goryachova said.
One such case involved a city government contract with a local pharmaceutical company that was supplying low-grade insulin to Berdyansk diabetes patients. Following an investigative article published in the Delovoy, local authorities were forced to cancel the contract. But this is one of few instances when journalism does encourage political change in Ukraine.
Never go back
Happy to be healthy, Goryachova is still faced with the pressure of raising a family in a country where both she and her loved ones are threatened because of her job. Goryachova received word shortly after landing in Dallas that her mother received a threatening phone call demanding the journalist not share her story with American media. But Goryachova refused to concede, saying if she stepped down when they threatened her family, they “would have her.”
“There are no dead end situations in life,” she said. “Yes, I have difficult times, and I am afraid. But I love my country and this is my choice.”
As for her country’s choice, Goryachova feels confident the youth of Ukraine will continue to support democracy despite the nostalgic sentiments many older citizens have.
“They (the older generation) are missing cheap food and gas,” she said. “When Ukraine was a part of the U.S.S.R., food, particularly meat and sausage, had a set price. In a market economy now, it is not so cheap. When they think of the old ways, they think of cheap sausage.”
Goryachova sees a continuing rise in independent thinking among the youth in Berdyansk. In a recent survey, nearly 60 percent of students in the Berdyansk region read the Delovoy over official newspapers sanctioned by the government. Goryachova also recently hired a 19-year-old to write for the youth pages of the Delovoy and has found the teenager has brought a “second light” to the paper.
“They (the younger generation) will never follow the older generation, I am sure of that,” she said. “The young people would never go back.”
