ShoTam, a Ukrainian ‘constructive journalism’ outlet that covers success stories, creative solutions and positive changes, obtained the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) certification from Ukrainian independent audit firm Imperium Certific. This new certification consolidates JTI’s footprint in Ukraine, with 15 JTI certified news outlets and a total of over 125 media in the JTI process.
“Achieving Journalism Trust Initiative certification is a meaningful milestone. Congratulations to your team for upholding the highest standards of trustworthy journalism and for reinforcing the vital role of independent media in Ukraine.”
Benjamin Sabbah, director of Journalism Trust Initiative
“It’s not a checkmark, but a way to honestly look at ourselves — and move on. When we were preparing for an independent audit, it became clear: some policies need to be updated. Some rules were rewritten from scratch. Especially those related to working with AI, a topic that is already part of reality for the media. As a result, we brought all the principles and standards into a clear, public form. Now, anyone who wants to understand how and by what rules ShoTam works can find answers on our editorial policy page.”
Artem Ipatov, co-founder and CEO of ShoTam
Pillar among Reporters Without Borders’ support to press freedom in Ukraine
Since the beginning of the Russian large-scale invasion of Ukraine launched on 24 February 2022, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) offers emergency support and works towards long term sustainability of an independent, free and pluralist media ecosystem in Ukraine. With the financial support of the European Union (EU) and in cooperation with local partners, RSF created Press Freedom Centers which provided assistance to over 2 100 journalists and 330 media covering the war as of December 2025.
Elevating standards of news media
JTI was developed in 2019 as an ISO-type international standard by roughly 130 experts from media outlets, regulatory bodies, associations and digital platforms. They worked to define the criteria of transparency, independence and ethics necessary for rigorous information publishing. The idea of designing a self-regulatory mechanism applicable to all news sources worldwide was the initiative of the Paris-headquartered media freedom watchdog RSF.
The JTI certification process consists of three stages: an introduction to the standard through JTI’s portals, a self-evaluation conducted by the media organization, and a certifying audit.
It is used by more than 2 400 media outlets in 127 countries. 1 460 are currently undergoing self-assessment, 830 published their transparency report, and 135 obtained JTI certification following an audit.
Consolidating JTI’s footprint in Ukraine
Fitting within RSF’s roadmap in the country, one hundred and twenty five Ukrainian news outlets benefited from mentoring programs to implement the JTI. Fifteen of them have successfully been audited by an independent Ukrainian certification body, Imperium Certific, which granted them the JTI certification for a duration of two years.
JTI certified media in Ukraine include city news portal 0372.ua, Detector Media (Детектор медіа), Hromadske Radio (Громадське радіо), I-VIN.info, Intent Press (ІНТЕНТ), LIGA.net (ЛІГА.net), Slobidskyi Krai (Слобідський край), Mind.ua, NikVesti (НикВести), NV.ua and Radio NV (Радіо НВ), Pershiy Kryvorizkiy – 1KR.UA (Перший Криворізький), ShoTam (ШоТам), Status Quo (Статус-кво), Visnyk Che (Вісник Ч).
