The second podcast of the series ‘The Road Less Traveled’ features Iryna Matviyishyn who is currently working as an independent journalist and producer based in Liev, Ukraine.

After a degree in journalism, Iryna felt the need to specialise. She realised that she had always been interested in human rights but did not have the word for it. “I just did not know that this concept and this education existed. I never thought about it in terms of a degree. When I was researching for a master’s degree, I was mostly looking for a degree in international relations, but then, out of the sudden I saw a degree in human rights. I immediately understood that this is what I wanted to do.”

She considers that the knowledge acquired studying human rights helps her to make her news coverage deeper and also more focused. When the full-scale war started, she felt the urgency to write in English to inform people outside Ukraine about the horrors and the terror they were witnessing.

Her advice to journalists who want to specialise in human rights is to keep an open mind but more importantly to be human and compassionate as this is how people trust you more. She insisted as well on the need to comply with the ethics of journalism, to network and keep practising.

This episode closes with a call from Iryna to all of us to keep speaking about Ukraine and not to succumb to war fatigue. Inform yourself and share information about what is happening in Ukraine.