Alyona Yuryevna Prytula (born March 10, 1967, Zavolzhye, Gorky Region) is a Ukrainian journalist and media manager, co-owner and former editor-in-chief of the online publication Ukrainska Pravda.[1]

Biography and education

She was born in Zavolzhye, Gorky Region; when she was six months old, her family moved to Izmail in Odesa Region.[1] In 1989 she graduated from the Faculty of Automation and Computer Engineering at Odesa Polytechnic Institute with a degree in electroacoustics and ultrasound, and worked as an engineer at a research institute.[1] In the early 1990s she moved with her husband to Sevastopol.

Journalism career

In 1991, influenced by her husband, who had gone into journalism, she left engineering and became a correspondent for the UNIAR news agency.[1] In 1993 she moved to the Interfax-Ukraine agency; at the same time, from 1993 to 1995, she worked as a Reuters stringer in Crimea.[1] In 1995 she moved to Kyiv; in 1996 she completed a fellowship at Duke University (North Carolina, USA).[1] In July 1999 she was awarded the title of Honored Journalist of Ukraine.[1]

Ukrainska Pravda

In April 2000, together with Georgiy Gongadze, she founded the online publication Ukrainska Pravda: Gongadze became editor-in-chief, and Prytula his deputy.[1] After Gongadze's murder, she took over as head of the editorial team.[2] From August 2003 to June 2004 she studied internet communications and new media technologies at Stanford University under the Lyle and Corrine Nelson International Journalism Fellowship.[1] During the Orange Revolution of 2004, Ukrainska Pravda played an important role in disseminating information under conditions of censorship; by 2005 the publication had become self-sustaining through advertising revenue.[1] Prytula later expanded the project, creating sites devoted to the economy, high-society life, and local news.[1] In October 2014 she handed over the post of editor-in-chief to Sevgil Musayeva, remaining with the publication in charge of strategy and special projects.[1]

On July 20, 2016, Pritula's car was blown up in Kyiv; the explosion killed journalist Pavel Sheremet, who was in the car and who contributed to Ukrainska Pravda, Radio Vesti, and the website Belarusian Partisan.[2]

Connection to the Nizhny Novgorod Land

Alyona Pritula was born in Zavolzhye, a town in Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod) Region.[1] The family left the town while she was still an infant, and the journalist's subsequent life was connected with Ukraine.

Sources

  1. rus.lb.ua — Pritula Alyona Yuryevna. Dossier
  2. dosye.info — Pritula, Alyona Yuryevna — DOSSIER