- Miguel de Cervantes,
“Don Quixote”
Well, doubtful any would call The Ukrainian Observer a knight, errant or otherwise, but it has been an obsession of sorts, and some would call our tilting at windmills the strangest of notions.
On its fourth birthday, if I were to say only one line as a toast, it would simply be: The UO has been different. Different is a term I can judge, and leave to others to say whether it has been a worthwhile difference, damn good difference or, in fact, uniquely different.
It began as a quarterly, though only carried that designation through the first two issues, before quickly jumping to a monthly. The oft-told story is that it was launched due to the frustration of advertising costs in a local English language weekly.
"We can publish our own publication cheaper," the moronic ad and public relations executive boasted. It was an expensive chunk of pique.
In the beginning, some considered it more a mouthpiece for our company, The Willard Group, something the editor and the publisher never envisioned. We decided early on that for it to have credibility there had to be a divorce from the company of sorts.
At the same time, we saw no compromise in having our company ads in clearly marked ad space, and in having it used as a delivery system for our newsletter, Strategic Approaches. This strategy allowed us to add color cartoons.
We eschewed then and now allowing news subjects to edit their interviews before they appear in print, as is a common Ukrainian practice. We are happy to suggest an area of questioning to a newsmaker, but don't submit questions in advance.
Most people say The Ukrainian Observer is eclectic, a word that is hard to get one's arms around, what with its mixture of cartoons, comical vignettes, armchair philosophy, historical snapshots and an occasional controversy or two.
It occurs to us that something or someone can be eclectically bad, as well as eclectically brilliant. Some 10,000 copies disappear each month, so my hope is few would consider us the former, though probably fewer still would consider us the latter.
But that's okay. The Ukrainian Observer is truly a work in progress, and it always has been, and if two Willard brothers have anything to say about it -- and we do -- it will always be that way. We do strive to improve with each issue, sometimes succeeding.
We admit to straying from the usual journalistic path from time-to-time.
Thus, we named as the magazine's Ukrainian of the Year for 2004 someone of whom most people had never heard, Capt. Dimitry Biriukovych, a fellow who at his own expense is sailing around the world, and at each stop being a goodwill ambassador for Ukraine.
We felt his odyssey was heroic, particularly given the bare-bones crew and his difficulties with the U.S. Embassy to get visas for his mates, the was only way he could venture from a California port before winter and dangerous seas set in.
The captain seemed the more obvious choice than the usual lineup of sports personalities and politicians. Here was a man who was quietly making a difference, though rest assured there will never be a ticker tape parade for him.
Not too long ago, I was chided by an American for what he considered The Ukrainian Observer's being overly tough on the U.S. Embassy. The fact is we tend to pick the fights that make sense, knowing that railing against Ukrainian corruption -- which we do from time to time -- has the impact of a Nerf ball bouncing off
a brick wall.
We are proud to be American businessmen in Ukraine, and want to be proud of our embassy, thus we would like to see it reach standards of fairness at least equal to or better than other foreign missions.
We also attempt to bring a more realpolitik attitude toward what we write about Ukraine, the region and its future. In this regard, we hope that a decade, on my part, and more than five years for my brother, has not jaded but emboldened us.
The Ukrainian Observer is as liberal as it is conservative, which on its face is a contradiction, and this is why it has evolved into less an arbiter of any one view but more an airing of all views. We only occasionally will assign a story, preferring the free-thinking of our stable of contributors.
We are an amalgam of many professions, as well. I have written these Random Notes for five years, even back when it was only online. I am a PR and ad guy, a former journalist. My brother, Glen, a lawyer and an accountant, writes Latitudes and Attitudes.
The professor, Dr. Volodymyr Senchenko, has his doctorate in economics. Sergiy Kharchenko, whose stories appear in virtually every edition, is a former bureau manager for a State news service. John Marone, a recent addition, was formerly BBC.
To make more of The Ukrainian Observer than it is would be to appropriate qualities to which we one day would like to achieve. However, if we can make a difference once or twice a year, this magnificent obsession is worthwhile.
We thank you for your continued support. For the most part, you have encouraged us in this strangest of notions.
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