Editing Kyiv Post (section)

=== Threats to existence ===
The ''Kyiv Post'' withstood numerous threats to its existence from 1995. According to audiotapes released by Mykola Melnychenko, bodyguard to ex-President Leonid Kuchma, then-tax inspector [[Mykola Azarov]] talked about conducting tax audits of the newspaper and other news outlets that criticized the administration. Azarov went on to become prime minister under President Viktor Yanukovych. He has since fled abroad and is now on Ukraine's wanted list on suspicion of massive corruption.

The ''Kyiv Post'' faced and overcame three distinct political threats to its survival during the administration of President Viktor Yanukovcyh (February 27, 2010 – February 22, 2014).

*The first came when Ukrainian billionaire oligarch [[Dmytro Firtash]] filed a libel lawsuit against the ''Kyiv Post'' in the United Kingdom over a July 2, 2010, story about corruption in the gas trade industry.<ref>{{cite web |date=July 2010 |title=Gas trade leaves trail of lawsuits, corruption |url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/gas-trade-leaves-trail-of-lawsuits-corruption-71733.html |work=kyivpost.com}}</ref> One December 14, 2010, the ''Kyiv Post'' began blocking all internet traffic from the [[United Kingdom]] (UK) as a protest against [[English defamation law]]<ref>[http://www.kyivpost.com/uk.htm Kyiv Post homepage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110120122642/http://www.kyivpost.com/uk.htm |date=2011-01-20 }} accessed 2011-01-20 from the UK</ref> and the Firtash libel lawsuit in the United Kingdom. The case was dismissed on February 24, 2011 because the UK court believed Firtash had no major connection with the country<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 25, 2011 |title=London Judge Dismisses Firtash Lawsuit Against Kyiv Post – Feb. 25, 2011 |url=https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/london-judge-dismisses-firtash-lawsuit-against-kyi-98290.html |website=KyivPost}}</ref> and the UK block was dropped later that year.<ref>[http://www.varsity.co.uk/news/3339 A libel without a cause] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180922024347/https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/3339 |date=2018-09-22 }}, ''[[Varsity (Cambridge)|Varsity]]'' (24th February 2011)</ref>
<!--*The second threat came in the form of indirect, but sustained, pressure on the ''Kyiv Post'' to soften its news coverage of Yanukovych. The threat came to a head on April 15, 2011, when Zahoor fired Bonner for publishing an interview with a government minister despite the owner's request to drop it, allegedly under pressure from government officials. Journalists on the paper went on strike in protest. Zahoor reinstated Bonner as an editor on April 20, 2011, ending the strike. The weekly newspaper never missed a print issue during the work stoppage and Bonner, who has served as chief editor since June 2008, remained on the job until April 30, 2013.<ref>{{cite news |author=Richard Balmforth |date=18 August 2011 |title=Journalists strike in Ukraine after editor fired |publisher=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/ukraine-newspaper-idUSLDE73H0HC20110418 |access-date=24 November 2012}}
</ref> However, there was controversy after Bonner's reinstatement, when two journalists who did not sign the petition in support of him left the newspaper. Bonner did not provide a reason for their departures, with sources indicating it was due to the two withholding their endorsement of him.<ref>{{cite web |title=No clarity as to why two Kyiv Post journalists were sacked |url=http://khpg.org.ua/en/index.php?id=1303679456 |work=khpg.org.ua}}</ref>-->
*The second threat came in the form of at least two offers to buy the newspaper from businessmen close to Yanukovych. Zahoor refused both offers, citing his desire to keep the newspaper editorially independent.

However, the biggest threat may be economic, not political. Many Central and Eastern European English-language newspapers, including ''[[The Moscow Times]]'', ''[[The Prague Post]]'' and ''[[The Sofia Echo]]'', have ceased their print publications in light of falling advertising demand and changing readership patterns online. America media analyst Ken Doctor chronicled the ''Kyiv Post''{{'s}} challenges in an April 17, 2014, article.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Newsonomics of the Kyiv Post's Embattled Work |url=http://newsonomics.com/the-newsonomics-of-the-kyiv-posts-embattled-work/ |access-date=2015-04-24}}</ref>

The ''Kyiv Post'' also was featured in the September/October 2014 edition of the [[Columbia Journalism Review]]. Under the headline, the "Kyiv Post's unlikely success" author Oliver Bullough writes that: <blockquote>The more you learn about the ''Kyiv Post'', the more you realize how remarkable it is that it holds its own against these [other media] behemoths. Its newsroom budget is less than $25,000 a month. It has but 19 editorial staff; it has faced repeated attacks from regime-allied oligarchs. The fact its reporting survives at all, let alone flourishes, comes down to the unlikeliest of pairings: a journalist from Minnesota and an Anglo-Pakistani billionaire. Each has his own reasons for loving Ukraine, and the Post brought them together.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kyiv Post's unlikely success |url=https://www.cjr.org/feature/kyiv_post_success.php |access-date=2015-04-24}}</ref></blockquote>