Online news outlet Mediamaker closes down due to lack of funding

Photo by Mediamaker

The online news outlet Mediamaker, founded by the Media Development Foundation, will cease operations on June 27 due to the funding being insufficient for the team to work consistently. The media outlet reported this to the Institute of Mass Information.

The team says that their earlier grant projects have come to an end and they could not attract new ones, especially due to the post-USAID cuts crisis and the overall drop in the amount of grant support in the market. The news outlet launched advertising and job postings in the spring of 2025, but these revenues only accounted for a fraction of the budget.

No content will be posted on the Mediamaker website and social media starting June 27. The websites remain under the MDF's control and the entire staff will leave the organization and look for other jobs.

Mediamaker chief editor Daria Trapeznikova will launch her original project Equal Media, based on a weekly email newsletter.

Mediamaker was launched on October 31, 2022. The three-person team started out with an email newsletter and social media, creating the website in December 2022. Since then, the team has grown to involve six people and almost 100 freelancers and contributors have published their works on the website at various times.

The media outlet published news about the media, technologies, social media and artificial intelligence, stories and cases of media outlets in Ukraine and around the world, journalists' experiences, compilations and instructions helping media teams work more efficiently, as well as studies on media consumption in various countries. Since February 2024, the team has been collecting and releasing monthly selections of new Ukrainian media products. The news outlet also reported on grants, scholarships, competitions, and other opportunities for the media.