Myroslava Gongadze

Eastern Europe Chief, Voice of America

Myroslava Gongadze

Eastern Europe Chief, Voice of America
Myroslava Gongadze is Eastern Europe Chief at Voice of America. A tireless campaigner for human rights and international media freedoms, Ms. Gongadze has been instrumental in modeling democratic media norms and helping Ukrainians better understand US policy towards their country. She was granted political asylum in the United States in 2001 following the murder of her husband, high-profile investigative journalist Georgy Gongadze. Her personal story became a rallying cry during the democracy movement that later grew into the 2004 Orange revolution in Ukraine. Since she fled Ukraine, she has worked tirelessly to bring her husband's case to justice and won a landmark case against the Ukrainian government from the European Court of Human Rights in November 2005. Her coverage of developments during the Euromaidan Revolution and ensuing crisis period of Russia's aggression raised her international profile, as did her role as moderator of the nationally televised Ukraine's first post-Maidan election debates in 2014. In addition to her work at Voice of America (until recently, Head of the Ukrainian Service), Gongadze is often invited to speak as a subject matter expert in various forums discussing politics, democratization and media in Ukraine. She periodically contributes to NPR and her writings have been published in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR and the Journal of Democracy. Gongadze received the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellowship to study the role of media in Ukraine's transition to democracy (2001) and the Petrak Foundation Scholarship at the George Washington University (2003). Also in 2014, Gongadze received the Princess Olha Order, a Ukrainian civil decoration bestowed on women of outstanding personal merit, for her contribution to the development of journalism, active civic stance and professional excellence. In 2018-2019 Gongadze was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.
Last updated: Jun 19, 2025

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