Researcher · Amerpass Research Lab
Maksym Domashov
Independent researcher
Studies local journalism, public communication and professional continuity during war and displacement. His research on southern Ukraine examines newsrooms, information verification and accountability to communities. Collaborative work addresses digital journalism archives, health misinformation and immigrants’ access to public services.
Biography
Maksym Domashov is an independent researcher from Mykolaiv, Ukraine. He studies how local newsrooms maintain their relationships with communities when war damages infrastructure, changes working conditions and displaces journalists. His research on Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts examines locality through a newsroom’s subjects, sources, readers and accountability to a particular place.
A further strand concerns essential public information. His Mykolaiv study considers the relationship between practical reporting on water and safety, scrutiny of decisions by public authorities and journalists’ access to official records. With Aleksandra Voronina, he examines cross-border circulation of health claims, language barriers and older immigrants’ ability to use digital public services with autonomy.
In projects with Igor Leonov, he considers the future of digital journalism archives after newsrooms close and everyday life under prolonged legal uncertainty. These lines of inquiry share an interest in how verifiable information, professional relationships and the ability to act independently can be maintained as familiar institutional conditions change.
Research focus
Local journalism during war
Examines documented newsroom experiences in Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts: staff displacement, loss of premises and equipment, changing finances and ways to keep reporting. A central question is how an outlet’s continued online presence relates to its practical capacity to obtain and verify information about a local community.
Public information and accountability
Considers how reporting on safety and everyday services connects with scrutiny of decisions made by public authorities. The Mykolaiv case links water-supply information with questions about infrastructure, procurement and access to municipal records.
Journalism archives and professional memory
In a collaborative project with Igor Leonov, examines material that remains online after a newsroom closes. The developing research design addresses archive completeness, retained authorship, provenance and the role of new custodians.
Cross-border health communication
With Aleksandra Voronina, examines health misinformation in the Russian-language information environment in the United States. The study connects cross-border narratives and platform circulation of claims with questions about institutional response.
Access to digital public services
In collaborative work with Aleksandra Voronina, examines how age, language, interfaces and assistance from intermediaries shape the use of digital services. A structured qualitative review develops a Supported Digital Autonomy Model that includes verification of a result and recovery from an error.
Research approach
The southern Ukraine papers use documentary analysis. They compare dated newsroom reports, press-freedom monitoring, published interviews and studies of audiences and media finances. This approach follows concrete changes while distinguishing a participant’s account, an organization’s data and the researcher’s interpretation.
The collaborative study of digital services uses a structured qualitative review of scholarly and institutional sources. The newer archive and waiting projects remain at the research-development stage.
Publications
Preprints with public bibliographic records on SSRN.
Mykolaiv’s Information Front: Local Media, Public Communication and Community Resilience During Wartime
A documentary study of Mykolaiv’s local media, linking practical information about water and safety with scrutiny of municipal decisions and journalists’ access to officials and records.
Local Journalism Under Fire: The Transformation of News Ecosystems in Southern Ukraine, 2022–2026
A comparison of documented newsroom experiences in Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts, examining infrastructure, displacement, verification, audiences and the conditions for continued reporting.
Health Misinformation in the Russian-Language Information Environment in the United States: Cross-Border Narratives, Platform Circulation, and Institutional Response
Studies the relationship between cross-border information environments, the circulation of health claims, and institutional responses.
Digital Literacy and Access to Public Services among Older Immigrants in the United States: Language Dependency, Administrative Autonomy, and Institutional Design
Develops a Supported Digital Autonomy Model through a structured qualitative review: entry, orientation, interpretation, execution, verification, and recovery.
Projects
Orphaned Digital Archives
In development
A collaboration on the preservation and continuing use of journalistic material after a newsroom closes.
Working version 0.1 · 2026-08-28.
Life in Waiting
Research development
A qualitative research project on everyday life, professional plans and a sense of the future under prolonged legal uncertainty.
Research CV
Independent researcher working on journalism, public communication and access to information. The record below describes publicly available preprints and developing collaborative projects.
Research work
- 2026 · Local media and public communication in southern Ukraine
- Author of two preprints on Mykolaiv and the transformation of journalism in Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts. Documentary analysis of editorial work, infrastructure, verification and accountability.
- 2026 · Health information and digital public services
- Coauthor of two papers with Aleksandra Voronina, addressing health misinformation in the US Russian-language information environment and older immigrants’ digital autonomy.
- 2026 · Collaborative research projects
- Develops Orphaned Digital Archives and Life in Waiting with Igor Leonov. The archive project has working version 0.1 dated 28 August 2026; both projects remain in development.
Methods and areas of expertise
- Documentary analysis
- Comparison of public sources, dated newsroom reporting and institutional material.
- Analysis of information environments
- Editorial infrastructure, platform circulation, provenance and access to information.
- Interdisciplinary collaboration
- Collaborative work across journalism, public communication and digital services.