Ageism, lookism, manupulation: commissioned article smearing Chetverta Vlada journalists appears online

An smear article about two Chetverta Vlada journalists, containing signs of ageism and lookism, has appeared online. The editors believe this was triggered by an article criticising the Rivne City Council chief of communications, Yana Yevtushok, whom the media accuses of obstruction, chief editor Volodymyr Torbich reports on Facebook.

According to Volodymyr Torbich, the libel targets two Chetverta Vlada journalists – Olha Pidhorodetska and Valeria Khomych, who report from Rivne Council sessions most often. He also supposes that the text was written with the help of artificial intelligence.

Screenshot of Volodymyr Torbich's Facebook post by the IMI

According to Hanna Kalaur, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Rivne oblast, the defamatory article about the journalists appeared on the website "Persona" on November 12 under the headline "Chetverta Vlada or a factory of lies? How journalists sell gossip as the truth for profit." The article manipulatively and offensively retells parts of the journalists' biographies, finishing with a conclusion that they are insufficiently qualified due to not having diplomas in journalism.

"The above-mentioned journalists are like uneducated surgeons: they were given a scalpel, but they don't know how to use it," the article concludes.

In addition to the manipulation, the article resorts to ageism such as the following lines: "Olha is an adult, she has a family. But life has been rough on her, too;" "Valeria is aged 20, and Olha is almost 40."

In the comment to the IMI representative, journalist Olha Pidhorodetska said that she considers this commissioned article "a primitive method of smearing." According to her, her sources say that the authors achieved the opposite effect.

"This is an unsuccessful and incompetent campaign by the local self-government, namely by the staff of Rivne's acting mayor Victor Shakirzyan. (...) Just like a boomerang, this defamation backfired on the authors," noted Olha.

There is also an instance of lookism in the article: the anonymous author contrasts a photo of Valeria Khomych generated by artificial intelligence with a real one.

The anonymous author published a collage contrasting two images of Valeria Khomych, saying that "the reality is rough." Screenshot from the website "Persona"

Valeria Khomych also believes that the article aimed to smear them. "To hate on someone for their looks is a low move. This says more about the person who wrote it than about me. I consider myself beautiful and no anonymous scribblers will erase that," she commented to the IMI representative.

Valeria says that the article smearing her is primitive and that the Rivne City Council chief of communications, Yana Yevtushok, was involved in its creation, because the journalist has shared the facts about her life featured in the article with Yevtushok.

"The goal was to discredit us, because we don't have journalism diplomas and overall, one of us wanted to be an actress as a child, and the other has worked as a stage make-up artist. They definitely failed to discredit us. Rather, with this article and the previous one about the Torbichs (the media outlet's editors – Ed.) they showed that we hit them where it hurts. It is just a little absurd that Chetverta Vlada has released so many articles reporting on the declarations of the Rivne Razom deputies, and on the companies owned by acting mayor Viktor Shakirzyan, and on Liana Dynovska (the new director of the Rivne City Center of Social Services – Ed.) being appointed without a competition, and it was after the news about the press secretary that the wave of defamation began," said Valeria Khomych.

The IMI representative tried to get a comment from Yana Yevtushok, the head of the communications and public relations department of the City Council, repeatedly calling both her work number and personal number, but she did not answer. She also texted Yana Yevtushok on Telegram, asking her to comment on her alleged involvement in the commissioned article targeting Chetverta Vlada, and received no immediate reply. The IMI is ready to report on Yana Yevtushok's position when she answers.

Earlier, two websites published identical defamatory articles targeting Chetverta Vlada. The media outlet believes this had to do with their reporting criticizing Yana Yevtushok. According to the journalists, the party and NGO Rivne Razom, founded by the current acting mayor of Rivne Viktor Shakirzyan, were involved in the smear campaign.