Occupiers recruit young people to a "media school", collect their personal details down to clothing size
The Russians are recruiting young people to work in propaganda media outlets in the temporarily occupied part of Zaporizhia oblast, collecting their personal details, including clothing size. This was reported by the IMI representative in Zaporizhzhia region.
The "media school" is being organized by a Russian project – the media center "Mediatopol", which has been spreading anti-Ukraine propaganda in the temporarily occupied part of the oblast since November 2022. Recruiting announcements are being distributed by the propaganda Telegram channel "#YugMolodoy" and targets the youth in the temporarily occupied territories.
According to the Telegram channel, on September 6, the training at the "media school", where more than 25 people volutneered to become photographers, videographers and writers, has started. The post says that there will be three more such schools by the end of 2023 and encourages the readers to sign up for the following "schools".
In the application form on Yandex.Forms, participants are required to provide all personal details. To attend the classes, you need to provide information such as: your full name, date of birth, phone number, e-mail, link to your Vkontakte account (a Russian social network banned in Ukraine), your nickname in Telegram, full passport data, place of work or study, home address, photo and even your clothing size.
The website of the All-Russian Public Movement of Culture Volunteers "Volunteers of Culture" says that "Mediatopol" is a project which aims to form "a community of 100 young media workers in Zaporizhzhia oblast with the help of comprehensive training, test the mentoring system and purchase professional equipment to improve the quality and amount of media content in the period from 06/20/2023 to 12/25/2023".
As reported by IMI, with the start of the full-scale war all Ukrainian media in the temporarily occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia oblast were disabled and replaced with propagandist Russian media and propaganda media holdings were created, namely ZaMedia, which covers television, newspapers, radio and online reporting.
On August 1, 2022, new propaganda TV channel "ZaTV" started working in the occupied Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia oblast. The channel's staff is Russian. The media holding "ZaMedia" also includes the propaganda radio "Za!Radio" and the newspaper "Zaporozhsky Vestnik".
"Reporters Without Borders" have made an investigation titled "The Malkevich Propaganda Machine, the Wagner-allied network in Ukraine", where they outline how the entrepreneur Oleksandr Malkevich created a propaganda machine in Ukraine's south in record time.
Natalya Vyhovska, Kateryna Dyachuk
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