Ukraine shared approaches to fighting disinformation and announced a new Information Security Strategy at the international conference “Building Democratic Resilience to Disinformation” in Villa Biga (Kalkara, Malta) on 17 September. The event was supported by the Council of Europe and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tourism of Malta as part of the Maltese Chairmanship at the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

Hanna Krasnostup, chief of strategic communications and promotion of Ukrainian culture at Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications, represented Ukraine at the conference, as she announced in a Facebook post.

Hanna Krasnostup stressed Ukraine’s unique experience in countering Russian information manipulation and disinformation.

Hanna Krasnostup (third to the right) speaking at the conference in Malta on 17 September. Photo via Hanna Krasnostup on Facebook

“By protecting journalists, we protect society’s right to truthful information. In a world that is transforming from an industry of facts to an industry of fakes, supporting professional media and developing citizens’ critical thinking are becoming our top priorities,” she said.

Krasnostup added that ensuring a pluralistic media environment and supporting professional media is one of the priorities.

She spoke about the implementation in Ukraine of the Council of Europe campaign “Journalists Matter”, the promotion of the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI), and the High Quality List by the Institute of Mass Information.

Hanna Krasnostup remarked that Ukraine’s new Information Security Strategy will cover issues of international cooperation in the field of countering foreign information manipulation.

The Institute of Mass Information has been releasing lists of the highest-quality Ukrainian online media outlets every six months since 2019. The list includes national online media that score the most points in the assessment of adherence to professional journalism standards and had the lowest rates of manipulation, jibes, covert advertising, sexism, and hate speech. The average level of adherence to professional standards by the resources included in the High Quality List is about 96%.