Ukrainian media should evolve, not just fend off RF’s fake news - Oksana Romanyuk

Photo credit: National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting

Ukrainian media should not only act on the defensive against Russian misinformation, but also contribute to the evolution of the Ukrainian media space and public broadcasting under these conditions.

Oksana Romanyuk, executive director of the Institute of Mass Information, said this during an expert discussion “New stages / forms of misinformation and how to counteract them” on February 22, as Ukrinform reported.

"The media reform has not been achieved here so far, self-regulation does need to evolve here. And speaking of Russian misinformation, we must not only, I guess, be on the defensive, protect ourselves, but also continue, despite all these hard times, to make evolve the Ukrainian media space, support public broadcasting, support self-regulatory organizations, support reforms. We need to get stronger, " Romanyuk said.

She also said that since the beginning of this year, IMI has noticed a new narrative in the occupied territories about the "revival of the empire of three states - Ukraine, Russia and Belarus." 

“This narrative had happened earlier, but it arose at the level of statistical error. From January to February, local so-called "opinion leaders" and self-proclaimed officials began to talk about a lot on the subject. Another point that we noticed in the context of the Russian media ... that Russian officials will allow themselves to dehumanize Ukrainians ... And just yesterday, Putin's speech was about this dehumanization. And for us, as media people, it is important to say publicly that this is the occupation of our country by Russian troops, "she said.