The final event in the frames of the project of the Center for Public Diplomacy «Information wars against Ukraine and other European countries: Lithuania’s experience in tackling propaganda» was the presentation of the similarly-named publication elaborated by Ukrainian and Lithuanian experts on information security and strategic communication.
This publication consists of the reports on possibilities to counteract the information threats at the national level, fight against Kremlin disinformation in the EU countries, in particular, in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, development of fact-checking as an istrument of combating fake news in Ukraine and in the world, and Lithuania’s experience in tackling propaganda and strengthening independent media.
Among the event speakers were:
- Andrii VITRENKO, Chair of the Center for Public Diplomacy, Vice Minister of Culture for European Integration (2014-2016);
- Oleksandr MAKOBRII, Head of the Main Division for International Information Policy, Media and Communications of the Information Policy and Information Security Directorate, Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine;
- Oleksii POLEGKYI, Doctor of Political Science, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, Member of the Advisory Council of the Center for Public Diplomacy;
- Dar’ya HLUSHCHENKO, Speechwriter Analyst, Head of Communications Department at the Ukrainian National Bar Association;
- Mykhailo KHODAKIVSKII, PhD, Senior Researcher, V.M. Koretsky Institute of State and Law of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine;
- Andrii SHCHEKUN, Director of the Information Centre “Voice of Crimea”, Editor-in-Chief of the Newspaper “Krymska Svitlytsya”, Member of the Advisory Council of the Center for Public Diplomacy;
- Valerii DYMOV, Director of the Center for Public and Information Technologies “Forum”.
There are some key points of speeches of the participants of the presentation:
- Currently the most advanced technologies of hybrid warfare are used against Ukraine which in fact turned the information sphere into the key arena for confrontation. The monitoring of media space shows that the main final objective of the aggressor state is to destroy Ukraine as a state in general.
- Ukrainians are still vulnerable to Kremlin-led narratives and fakes, so it’s necessary to increase cooperation between government institutions, public sector and journalists to counteract the information threats effectively.
- Fact-checking is quite an efficient instrument of countering disinformation throughout the world. It is based on the analysis of open official data, does not envisage using the insider information and involves professional experts in the facts checking.
- Lately there has been some change in relation to Russian media in Europe. Such media as «Russia Today» or «Sputnik» are more and more accepted not as the mass media but as the tools of Russian propaganda.
- Survey of participants of the project conducted in certain Southern and Eastern regions of Ukraine showed that prohibition of Russian social media for which the Ukrainian authorities were criticized “works” quite effectively.
- Currently it is important to shape the state policy on producing the powerful information content to counteract propaganda that is a necessary step towards strengthening the information security of Ukraine.
Please find the video from the event here: https://www.facebook.com/publicdiplomacyukraine/videos/418845369510499
The event was carried out in the frames of the project “Information wars against Ukraine and other European countries: Lithuania’s experience in tackling propaganda” funded under the Development Cooperation and Democracy Promotion Programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania Užsienio reikalų ministerija.
