By Mariam Barbakadze
During the third stage of the project Media Dialogue 2020 for Pluralism and Understanding which was hosted by the participating Ukrainian organizations and institutions, the keynote speaker Yuriy Zaliznyak – associate professor of the New Media Department Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, hold an interesting presentation about ,,New Journalism: Professional Standards or Standard Profession under Modern Threats and Challenges”.
He talked about journalism in different ways and outlined new ways and approaches that media use nowadays. He paid attention on the new standards that are set in journalism: accuracy, impartiality, privacy and other essential aspects. As Mr. Zaliznyak mentioned, new standards, especially editorial ones are established in Ukrainian media with the influence of BBC guidelines.
It is way more interesting to emphasize the Russian impact, because especially connected to the conflict’s the Russian state is involved in in the last years the questions on fake news and truthfulness have raised. Then he showed a parallel to Nadya Savchenko – a hero for many people in Ukraine covered in appropriate way in national TV, in national radio and everything was done due to these principles that were described in the movie. Everything was actually a hoax and mystification. And now everybody knows not everything but at least the story about the person that made her the hero.
It is not easy to understand and make conclusions on every piece of information we get. Not just ordinary people become victims of fake news, but also journalists. People mostly consume free news and the stream of these news comes from Facebook and other social media. Different audiences use different channels for getting free news. Compared to WhatsApp Facebook seems to be riskier. Another important topic is how people can understand fake news and as an example for that that Mr. Zaliznyak gave: US-president Donald Trump’s war against media (CNN, New York Times, etc.)
He also described the approaches in communication that were used in 2019 by the president administrations of USA and Ukraine.
There were some similarities: In Ukraine 2019 the political elite proclaimed their own way of communication, the direct way without media and journalists. It showed up very successful as they were in touch with the society directly. ,,We don’t need journalists”- the former head of president administration declared. That is the new way of communication for Ukraine.
Mr. Zaliznyak also showed the significance of international media without bordersHe made example of different media sources showing Ukraine without Crimea and another one showing Russian map with Crimea. It was clear that the different messages were sent for different audiences.
Mostly it was media who made Trump president in 2016 – Mr. Zaliznyak said. But he started a war against media and lost this year as he lost the 2020 presidential elections. One could say it is similar to Volodymyr Zelensky.
We have to be aware of the needs of the audience and know it as best as possible. One has to provide truthful information and proofs. Audiences in Ukraine and in USA tend to be different but similar sometimes. Mr. Zaliznyak provides us with examples: People were asked what they prefer in the field of medical care: “Obama Care” or “Affordable Care”. The majority of people answered “affordable care”. Actually, these are just two names for one document and the unawareness, and the complexity of the question made it clear how people can misunderstand very easily. In the Ukrainian case, far before the Crimea conflict, Crimeans and eastern Ukrainian citizens were asked if they prefer to be a part of NATO or North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the majority voted for the second option – although again both describe the same.
These are the clear examples of providing audience with correct information.
Before Facebook era many Ukrainians were influenced by Russian social media and they were using VKonatkte, but in 2016 after emerging Facebook, most of the people switched to it.
Finally, the speaker described the situation and the media standards in 10 years. The results can be much worse than we expect as the aim of fake news is to divide people, divide humanity – the division of society whether online social networks or with media itself.
People need to survive informationally. He outlined the key importance of critical thinking, truthful information and the style of standard profession. ,,Standard is like making great dish for the audience – very special art” – said Mr. Zaliznyak.
