Ukraine: Media in a Time of War
Policy Paper Ukraine: Media in a Time of War
Key Points
- Ukrainian journalists have been struggling with the question of how to do their jobs during a war in which the media have played an outsized role, and in a historical context that fosters weak standards of journalism.
- In the context of war, media outlets that are not sufficiently ‘patriotic’ are pressured by state structures, although in 2015 the Ukrainian parliament enacted and the president signed into law legislation to create a more professional media landscape.
- Faced with such a media environment, a new generation of journalists is trying to train itself and create media outside the current system with professional standards of journalism.
- The Ukrainian government denounces Russian propaganda as a key cause of the war, but responds in the same way, while media that respect professional standards could have helped Ukraine to avoid or limit the conflict and would be useful for post-war reconstruction.
Published by the GCSP, Geneva Center for Security Policy, 03.2016
whenever a country goes to war, so do its major news organizations
Gaetan Vannay
Grand reporter, reporter de guerre, spécaliste de la Russie, je poursuis aujourd’hui mes voyages et reportages en journaliste indépendant. Ancien correspondant en Grande-Bretagne et en Russie, ancien chef du bureau international de la RTS-radio, j’ai étudié le Russe à Ekaterinbourg et le comportement en terrain hostile dans les forêts écossaises avec des SAS britanniques. Le Collège de la Royale Abbaye de St-Maurice, les Universités de Neuchâtel et de Genève ont aussi contribué à mon édification.