On November 17, 2016 Kyiv hosted a VoxUkraine conference «The power of words. The responsibility of the media and calls-2017 " with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation.
On November 17, 2016 Kyiv hosted a VoxUkraine conference «The power of words. The responsibility of the media and calls-2017 ” with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation.
The reader’s trust is the main asset of the media that Ukrainian media are rapidly losing. The war in Eastern Ukraine, a massive aggressor’s propaganda, a lot of social and economic issues have become the unaffordable topics for many of our media. The excessive emotionality and lack of attention to the facts is the other problem not only for the Ukrainian but also for the world media.
Who has to shape the standards of journalism in the conflict and how should it be proceeded? In what way journalists should talk about the war? Why is there self-censorship and how to resist censorship by the government or media owners? What is the correct approach to the facts? How to implement a fact checking in to the editorial office effectively and how does it affect the country’s policy on the example of the UK and the US?
Media practitioners and theorists from the US, the UK, Sweden and Poland, together with the best journalists and editors from Ukraine were searching answers to these questions. The conference was attended by 90 representatives of the media and public activists from all over Ukraine.
Conference’s key points:
Andrew Hoskins: «Photography is the strongest means of information transfer in journalism. And yet in our digital age, when many images of wars and disasters have become available, do they influence the media, politicians and society as before? Unfortunately, not always. »
Peter Shuklinov: «There is no such a thing as journalism in Ukraine, and advertising market is quite weak. »
Oleksiy Matsuka: «A reporter in today’s Ukraine is not a carrier of dialogue and compromise, but the driving force of his point of view, his “mega-important” position. Reporters must renounce self-censorship and lift the taboo on controversial topics. »
Jack Werner: «We live in an exciting time, and the fact that everyone can tell his own story (in social media – editor’s footnote) is good. But when the lie spreads and forms our view of the world, someone has to intervene. Someone who is trained to check the facts, for whom this is a professional duty. In other words – a fact checker. »
Lori Robertson: «Despite the Donald Trump’s victory or Brexit, fact checkers’ work is not useless. Our goal is not to change the political preferences of our readers but to give them facts. During the presidential campaign in the US we tested hundreds of candidates’ applications, and the demand for our work was very high. »
Participants:
– Lori Robertson, Editor of the first fact-checking project in the world FactCheck.org (USA)
– Andrew Hoskins, author of the “War and Media”, Professor at the University of Glasgow (the United Kingdom)
– Jack Werner, journalist and fact checker, was awarded the Swedish Grand Prize for Journalism in 2014 for his work with the fact checking project Viralgrangranskaren (Sweden)
– Brandan Hoffman, a documentary photographer for The New York Times (USA)
– Andrzej Mikolajewski, co-founder of the Demagog.pl fact-checking project
– Peter Shuklinov, editor at LIGA.net (Ukraine), the winner of the National Award for Investigative Journalism
– Ihor Korkhovy, FactCheck.com.ua director
– Olena Shkarpova, Vox Check editor, former reporter for Forbes (Ukraine)
– Ruslan Deynychenko, StopFAKE project editor and co-founder
