How to make the work of journalists more effective for Defense Forces?

Recently, it has already been reported that the priority areas of the activities of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) had been reviewed by the expanded Plenum of the NUJU Board. Among the main ones is cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, the Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and all components of the Defense Forces.

The President of the NUJU, Sergiy Tomilenko, recalled that the Union systematically helps journalists who are in military service on mobilization, as well as their civilian colleagues who help cover the progress of hostilities at the front.

In this context, the initiative launched on June 6, Journalist’s Day, to award the best representatives of military public relations structures and brigade press officers with the NUJU Medal of Honor Press Officers Are Important for their assistance in organizing the work of mass media representatives directly in the area of ​​active hostilities is important. Sergiy Tomilenko also noted that the work on providing press officer combat brigades with all-wheel-drive vehicles from the NUJU will continue.

The director general of the Ukrinform national information agency/secretary of NUJU and, in the recent past, Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), Serhii Cherevatyi, emphasized:

“We are always in solidarity with our colleagues. We try to find understanding even in controversial security issues. This solidarity is felt when working with the media, who quickly help the military solve serious issues. Such professionalism directly depends on adherence to journalistic standards. At the same time, he should note that all his life he worked side by side with colleagues from various media. My experience shows that there is no systemic difference between military and civilian journalists.

For example, our colleague Volodymyr Danyliuk from journalism joined the army’s public relations structures and does a great job in this area. I also know many media workers in uniform who left the military service and integrated into the newsroom. In the same way, I joined the team, knowing the peculiarities of the production process. I really ask that society support such colleagues.”

At the same time, NUJU Secretary Volodymyr Danyliuk, who before mobilization on February 24, 2022, was the editor-in-chief of Volynska Hazeta, and now performs tasks assigned to the Zakhid Operational Command of the Land Forces of the AFU and arrived in the capital on a business trip, called on his colleagues to more efficient and coordinated work.

He emphasized that, of course, there are many problems in and around the army that need to be shown and solved. But under the main condition: the created information product will take into account the point of view of the official representatives of the Defense Forces and, of course, in the final result, it should add strength to the personnel and civilians in the approach of Victory over the russian aggressors. Many patriotic and motivating video reports and radio broadcasts have been created about our Heroes at the front, and many publications have been written in electronic and print media, but this work must be continued and strengthened. Sensitive topic: mobilization. The army is impossible without replenishment of the army with personnel. Of course, there are certain violations and abuses in the work of some officials of the Recruitment Centers, and they must be fought with the help of the media.

But at the same time, it is even more important not to undermine the patriotic spirit and motivational component of military personnel, not to sow treason, but also to show the real front-line heroes who are now engaged in the direct recruitment of the army.

“We must fill the information field with materials that, firstly, will counteract hostile disinformation and, secondly, instill faith in Ukrainian society in our inevitable Victory over the russian occupiers. With the help of all the heads of the Western Ukrainian branches of the Union, it was already possible to establish effective communication both with the editorial teams and the press services of the regional military administrations and local councils. AFU, which is important for the Ground Forces, began to spread more intensively.

However, an example of the news of the press officer of the 24^th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Danylo Halytskyi about the Victory of one of the servicemen in a prestigious competition for a series of photographs from the front-line town of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk Region (at one time, as a member of one of the battalions of the AFU, Volodymyr Danyliuk, also performed combat tasks assigned to on this axis, – ed.) is literally now prompting: similar information should be disseminated both in mass media that work for the audience of the Donetsk Region and in the central mass media! So, we all have a lot of work ahead of us.”

Constructive opinions on this topic were also expressed by the head of the Lviv regional organization of the NUJU, Yaroslav Klymovych, and other participants in the meeting.

Fellow journalists supported such initiatives, which will be filled with real content.

NUJU Information Service

Photo by Pavlo Bahmut and Nataliya Fibrih