“We support editors and journalists restoring local newspapers:” NUJU President Sergiy Tomilenko at international conference of SSU National Academy

The practice of strategic communications in conditions of war, new information attacks of the enemy and mechanisms of effective countermeasures, as well as the role of the media in the formation of international support for our state, were on the agenda of the International Scientific and Practical Conference titled Practice Of Strategic Communications In Conditions Of War, which was held by the National Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) on April 19, 2024.

Sergiy Tomilenko, the President of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), also took the floor.

“I drew the attention of well-known specialists in strategic communications to the important work of journalists and editors from Kherson, Bakhmut, Orikhiv, Lyman, Izium, Snihurivka, Huliaipole, Myrnohrad, Zolochiv and other cities and communities,” wrote the NUJU President on a social network commenting on the issue he raised about the role of front-line newspapers in the de-occupied and front-line territories.

There, the civilian population lives in a zone of increased risk: they are under daily russian shelling in populated areas where the infrastructure has not yet been restored after de-occupation.

“In the listed territories, as well as in others, we support media workers who are reviving local newspapers. These realities testify to the importance of print media as an alternative way of conveying information to people,” Sergiy Tomilenko emphasized.

According to him, it is symbolic that the newspaper from Bakhmut, Vpered, saved several thousand residents of Bakhmut. Until the last days of the city’s defense, the newsroom, in various ways (first through volunteers, then through the military), sent its copies there with information about the ways and methods of evacuation from Bakhmut, and thus, saved people’s lives. Hundreds of frightened residents were hiding in basements and shelters, and it was the local newspaper, which they knew and trusted, that convinced them not to be afraid of evacuation, not to believe the propaganda about the “educational” camps set up in Western Ukraine for the people of Donetsk.

“I’m grateful for the invitation to participate in an important event on communications in times of war, which came from the head of the department of the SSU National Academy, Larysa Kompantseva. I sincerely look forward to a productive conversation with a compatriot from Cherkasy and rector of the Academy, Andrii Cherniak, a powerful leader of a modern, authoritative institution of higher education. The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine is preparing a Memorandum on cooperation with the SSU Academy. In particular, we count on the help of scientists in recording russia’s war crimes against journalists and the media.

NUJU Information Service

Photo: SSU National Academy