Journalist students of the Faculty FPSC, SumDU, together with Maryna Sadivnycha, assistant of the Department of Journalism and Philology, attended an online meeting with the expert of the Media Center of the Ukrainian Community in Austria, the author of the German-language book "Russia's War against Ukraine: What is it? Facts and prospects" by Oksana Stavru. The topic of the meeting was the discussion of the discourses on the media environment of Germany and Austria, in which the Russian-Ukrainian war was covered.
The organizer of the meeting was the Department of Journalism of the Admiral Makarov NUS, students and teachers of journalism departments of seven Ukrainian HEI took part in the event.
Oksana Stavru has been living in Austria for more than twenty years; since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, she has been actively fighting Russian propaganda and stereotypes about Ukrainians in German-speaking countries. A book about the war in Ukraine, created in cooperation with experts from the University of Vienna and the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, became one of the ways of its struggle. Currently, the Austrian Ministry of Education has recommended the book for use in schools, so it will soon be part of the curriculum as supplementary literature.
During the meeting with the students, Mrs. Oksana talked about the factors influencing communication between countries. The expert paid particular attention to the historical, cultural, and political contexts and explained that the Second World War significantly influenced the formation of political relations, the echoes of which can be heard even now.
An equally important topic for discussion was how Ukraine can get rid of stereotypes in the eyes of residents of German-speaking countries. After all, in addition to prejudices, our country is faced with active propaganda of aggressors, which makes productive communication significantly more difficult.
At the end of the meeting, the speaker answered the questions of those present and advised her own experience.
"The meeting was exciting and made it possible to look at the situation differently. It's a pity that there was very little time for discussion," Yuliia Kolodych, a freshman, said.
"Topics related to information and its presentation are always relevant to discuss. Especially when the information source is seemingly the same for everyone, but its interpretation, context, reaction to it, etc., are geographically, culturally, historically connected, and interdependent. Furthermore, let's talk about the connection to the realities of today. It is interesting how events that Ukrainians have been experiencing for more than two years are presented to the audience of foreign mass media. It is interesting because the context is familiar and close to us. At the same time, the audience abroad remains only an observer, far enough away from the broadcasted events, directly affecting the "frames" in which certain news is presented. It was remembered how the speaker spoke about the full-scale invasion as an "act of liberation", for which you could talk about the crimes of the aggressor country without being accused of Russophobic sentiments. In my opinion, this is a very illustrative example, although it's a pity to hear such a truth", master's student Liana Okhrymenko shared her impressions of the event.
"I am sure that such meetings are beneficial for our students. The possibility of learning about the experience of media work in other countries, understanding how Ukrainians oppose hostile propaganda abroad, and asking questions is priceless. I hope the knowledge gained during the meeting will be useful to future journalists in their professional activities," Maryna Sadivnycha said.
Anastasiia Kyzym, a student of the group ZhT-11