Since February 24, a top topic has appeared in Ukrainian online media: war. Since then, hundreds of news reports of missile strikes and deaths have been published. Every day, the news feed was full of harsh news about shelling, loss of life and destruction. At first glance, it seems that this topic should always be in the center of attention of journalists. However, over time, a strange trend has emerged – the number of news about the war is gradually decreasing. This shows that society is tired of war, as well as people’s reluctance to constantly read and see negative information that affects their psycho-emotional state.
How did the war affect modern journalism?
According to a study by the Institute of Mass Information, in April 2024, 30.7% of news in popular Ukrainian online resources were written about military actions, but compared to previous years, the number of publications on this topic was reduced. This is evidenced by the results of the IMI monitoring study conducted among ten online media of Ukraine, which, according to Similarweb, have the largest audience. These are “Obozrevatel”, “Censor.NET”, TSN, “RBK-Ukraine”, “Ukrainian Pravda”, “Channel 24”, UNIAN, NV, “Correspondent”, “Focus”. The most information about the war is published by the website “Censor.NET”, whose journalists devote a significant part of the news in their feed to this topic (in May 2023, they were 71%). On the other hand, the NV site publishes the least amount of materials about military events in Ukraine — 17%. According to the IMI study, more than half of the news about the war is based on official sources of information (47.2%), a small share of publications uses sources from partners (13%), and another 11.4% of publications take information from Russian information resources. This information refers to the results of shelling or other important events.
IMI infographics
In most cases, Ukrainian media trust their own sources. Such information makes up about 10% of news about the war. Opinions of experts are used as sources in 8.5% of materials. Unfortunately, at the moment there are very few unique messages from the places of events, which can already be considered “disappeared” information. Possible reasons for this are limited media resources or insufficient capacity to gather information about military operations. Most of the media refer to verified sources: authorities, in particular the Ministry of Defense, reports of the General Staff, special services, spokesmen and commanders of military branches, military groups and units.
However, expert judgments are important for analyzing and contextualizing events, but they are not always competent. High quality and credibility of experts should be a priority to avoid manipulation and misinformation. About a quarter of “frontline” news is based on the comments of experts of various levels of competence. There are many questions about the veracity and meaning of their statements, because often former pilots evaluate the actions of artillery, and observers predict the dates of the offensive of the Armed Forces.
It should be noted that most of the news in the mass media is devoted to the successful actions of the Armed Forces – successful operations, repelling assaults, and destroying enemy equipment. At the same time, sometimes the mass media inform about the failures of our army and the deaths of soldiers.
Speculations and low-quality journalism on the topic of war in the Ukrainian media
Unfortunately, research IMI found not only a decrease in the number of news about hostilities, but also a number of problems related to the coverage of the war in Ukrainian online media. Some publications simply speculate on the topic of war, instead of providing important and understandable information. Have headlines that do not match the content, which misleads readers. Contains signs of an order where deliberate speculation on the subject of war is used for political purposes. They have no sources of information, which casts doubt on their reliability. These problems indicate that not all Ukrainian media adhere to the principles of quality journalism when covering the war. There are such news where there are no references to sources of information at all, which is generally unacceptable and casts doubt on the veracity of the facts presented.
«The general picture of the war between Russia and Ukraine, depicted by the news of the Ukrainian media, looks less optimistic than last summer, which corresponds to the real state of affairs“, – note the authors of the study.
Examples of speculation in the Ukrainian mass media:
“The Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed a column of Russian tanks near Avdiyivka: Svitan explained why it was possible” (Channel 24)
“Preparing for assaults: an expert predicted when the Russian Armed Forces will launch a new offensive” (Focus)
Meanwhile, the most shameless speculation on the topic of war, which misinforms the audience by manipulating their emotions, accordingly, violates all professional standards and simply has no relation to journalism, is the predictions of astrologers about the end of the war in the news feed, as it happens on UNIAN.
You can also often see news about explosions on the territory of Russia and the territories occupied by it, which became the second most popular topic about the war in Ukrainian online media, gaining more than 22% of the total number of publications. This emphasis is partly explained by the fact that the IMI study was conducted during a period when information about a drone strike at an enterprise in the city of Yelabuga, Tatarstan, was actively spreading.
Most of the news on this topic (more than half): refer to “sources in the GUR”, use Russian sources to confirm information, become the subject of analytics and expert assessments. In general, the Ukrainian media’s coverage of shelling on the territory of Russia indicates a desire to keep abreast of events related to the enemy’s rear and analyze their possible consequences.
What is the forecast for the future of Ukrainian journalism in wartime?
Journalists working in war zones risk their lives and safety. Let’s not forget that there is a lot of fake information in the information space, and in our reality this is a real problem. In addition, because of the war, journalists are increasingly faced with economic problems. On the one hand, there is always a demand for information, but media funding is decreasing more and more.
In these difficult times, people are more in need of high-quality and unbiased information. This can lead to increased trust in journalism. War can stimulate the development of new forms of journalism, such as mobile journalism and investigative journalism. All the events currently taking place in the country have united Ukrainian journalists and forced them to cooperate with each other. Modern Ukrainian journalism is also waiting for international support in the form of funding, training and protection.
The war in Ukraine has become an unprecedented challenge for our journalists: on the one hand, they play a vital role in informing society and documenting events, and on the other hand, they work in conditions of danger, censorship and disinformation.
