Future for Digital: Big Media, Big Changes
How do media giants handle change and battle false news? — A panel discussion by DCN at PDF
With great audience comes great responsibility, but it’s hard to keep it up with the instant news and false information. To address these issues, DCN alongside ePanstwo co-organized a panel discussion during Personal Democracy Forum in Gdansk. On April 27, we invited journalists from BBC and Current Time to share their experience working with social media, tackling false news, and going digital.
Anna Romandash, DCN Board member, moderated the panel, and Olga Malchevska (BBC) and Nick Shchetko (Current Time) talked about their digital experience. Both experts come from organizations known for using new tools to engage the audiences and remaining credible among their readers. Both also work for Russian-speaking audience, which is among the most targeted by propaganda. In their daily work, Olga and Nick try to provide the readers with an alternative to biased information while also being engaging and relying on visuals and storytelling.
False news was among the biggest topics of discussion. Olga believes that tackling misinformation is not possible with just one solution: “Education of audience is of high importance. Probably, when you see some news, you may check alternative sources, but would our parents do it? And would our kids do it?” As for Nick, addressing the issue should happen on legislative level as well as through education and fact-checking. There are pitfalls, however. “In Russia, they are proposing a law against fake news, but I don’t know how it’s supposed to be working,” Nick says, “Fake news is a big threat, but it’s been there for a while. Now, technology is making it very easy and fast.”
The speakers also talked about emotions that make some fake news so effective, and the necessity to approach any information from any source critically.
Personal Democracy Forum in Gdansk was a great opportunity to meet activists from the Central and Eastern European region as well as reconnect with DCN members. In June, Anna Romandash will join PDF in New York as a fellow where she will also share the DCN experience.
Watch the full video here
Speakers:
Olga Malchevska, multimedia producer at BBC
Nick Shchetko, senior digital editor at Current Time
Moderator: Anna Romandash, community manager at Digital Communication Network
Bios:
Olga Malchevska is a multimedia producer at the British Broadcasting Corporation. Previously, she has worked as the BBC Ukrainian Desk Editor (2016–2018). Before joining BBC, Olga was awarded Vaclav Havel Fellowship for outstanding journalists, representing Ukraine in Prague and Washington, D.C. (2014–2015).
Olga is the author of “Kremlin’s Czech Friends” (2016), an investigative documentary (the project of RFE/RL in cooperation with 1+1 Media, directed in terms of VH Fellowship. It was screened by 1+1 Media in prime time in Ukrainian and by UT in English. Russian version was broadcasted by the Russian Dozhd TV, and the Czech version was presented in Charles University in Prague). Earlier, Olga was 1+1 TV correspondent and an author of resonant series “The School of Surviving” uncovering corruption in the education system of Ukraine.
Nick Shchetko is a senior digital editor for Current Time TV, the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. He creates and oversees production of compelling stories,
videos, infographics and interactives. Previously he worked with The Wall Street Journal (from Kyiv and San Francisco), Minyanville (New York) and TUT.BY (Belarus) as a journalist and editor. His primary areas of interest are social media video, technology, business journalism, visualizations and data journalism
Anna Romandash is a journalist and communications expert from Ukraine. She is a project coordinator at European Youth Press, a media non-for-profit based in Berlin, where she oversees the work of Orange magazine and manages projects involving young journalists across the region. She is also a board member at Digital Communication Network, where she manages community engagement. Previously, Anna has been working with KyivPost and Day in her native Ukraine and collaborated with New Eastern Europe, EuroNews, and Hromadske TV. She holds a MA in Media Communications; her main areas of interest include visual storytelling and media
Watch the video:
