Odesa Conference Explores the Future of Media Amid Global Turmoil

Odesa hosted the Georgiy Gongadze Prize Media Day in Odesa, a conference reflecting on the state of affairs in the Ukrainian and global media field. The event started with a futuristic discourse between the Gongadze Prize winner, journalist, media manager Tetyana Troshchynska and poet, public figure, member of PEN Ukraine Andriy Khayetsky. Intent was a media partner of the conference and provided the broadcast. Read the shortened version and watch the full version of the conversation.

T. T.: I always envy people who can predict the future. They gather huge audiences on YouTube: they predicted it, it didn't come true, they predicted it again, it didn't come true, they predicted it again... But the audience is growing, that's how traffic works. When you work as a professional journalist, it's extremely difficult to deal with the future, because you start to ask yourself what criteria, what forces, so to speak, you are analyzing when you talk about certain things that may or may not happen in the future.

It is our huge mistake, perhaps a kind of cognitive distortion to some extent, when we do not take into account our own power, the power of the people around us. For some of us, it was in 2022, when we did not take into account certain things, we discovered something about ourselves. During this time, we went through some emotional swings, but we are not going to go anywhere and we will not get rid of this experience that we had and that showed us that we are much stronger than we think we are.

А. H.: Talking about the future is both a salvation for today, and in fact, it is also part of the struggle that we are fighting in this war. During a trip to Odesa region, my colleagues from PEN and I met with cadets of two institutes: the Institute of Naval Forces and the Institute of Internal Affairs. I told them what I really believe, what I try to stick to all the time: that we are fighting for our future first and foremost.

I can say that I have long been trying to read translated literature about the wars that were relatively close to me, particularly in the Balkans. These are wars that were similar to our war in many ways, especially in terms of consequences. At the presentation of one of the translated books, the translator and poet Kateryna Kalytko once spoke about the importance of looking at experiences, post-war experiences, where these transformations are happening and have happened. That is why many things that are happening to us now are often not unexpected or new to me.

T. T.: I absolutely agree with you here. I am currently finishing reading a book about PTSD by Romeo Dallaire in Ukrainian translation. He is a four-star Canadian general who was the commander of the UN peacekeeping mission in Rwanda during the genocide. And in fact, this book is not about PTSD, it's about the helplessness of international organizations. When you report that you have several hundred people, Tutsis, who are fleeing genocide and need at least drinking water. And you are told that you need to hold a tender and get the three best offers. And then, maybe, we will deliver drinking water. All of these things are extremely applicable to the experience we have now. Although it seems to be a distant African country, maybe with a different kind of conflict, maybe with a different nature, we see a lot of similarities.

А. H.: In our society, we have a big problem with reading, with getting involved in literature, with access to books, because there are no bookstores in small towns and villages. Libraries are sometimes closed. Recently, a librarian from the region complained to me that people don't come to the library, and they only have 400 visitors a year. People turn to more accessible sources. And here, of course, we have to talk about the media and its importance. We have to take into account their role, especially in a world where information is perceived in a thesis, short, and fast way.

As a consumer, I can say that this request is not always fulfilled or is fulfilled incompletely. But we can't ignore it, we have to say that it is absolutely necessary to ensure this future line that we are fighting for now.

TT: Just the other day I read a big study in The Guardian, which, in addition to the problem of functional literacy-the actual understanding of what you read, the ability to retell and comprehend-it also talks about the inability of a large number of people to read long texts. And this number is decreasing all over the world. And what did I think about that? That in fact the ability to read and comprehend is power. We probably never think about it, but those people who are able to read and comprehend-they will, I think, be able to preserve some island of freedom, of their own thinking, of their own opinion.

The second important point concerns the media. In Ukraine, the marathon ("United News" - ed.) is absolutely demonized, and I have never worked there. But an alternative picture of the world, an alternative agenda is formed not only in the marathon. It is formed in a lot of tiktoks, YouTube, bloggers who are watched because people like them. It is formed in the glamorous part, where bloggers who have been talking to showbiz stars all their lives are now talking to politicians. And they demonstrate these absolutely horrible things from the point of view of journalism, which are built, I'm sorry, on hugs with people who should be asked about shelters, education, building defensive fortifications, and so on. And all this is built on glamor. So the question is not just about the marathon.

А. H.: I work in a field close to the medical one, and I communicate with clients. And every day I see where people get their information from, how their ideas about a particular situation are formed. People think that they learn much more from Tik-Tok than from official sources and the media. I'm not talking about fortune tellers and predictions. In any case, no matter where the information comes from, I can't remember a society as electrified as the one we have today.

Andriy Khayetsky. Photo: Intent/Natalia Dovbysh

What should we do with the total overwhelm of information-junk that exists? It seems to me that there should be some kind of systematic work by institutions. But on the other hand, is it permissible for the state to intervene in this process?

T. T.: As our practice shows, the state, even when something concerns, say, military secrets, always tries to turn it into political censorship. As soon as we step on the thin ice that the state has to intervene in something, I definitely start to be afraid of it, because I understand how such interference can end.

But if you start telling people that you have to choose a source that you trust and that tells you the truth and gives you a more realistic view of the world, then at least some people start thinking about it. Obviously, this will never be widespread.

А. H.: The problem here is that this trend is set not so much by the media or society as by those who are supposed to not interfere in their work. This is a kind of domino effect. It seems to me that information resources often try to outdo each other in the headlines. But we are so resistant to the pain of perceiving any new tragedy that a race has begun to determine the horror of the information itself. The more horrific the news, the more clicks. And here Telegram is ahead: channels are trying to give even more "trash", even more acute.

T. T.: I'm thinking now that Telegram is, unfortunately, the only thing they can use in the occupied territories. I've always said that government authorities should withdraw from Telegram. It seems to me that this could be a political statement. Then you start thinking about the occupied territories and realize that the answers to these questions are very complicated.

Reuters writes that in 2026, a quarter of all news or information content in the world will be generated by artificial intelligence. It seems to me that in two years, what we are talking about now will be just flowers. Because you begin to understand what ideological point can be embedded, for example, in some of this content. And there will be people who will read it and believe that it is so. And this is a big problem.

А. H.: The problem of artificial intelligence already exists. So does the creation of fakes and the countering of fakes. By the way, perhaps people's rejection or general disregard for the news, for reading long texts, is also a desire for detox and an unwillingness to pay attention to any information in general. People often just want to live their lives here and now, to protect themselves, to protect their families. What should the media do then? And will this be a trend?

T. T.: It will probably be a trend. And besides the media, the problem of education is even more global. When we start talking about it, a lot of people do not understand its value at all. Just the other day, the Rating sociological group published the results of a survey on what people fear in the coming year. And the challenge of education is at the bottom of the list, with seven percent of people believing that it is a problem.

Tetiana Troshchynska. Photo: Intent/Natalia Dovbysh

I think that something that plays in the long run is extremely difficult to explain. Security is a very important story. Demography and the demographic problems that Ukraine is experiencing and will continue to experience are a very important story. Migration processes are also important. Education is a very important story.

It is very difficult to work with topics when they are about trends and processes, and not about some fact that happened or did not happen, but you lie about it well. It's very difficult to actually work with this, because people don't feel it as close to them as something that affects them now.

А. H.: In the context of talking about how we are fighting for the future, there is a terrible trend now: specialists from Ukraine, educational specialists, have left, and some of them will not return because they have assimilated there. And the biggest problem is that most of our children are leaving Ukraine.

In my opinion, we must ask ourselves the question: for whom are we trying to solve some issues and wade through this reality and this present? For whom are we shaping this agenda for the future? For whom are we preserving what we are preserving? That is why we are failing with education - I absolutely agree with you. And, in particular, with the education of people who are not of school age and not students - this is about media literacy.

T.T.: I absolutely agree about this, and about civic competencies. Quite often, young people used to be inactive during elections. I don't know what the trends will be now, it's hard to say. But civic competencies and the understanding that a lot depends on your tick in the box have not really been canceled. This is also, so to speak, the task of the media.

А. H.: As a writer, I always think about the audience of what I create and write. And this small question grew into a big one for me. I really ask myself this question every time in any discussion: "For whom and why are we doing this?" Because we will be talking about the return someday.

E.T.: Previously, Ukrainian human rights activists conducted a study of whom people trust the most when something unlawful and unjust happens. In general, trust in the media is falling, but if they need to call someone when their rights are violated, they call the media, not a lawyer, the police, or human rights activists.

А. H.: None of us can project a possible scenario for sure. Every war is different. On the one hand, it is the same, but it is always like an updated version. In this war, which is going on now, there seems to be nothing new for Ukrainians in terms of the fact that they want to destroy Ukrainians, but the previous experiences of often successful wars with Ukraine are precisely taken into account. Therefore, we can, of course, analyze, we can be saturated with the experiences of other countries that have gone through war and are already recovering from it.

T.T.: When you sit down in front of any audience, there is always an expectation that the person must know something so brilliant, and they will tell you... And sometimes you do your job and there is nothing to tell in the end. It's just your everyday work. And it can go off somewhere and turn out to be important for some people later, and you don't even expect it. And sometimes you just do what you think is right.

The main thing is that you have an understanding that you are not lying, that you fulfill everything you declare. And that you are trying to bring benefits, on the one hand, rational at the level of facts, and on the other hand, emotional. That is, these emotions should be those that help you live rather than simply deny this life, because it is already complicated.

Ігор Льов