Media Dialogue

The Media Dialogue project was launched in Ukraine in 2015, supported by Youth4Media/Bennohaus Münster, the first German citizen channel OK-TV Ludwigshafen and the Federal Association of Citizen Media in Germany as well as the Association of Independent Ukrainian Journalists (Lutsk) and the Institute of Journalism (Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv). The project has been supported by the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany since its inception. The aim of the Media Dialogue is to support civil society structures as an integral part of democratic and pluralistic societies in the countries of the “Eastern Partnership” currently participating in the project: Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia and Moldova. In the development of democratic societies, freedom of expression and information in conjunction with an independent media system, which should include community media, is of particular importance. Media freedom is threatened not only by economic and political dependencies, but also by attempts to manipulate public opinion through fake news, propaganda and hate speech, especially with regard to social media platforms. Military conflicts, such as the war in eastern Ukraine, the frozen but recurrent conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the occupation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia with the support of the Russian Federation, and the Transnistria conflict in Moldova also pave the way for disinformation, propaganda and fake news. Russian propaganda in particular often plays a role in aggravating the conflict. In this context, the Media Dialogue project aims to work together with professional journalists, academics, artists, and students as future actors in media to help stabilise and strengthen democracy in their respective countries. One guiding principle in doing so is: “Don't feed the flame - tell the truth”.