Media representatives from Slovakia agreed on cooperation with the journalism department
On April 22, media representatives from Slovakia visited the Department of Journalism at UzhNU: journalist and volunteer at Korzár Prešov Michal Frank and PR specialist and founder of the NATO website Adam Parísek. The purpose of their visit was to talk to students and teachers and establish cooperation, in particular to involve young people in writing articles about Ukraine for Slovak media. They were accompanied and translated by volunteer Yulia Zhylenko.
During the full-scale war, Michal Frank regularly publishes articles about Ukrainian military personnel, volunteers, and life in the frontline regions, where he travels on humanitarian missions. He admits that Slovaks are interested in the topic of war, but there is not enough objective news about our country, and there is a need to increase the amount of content, including about Transcarpathia as a border region. Unfortunately, Russian propaganda has a noticeable influence in Slovakia. As for business models in the media market, about 30% of publications are pro-government, while others, such as Korzár Prešov, operate thanks to audience support and advertising.
Michal believes that more objective information about Ukraine should be disseminated in Slovakia, as well as about Slovakia in Ukraine, because in our country there is also a lack of understanding and stereotypical perceptions of our neighbor through the prism of its politicians’ actions.
The media professional suggested that students look for relevant topics and contribute to the Slovak media outlet Korzár Prešov. Incidentally, the meeting was also attended by Oleksiy Shafranosh, a lecturer and co-founder of the publication PravdaЄ, and Ivan Logay, a journalist for the same media outlet.
Adam Parísek, founder of a website about NATO, works to improve the Alliance’s image, as there is a lack of understanding of its goals and security priorities in Slovakia. Among other things, he noted that Slovaks do not fully realize the dangers to Europe associated with the war, which is reflected in the country’s election results.
Most of the meeting took the form of a question-and-answer session. Students and teachers asked the media representatives about the specifics of working on materials about Ukraine, Michal’s volunteer and journalistic activities, the functioning of the Slovak media, investigative journalism, the influence of Russian propaganda, and so on.
At the end, they discussed opportunities for cooperation in the educational process and internships for students of the International Journalism program. This is an important step that promotes new opportunities in the field of journalism.
Marina Shekmar, student of the International Journalism program