Future Ukrainian journalists enhance media literacy skills with OSCE support

In today’s information environment, where disinformation, manipulation, and AI-generated content are increasingly used to influence public opinion, media literacy has become an essential skill for future journalists. Twenty-eight Ukrainian journalism students strengthened skills of identifying misleading or manipulative content during the seven-day training course “Think. Check. Media Without Illusions”, organized by the OSCE Secretariat Extra-budgetary Support Programme for Ukraine (SPU) from 22 to 28 June 2026.

The training programme combined theoretical sessions, practical exercises, interactive games, and discussions designed to strengthen participants’ fact-checking, information verification, and critical thinking skills. Participants worked with tools to identify disinformation narratives, analyze manipulations, verify sources, and assess content created or altered using artificial intelligence.

Sessions covered cognitive biases in the perception of information, disinformation techniques — from fake news to information operations, framing and manipulation, working with experts and sources, journalistic ethics, gender balance in journalism, the role of the media environment in national security, and the specific aspects of journalism during wartime.

“Under the current conditions, when more and more people possess skills in using information technologies, media literacy is gaining particular importance so that these skills serve the interests of society and information security, rather than becoming a tool for achieving goals that undermine society. In this sense, the OSCE Support Programme for Ukraine is doing indispensable work, because journalists are capable of passing these skills on to their audiences,” said Andrii Kulykov, Chair of the Commission on Journalistic Ethics and co-founder and host of Hromadske Radio.

The practical component included exercises on analyzing disinformation messages, collaborative content verification, simulated interview with sources deliberately providing misleading information, and discussions of ethical dilemmas that journalists face in their daily work.

“In a time when disinformation is becoming one of the key instruments of influence, media literacy is not merely a professional skill for journalists — it is a component of the democratic resilience of society. That is why we support the development of a new generation of journalists capable of working responsibly, verifying facts, resisting manipulation, and maintaining the trust of their audiences,” said Olga Prokopenko, Media Project Manager of the OSCE Support Programme for Ukraine.

The training was organized by the OSCE Secretariat’s Extra-budgetary Support Programme for Ukraine (SPU) with the participation of experts from the Educational and Scientific Institute of Journalism of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, the Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy, the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Freedom of Speech, the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting, the Commission on Journalism Ethics, and leading Ukrainian media outlets. The training is part of the project financed by the Organization’s participating States and Partners for Co-operation, see the full list of donors here.

Earlier, the OSCE SPU the Educational and Scientific Institute of Journalism of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, and the Filter Project developed the Media Literacy training manual to help future media professionals to master the skills of fact-checking, information verification, critical thinking, and better identify manipulations and misinformation.