Conference Reporting on a war: war in Ukraine: special session about the conflict and the role of public tv news correspondents

As soon as the Russian invasion of Ukraine took place, all sorts of media outlets from around the world prepared extraordinary coverage plans for the first European war in decades. Among them, public televisions have had a distinctive advantage compared to others. For a long time, they have maintained an extremely valuable network of news correspondents in many parts of the globe as well as international news desks with a public service perspective. They usually have a better knowledge of the country they report from, and they have the time and the resources to go beyond the breaking news, such as analysing the conflict’s causes and context. How do these facts play out in the coverage on the war in the Ukraine? What are the challenges for the press corps? Has their coverage been immune to disinformation and sensationalism? How do you deal with fact-checking, accuracy or political bias when you sit in a cellar under attack? What images can be shown – which must be shown? Which victims or witnesses do you
approach and interview? How do you decide – and where do you draw the line?

As speakers, we had Mykola Chernotytskyi (CEO at Suspilne, Ukrainian Public TV), Manel Alías (correspondent in Russia, Syria and Ukraine at Television of Catalonia), Raquel González (correspondent in Ukraine, Argelia and Saudi Arabia at Television of Spain), Antti Kuronen (correspondent in Ukraine, Syria and Middle East at Yle, Finland), Matilde Kimer (correspondent in Ukraine, Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia at DR, Denmark) and Alex Shprintsen (documentary producer, CBC Canada). And, as a moderator we had Sergi Vicente (director of Betevé, public TV of Barcelona, former correspondent in China at Television of Catalonia).