Petro Burkovskyi

GRANTEE

Documenting Ukraine Grants

“A Thousand and One Hours”: A Non-Fiction Tale of How Ukrainians Fought Russian Propaganda in the Arab World

This project is aimed at recording a unique live experience of tackling Russian propaganda on the Al Jazeera Arabic TV Channel, the biggest TV channel in the MENA region. For more than four months, two DIF experts were providing the Arabic audience with Ukrainian insights into the continuing Russian aggression. Mariia Zolkina and Petro Burkovskyi are going relate the kinds of challenges they faced on air and behind the scenes, explain how they exposed Russian propaganda on air, and describe the biases and prejudices that informed broadcasting and reporting about the war in the non-Western informational space. Producing news and analytics for the Arabic-speaking audience differs significantly from most “traditional” forms of cooperation with the Western media. The authors’ summary and recommendations based on their respective personal experience will contribute to tackling Russian propaganda and strengthening the position of Ukraine and its partners.