What is the situation in communicating messages on Ukraine, who is the voice of Ukraine and other important issues, AUK students on Global Management Master’s program had an opportunity to discover with Myroslava Gongadze, Eastern Europe Chief, Voice of America, as a part of online meetings with prominent guests.
Describing the key issues around russia in communications, the information warfare, Myroslava Gongadze outlined:
“I think the hardest is that for years and decades, there was an image of russia as a great state, the only country in that part of the world who we have to deal with, they have a sphere of influence and we have to make peace with russia because russia is the mighty power and we have to be afraid of it. But the West also played a role there as well, because they didn't learn about other countries of the former Soviet Union and they didn't really wanted to take time to learn. So it's actually not only Russia to blame for this kind of misconception and misunderstanding.”
Another important point that Myroslava Gongadze stressed is that:
“America, like the whole world, went down the wrong way with its knowledge of Ukraine. Unfortunately, there are a lot of russian academics actually in good schools like Harvard, Columbia. That's a challenge for the Ukrainian academics to push it away and increase their presence, and also a challenge for young Ukrainians who are in US schools right now - to become Ukrainian voices in the West since there are not enough such voices in the world right now”.
We are highly thankful to Myroslava Gongadze for her genuine discussion with AUK students, as well as to Mark Voyger, the Director of the MSc in Global Management program for organizing and moderating this meeting.
Dnipro
