🧠 Are we always aware of how our opinions are formed? Who influences what we consider reliable? And how often are we "led" without even noticing it? On 11-12 March 2025, Lviv was looking for answers to these questions at the two-day training "STOPmanipulator" organised by the Academy of Ukrainian Press with the support of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom in Ukraine.
📍 The participants were student journalists - those who work with information or simply do not want to become its victim.
🔍 What were they talking about?
💬 Valeriy Ivanov, President of the Academy of Ukrainian Press: ‘The most effective manipulation is the one masked as truth. And we do not notice how we start thinking for someone. Learning to see it is a way to regain control".
🎲 There was a lot of practice during the two days:
📌 The participants took on the role of "directors" - they learnt not only to identify fake news, but also to understand why it was launched, how it works, and why it worked on you.
💬 Yulia Kulyk, AUP Project Coordinator: "An information attack is not always obvious. It can be gentle. Through words, intonation, emotion. And these are the signals we need to learn to read".
💬 Maksym Zaporozhenko, media education manager at AUP: "STOPmanipulator is not about how to "think right". It is about the ability to stop and ask yourself the main question: "Are these really my thoughts or have they been planted in me?"".
🛡 It was really intense in Lviv: content, conversations, humour and understanding. Participants left the training not with instructions on how to live in the information world, but with tools to live consciously.
🎯 STOPmanipulator is not just about media. It's about the power of being independent. Even when the world around you is screaming: "Believe! Act! Spread it!"
Gefördert durсh die Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Supported by the Federal Republic of Germany
