Oleksandr Korniienko: The state's task is to protect children and young people from russian influence in the media and to support the development of Ukrainian content
04 September 2025, 14:35
First Deputy Speaker Oleksandr Korniienko took part in the conference ‘Honest Media: How to Preserve Democracy in the Digital World.’
The conference discussed current challenges for the media: the role of artificial intelligence and BigTech in news and regulation, ethical standards for the use of AI, audience trust in social media, and the future of media literacy and youth engagement. Participants shared their vision of how public broadcasting and Ukrainian media can remain influential, compete for the attention of young audiences, counter russian content, and maintain contact with Ukrainian youth abroad.
According to Oleksandr Korniienko, media literacy among Ukrainian children should be based not only on the ability to critically perceive information, but also on the suppression of russian content and the creation of high-quality Ukrainian alternatives. This means not only blocking propaganda materials for adults, but also content aimed at children, in particular entertainment channels and lifestyle products from the aggressor country.
At the same time, according to the First Deputy Speaker, it is necessary to develop our own Ukrainian content for children and teenagers — educational, informative and cultural — that will shape national and patriotic values and tell about Ukrainian history and heroes in a form that is understandable to a younger audience. Public broadcasting should play an important role in this process, performing a broader educational and enlightening function.
In his opinion, a separate area of focus should be the creation of high-quality educational complexes and alternatives to school programmes, as well as the development of modern media products, in particular series for teenage audiences. At the same time, it is important to maintain contact with Ukrainian children living abroad so that they remain within the domestic information space.
He expressed the opinion that the state should support Ukrainian digital products for children by allocating funding for their promotion so that they can compete with Netflix and YouTube. He also proposed developing Ukrainian scientific blogging as an alternative to russian blogging, which currently fills this niche.
At the same time, the First Deputy Speaker emphasised that working with parents is no less important, as they are the ones who shape their children's media environment, and therefore responsibility for this area is a shared task and a major challenge for society.
"This is not just about protection from russian influence. Our task is to preserve the Ukrainian identity of children, especially those who are currently abroad. This requires content adapted to their realities, modern and universal formats that help maintain contact with Ukrainian culture and society," emphasised Oleksandr Korniienko, noting that the Verkhovna Rada already has an initiative to appeal to the National Security and Defence Council to block russian children's channels in the Ukrainian media space.
