Study: Hate speech is used in 82% of publications about UOC

Channel 5 correspondent. Photo: screenshot from the Channel 5 YouTube channel

More than 82% of publications about the UOC in the Ukrainian media have signs of hate speech and violations of journalistic standards. Analysts of the Institute of Mass Information came to such conclusions after monitoring the country's largest online publications.

The IMI noted that the monitoring was done from April 1 to April 5, 2023, as the main agenda of the Ukrainian media was focused around the UOC and the situation in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

Analysts checked 548 news items in the publications of UE, Censor, RBC-Ukraine, TSN, Channel 24, Correspondent, NV, Focus, UNIAN, Gordon, Glavcom, Obozrevatel, Espresso, Telegraph and Liga.

According to experts, only 5 out of 15 editorial offices "adhered to the code of journalistic ethics and standards, covering sensitive information about the UOC." Among them are Gordon, Correspondent, Liga, Ukrainska Pravda, Censor.

According to the study, the Ukrainian media "resorted to condemning and emotionally loaded headlines in relation not only to the leaders, but also to the believers of the UOC."

Analysts also noted that most of the UOC-related materials published concerned Metropolitan Pavel, the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra: “In the materials about Metropolitan Pavel, journalists also resorted to emotive terms, hate speech, and in some places to manipulation.”

As the UOJ reported, American journalists called the persecution of the UOC "genuinely shameful."

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