How to Tell the Story of War: Technology vs. Human Fate

Third-year students of the International Communications program had the opportunity to look behind the scenes of modern international military journalism. We were visited by editors of two unique publications - Myroslava Tanska-Vikulova, managing editor of the American publication The Counteroffensive, and Zoryana Semenovich, managing editor of the American publication The Arsenal.

Although both media outlets cover events in Ukraine and the struggle for democracy, they do so from completely different, but complementary perspectives:

The Arsenal focuses on "action-oriented business reporting" in the field of defense technology and regulation in Ukraine and Europe. Their mission is to expand the capabilities of innovators who defend democracy. Students learned about working on complex topics: from the digitalization of the military and the use of artificial intelligence on the battlefield to the legal aspects of export control and financing of miltech startups in the EU. One of the cool tools of the publication is the “miltech rolodex”, which collects all publicly registered Ukrainian defense firms.

The Counteroffensive: The person in the spotlight.

Tim Mack, a former US Army medic and now a war correspondent in Kyiv, presented his project as an “open notebook” that publishes human-centered reports from the front lines. The publication’s mission is to illustrate, through human stories, what is really happening during the war in Ukraine and on other fronts of the fight for freedom. They write about everything: from the legal risks of foreign volunteers to how big politics (like the elections in Hungary or US sanctions) affect the lives of ordinary people.

Thank you to the speakers for an honest conversation about the mission and challenges of international communications and journalism during war!