Strategic Communications Centre deletes "One news story — one strike" video from social media

The Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security has deleted the video blaming journalists for Russian shelling strikes from its social media platforms, the Centre's head Ihor Solovey reported to the Institute of Mass Information.

He explained that the Centre's tasks include making the state's "voice" in society stronger by conveying certain messages through the media. The release of this fifth video within the "Information Security" project, which discussed the importance of observing security rules when covering the work of defense enterprises, served this purpose as well.

Screenshot from the video by the IMI

“But since the demand from the organizations involved has disappeared due to the media response and the video has been removed from their pages, there is no point in keeping it on the Centre’s resources, either,” said Solovey.

He assured that the Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security has been and will continue to be a “bridge” between the state and society, advocating the interests of the latter.

Earlier, the video “One news story – One Strike” was taken down from the social media pages of the UAF General Staff, the UAF Communications HQ, and the Ministry of Defense.

Previously

Earlier, several state institutions released an animated video produced by the Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security, which implies that journalists are to blame for Russian shelling strikes.

The video features the motto “One news story – one strike.” In shows a reporter in front of a drone manufacturing facility, openly talking about it on camera and saying, “Hundreds of drones are produced here monthly.” An employee of the factory also says on camera that the company has doubled its capacity and that the new batch will soon be shipped off to the frontline. The video cuts to Russian intelligence officers who watched the news story and sent the coordinates of the facility to their general staff in preparation for the next strike.

Then, a missile hits the building and a fire truck drives by. Another reporter in the frame, standing next to the destroyed building, says that there was a “ballistic strike, hospitals are overloaded.” The journalist is shown without a bulletproof vest or a helmet and is reporting supposedly live from the site.

Ihor Solovey, the head of the Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security, said in a comment to IMI representative Valentyna Troyan that the Center had produced this video jointly with the Ukrainian Armed Forces. When asked whether the authors of the video or people who commissioned it think that the video misrepresents the work of the media in covering the activities of the defense sector and reporting from shelling sites, Ihor Solovey emphasized that they do not.

He says the video is exclusively educational and aims to draw the attention of all citizens, including service members, to the issue of information security in wartime.

The General Staff later announced that the video would be revised.