President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that during a meeting with representatives of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) during his recent visit to the United Kingdom, the problem of disinformation and fake news was discussed, and advised the internal media to carefully check the information they release.
“We had a meeting in the MI6 office. Unfortunately, I cannot say all the information. As these are state affairs. I read the news about the composition of this meeting. Firstly, there was a different composition at this meeting,” he said, answering journalists’ questions during a working trip to Odesa region on Oct. 13.
The president said that the issue that, according to some Ukrainian media, was allegedly raised at this meeting, in fact, was not considered at all.
“Of the whole volume of issues from our long two-hour meeting, most were information about helping and protecting our sovereignty and territorial integrity. I cannot spread the details,” Zelensky said.
The president said that one of the subjects discussed at the meeting related to countering disinformation and fake news.
“They just said that we have a big problem with the fact that the media are financed not only by Ukrainians. In Ukraine, unfortunately, many of the television channels that we know are funded by various groups,” the head of state said.
Zelensky said that the issues of protecting freedom and protecting information are very important for the security of the state, therefore, the creation of independent media is relevant.
The president hopes that journalists will preserve their authority and, regardless of who owns a particular media outlet, check the information.
“It seems to me that the main content of this profession is to verify the information and freely release it. This is correct. As for independent media, I am sure that we have many independent journalists. We will always support their freedom,” he said.
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