International Journalism in the Time of Full-Scale War: New Challenges

Abstract

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the transformation of international journalism in the context of Russia's full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine. The research aims to identify the key challenges faced by foreign and domestic media professionals and to explore the adaptive mechanisms of professional activity under hybrid and conventional threats.

 The methodological basis of the study is a combination of general scientific and specialized methods. Content analysis was applied to monitor the coverage of leading global media outlets to identify trends in war reporting. The comparative analysis method allowed for contrasting the experience of covering past conflicts with the realities of modern high-tech warfare. Furthermore, expert interviews with fixers and war reporters were conducted to clarify the practical aspects of safety and ethics.

Special attention is paid to the phenomenon of participatory journalism, where the line between an objective observer and an active subject of information resistance becomes blurred. The role of fixers as crucial links in international communication and the issues regarding their legal protection are also analyzed.

 It is proven that the full-scale war in Ukraine has become a catalyst for revising the ethical standards of journalism. The traditional concept of "balance of opinions" in the context of reporting on acts of genocide and war crimes is recognized as obsolete and dangerous. The author concludes that for high-quality journalism to survive, it is necessary to implement new data verification standards (OSINT), enhance the psychological rehabilitation of personnel, and establish the international institutionalization of protection for journalists working in high-intensity combat zones.