The Donbas Media Forum 2023 will take place in Kyiv on November 10-11. This two-day conference is dedicated to exploring the transformations experienced by the Ukrainian media community due to the full-scale invasion. The forum will be held in an offline format with online broadcasting of the main panels.

The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy is a co-organizer of the event, and its representatives will participate in various discussions.

"One of the priorities of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine is to ensure freedom of expression, access to public information, and creating favorable conditions for the professional activities of journalists. The Donbas Media Forum has become an integral platform where representatives of local, regional, and national media can exchange experience, interact with government representatives to further support their effective work for the benefit of Ukraine, especially in these challenging times," says Taras Shevchenko, Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine for European Integration.

DMF serves as a platform for safe professional discussion among media professionals from the East and other regions of Ukraine. This year, the Forum extends beyond the Donbas region, adapting to the new wartime realities, as does the entire Ukrainian society.

"Over the past one and a half years of full-scale invasion, both society and the media have transformed, both physically and geographically. Many journalists have been forced to leave, and some have joined the ranks of the Armed Forces. All of this affects internal processes, management, and audience communication, which is also in constant flux: the population of the East and South is leaving, assimilating in other cities, and regional media communities cease to exist as cohesive units. Therefore, an open dialogue between government and media representatives on the peculiarities of Ukrainian information policy is highly relevant today. We are forced to find ways for the survival of local media and effective information dissemination to the population," comments the Chair of the DII-Ukraine NGO (organizers of DMF), Lyubov Rakovitsya.

The organizers have also announced the Donbas Media Forum: Global, a two-day conference that will take place in Warsaw for the first time on November 27-28. Journalists and media experts from the southern and eastern regions are invited to participate.

About DII-Ukraine: DII-Ukraine (formerly Donetsk Institute of Information) is the organizer of the annual Donbas Media Forum. The organization works on information reintegration, countering information aggression, and developing an independent media environment in Ukraine.