“Public media is not a political question, but a public one,” said Mariya Frey of Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne. The hall around her—at Lviv Media Forum, Ukraine’s largest annual media industry gathering—was packed with international journalists, civil society leaders, and media professionals.
The panel, on 15 May 2026, was titled “From Informating to Sensemaking: How Public Media Guide Societies in the Eye of the Storm.”
On stage with her: a Taiwanese broadcaster and a Georgian media-freedom advocate, fielding questions from moderator Christian-Zsolt Varga, a German-Hungarian journalist covering Ukraine, Hungary, and Eastern Europe.
The panel, on 15 May 2026, was titled “From Informating to Sensemaking: How Public Media Guide Societies in the Eye of the Storm.” Varga asked the questions; panelists answered.
Ukraine: a public broadcaster, not a state one
In Ukraine, Frey said, the demand for independent public media has carried weight since 1989, when Ukrainians watched Western public broadcasting and asked why they did not have the same. It existed long before Suspilne took its current shape.
Creating Suspilne was both a major step and a frightening one, she said—people expected miracles, a broadcaster that would be independent, trusted, national, local, accountable, modern, and effective all at once. The political problem, Frey said, is that politicians keep misunderstanding what Suspilne actually is.
Suspilne is not one channel: it is a network of local and nationwide outlets, radio stations, and platforms.
They imagine it as “number one”—a single powerful channel that can be controlled or influenced—and try to meddle accordingly. But Suspilne is not one channel: it is a network of local and nationwide outlets, radio stations, and platforms. That makes it harder to capture, and harder to explain.
Frey acknowledged Suspilne carries a lot of bureaucracy. With large amounts of public money involved, precision is not optional; procedural mistakes can carry severe legal consequences. Civil society, she said, remains Suspilne’s main partner, and that partnership deepened after Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Taiwan: Russia hits the island too
Chris Liu of Radio Taiwan International said Taiwan is targeted not only by Chinese disinformation operations, but by Russia as well. That is why, he said, Taiwan understands Ukraine. Foreign information attacks no longer travel on separate fronts; they increasingly reinforce one another.
Georgia: independent as a crime
Tamar Kintsurashvili of the Media Development Foundation said Georgia is experiencing democratic backsliding, and the public broadcaster is not insulated from it. Independent media now operates in a narrow space, and Russian and domestic interference are increasingly difficult to tell apart.
Attempts to influence public affairs are treated as crimes.
Georgian independent media was never fully self-sufficient. There was always more media than the small market could support, which made outside support necessary. Now that lifeline is being severed.
Western funding and cooperation with donors are being criminalized. Attempts to influence public affairs are treated as crimes. Georgian independent media, Kintsurashvili said, is “in survival mode.”
“We remain,” she added. Legal fights are still possible, including challenges at the European Court of Human Rights.
European Broadcasting Union has been hesitant to take steps against its own member organization.
She also pointed to an institutional contradiction. The Georgian Public Broadcaster remains under government control, yet still sits inside the European Broadcasting Union as a full member—and EBU has been hesitant to take steps against its own member organization. GPB has been an EBU member since 2005.
Varga, briefly stepping out of his moderator role, answered her directly. When it comes to the EBU and other membership-based organizations, he said, “you can only trust yourself.” Credibility, for public-interest media, cannot be outsourced.
Hungary: future unclear
Toward the end of the panel, Varga turned to his own region. Hungary’s public broadcaster has long been captured by politics, he said. Its future remains unclear, yet without a hope.
