Abstract:

The paper presents research aimed at establishing the opinion about journalists and journalism in the country covered by the so-called hybrid war waged with the Russian Federation after the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. An important element of the conflict is the use of disinformation. Such activities are also disseminated through the mass media and the social media. Hence, an important research goal was to establish the respondents' views on the scope and nature of fake news, as well as the impact of their distribution on the working conditions of journalists and the social perception of the profession.

The study was conducted with the use of survey method in the town of Sumy, located in eastern Ukraine near the border with Russia, several days before the introduction of restrictions related to reducing the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in March 2020.

The main results prove that the practice of distributing fake news in Ukraine is widespread, there is a low social prestige of the profession of journalist and therefore there is a need to introduce restrictions on access to the profession.