To Be or Not to Be: The United News Marathon as a Source of Information and Object of Criticism during the War in Ukraine

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the phenomenon known as the United Television Marathon (Telethon), which was launched after the beginning of the 2022 full scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine. Ukraine’s leading nationwide TV channels joined together to inform citizens about events in the country—24/7—around the clock. However, despite the apparent advantages of such a phenomenon, the United Telethon has also been a subject of criticism due to non compliance with journalistic standards and engagement. In our article, we analyzed the content of the telethon during the most significant events that took place in the Autumn of 2022. For the study, we chose separate slots for all the Ukrainian TV channels involved in the production of the television marathon. The subject of the study concerned the approaches to inviting guests to the audio visual recording studios of the channels, the indicators (in percentage ratio) regarding specific categories of guests, the tendency of invitations to the guest studios of speakers from political parties, state organizations, and independent experts. The next stage was the analysis of the uniqueness and importance of the information broadcast on the telethon air. To find out how often Ukrainian media refer to information from the telethon as a primary source, we conducted a content analysis of Ukrainian online media regarding the sources of information they refer to in their materials.