The Media Context of Ukrainian Revolutions as a Key to Understanding the Post-Soviet World

In his presentation, Serhiy Kvit will talk about the Ukrainian revolutions of the late 20th-early 21st centuries in the context of the interaction between the national and global levels of mass communications. How can we understand the post-Soviet world, and why does an independent state (national-level) retain its special significance for freedom of speech and independent media in the global age? He will also address the urgent issues of contemporary media, such as post-truth, fake news and fake media reality and their role in the misinformation of an increasingly networked society.

Serhiy Kvit is a prominent expert on educational issues and a professor at the Kyiv-Mohyla School of Journalism. He received his PhD in philology from the Ukrainian Free University in Munich. In 2002-07 he was Dean of the university’s social studies faculty in Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. In 2001, he founded the Kyiv-Mohyla School of Journalism and became president of the Media Reform Centre, set up to initiate open debate and promote transparent media and government in Ukraine. In 2005-2011, he served as a Chairman of the Consortium of University Autonomy. From 2007 to 2014, he served as the Rector (President) of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. After the Euromaidan revolution, he occupied the position of the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine in 2014-2016 when the progressive Law on Higher Education was adopted. He subsequently held a Fulbright scholarship at Ohio University, US, a Kennan Institute scholarship at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre in Washington DC and a DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) scholarship at the University of Cologne. Currently Serhiy Kvit is a Fulbright scholar at Stanford University. His research interests include educational and media reforms, mass communications, and philosophical hermeneutics; he has published several books and numerous articles.