Strategical orientators of the information policy of Ukraine in the conditions of external aggression

Abstract

National security is not just about the army and professional intelligence services. This is the quality of human capital and the maturity of civil society. Its stability, effi ciency, and cohesion. This is the number of bearers of critical thinking, which allows to identify dangers and counteract provocations. First of all, we are talking about authoritarian regimes, such as China and Russia, which systematically spend huge sums of money to destabilize the free world. On the other hand, misconceptions about the world governance system, World War II, one’s own history, the war in Donbas, the Holodomor, the Holocaust, or the coronavirus infection always work in the interests of those who seek to subdue and manipulate people. An eff ective mechanism for information expansion is indulgence in the crowd’s low instincts to channel the crowd’s negative energy in the right direction. One of the most powerful engines of Putin’s propaganda, hatred, has been used against Ukraine. The current Russian propaganda, which replaces diplomacy, «destroys souls» worse than the Soviet one, which, although visually more visible, did not penetrate so deeply into human consciousness. Psychologists point out that the greatest danger of misconceptions lies in people’s sometimes overly sincere belief in their own illusions. They are tightly closed from counter-arguments, are hostile to those with a diff erent vision, and turn into those «useful idiots» who are the easiest to manipulate. People with a mythological consciousness live in a world of simplifi ed reality, where mysticism defeats science, Facebook – competent scientists, and archaism – rational thinking. They are the most prone to conspiracy theories. The bearers of mythological consciousness stubbornly spread messages about the omnipotence of some and the helplessness of others: this corresponds to their picture of the world. Information security of the state is inextricably linked with the introduction of relevant ideology, culture, values, the formation of public consciousness, where the key role is given to the media, and more precisely to information technology. The latter should be part of public policy to protect all categories of citizens from the negative impact of the digital virtual environment, and above all, children. Media literacy and digital hygiene should become compulsory subjects of the school curriculum (at the level of computer science, programming basics, and classes designed to socialize future voters, taxpayers, responsible citizens); the topic of television and radio programs; the subject of discussion in the columns of the print media; screenplay for documentaries and feature fi lms; reports of public fi gures and government offi cials. Key words: information policy, information security, civic culture, consolidation of society.