Overcoming the challenges of post-truth in modern socio-cultural communication

It is important to note that the post truth as a phenomenon is not only a political or Journalistic but also an educational challenge. Far too often it is schools or universities that have to provide citizens with critical thinking skills. Post-truth ia a special challenge for Journalism teachers. Today, for a graduate Journalist, it is not only the level of professional training that is critical, but also the level of civic participation and the ability to defend democratic values. In the context of the Ukrainian-Russian information warfare, Ukrainian Journalists have very often been and still are unable to distinguish between fakes, spreading openly pro-Russian messages uttered by Ukrainian politicians. Under these conditions, there arises the question of whether universities are ready to train fundamentally new, high-quality professional Journalists and students who are ready to defend professional standards and national interests, as well as search for the truth in this era of post-truth.

In the current climate, educators should not only provide knowledge, «[t]here is also a need for second-order elucidation that - over and above transmission and mediation of contents - also provides information about their origin, how they came to be, and that advertises the rationality at work in content selection» [17]. Basically, the point is that any higher education, not only that in Journalism, should develop critical thinking among students, and for this purpose it should not only be «Job training», but also «a broader critical citizenship agenda for participatory democracy» [27].

The university should be a «practice of freedom» [12, p. 206] that teaches students how to be responsible citizens, bridges the gap between learning and practice, and expands democratic rights and identities. Modern pedagogics should be a means of teaching students to ask questions, including those about the causes of war, inequality, state supervision of citizens [12, p. 211].

At that, Stearns [31]) notes that interdisciplinarity is critical for achieving the main goals of higher education in today's volatile world, as it is the only approach that allows «adequately to introduce students to what's happening in the world around them, the world in which they will shape their lives in future» (p. 16). Since the modern world is becoming more and more complicated and connected, a return to a broad education in the humanities, which is able to provide an understanding of historical patterns, global processes and social contexts, may become an option of protection from post-truth. And in this case, the main question is whether the universities are really capable of meeting all these requirements and Justifying the hopes as hubs of rationality in the irrational world of post-truth.

Although studies [10] show that university professors can significantly influence students' perceptions, particularly those of pseudoscientific statements, in order to promote critical thinking, the role of universities in the post-truth era remains unclear - whether they are the cause of the issue of post-truth or whether they help solve it [18, p. 122]. These concerns are especially relevant for Ukraine, because the local education system is still largely post-Soviet, dominated by the didactic approach, which «does not stimulate initiative and scientific creativity. Here prevails the teacher's monologue, rather than a discussion format; the self-sufficient nature of the lectures; forms of assessment that do not stimulate the student's work during the semester» [8, p. 17]. Ukrainian universities are sometimes clearly unable to produce students who can adapt to the world of post-truth. Because of the powerful information confrontation with the Russian Federation, this problem is particularly acute in Journalism education, as poor quality training of Journalism students can lead to significant consequences, even those for national security and defence capability. Whether it is possible to rely on the fact that students will be able to acquire underdeveloped skills through shortterm trainings, seminars, and summer schools is still an ambiguous question (due to the already mentioned need for systemic education in the humanities).

The most productive post-truth response strategy is to restore trust in public institutions [15] and to involve as many information consumers as possible in counteracting fakes, misinformation based on ethics, pro-truth pledge [32]. Speaking specifically about Journalism education, we finally have to start not from the end today. Today, we are trying to respond to the post truth challenges by giving the students specific knowledge and tools.

Conclusions and prospects

The urgent issue seems that the students of Ukrainian universities do not have a clear understanding of truth and its distinguishing criteria. The Ukrainian Journalist community and educators put hopes on fact-checking in the context of not only post-truth, but also information confrontation with Russia. To protect the society interests, the resources and organisations specialising in fact-checking, both in the format of individual projects and in the editorial staff of news media, are widely used. One of the main directions of Ukrainian fact-checking is to verify false, fake information regardless of its source and form [26, p. 44]. In the country, we have the same situation described by Bhaskaran, Mishra, & Nair [5] for India - an average Journalism student can get up-to-date knowledge of verification, counteracting false information mainly by participating in training programs, internships.

In the situation of information warfare, it is important for students (and wider audience) to distinguishing truth / manipulation / false in the rhetoric of national and local politicians. This will reveal whether geographical proximity and involvement in community life are a safety device to prevent misinterpretation of political rhetoric. These results can be used by the educators to adjust the ways we are talking to students today about the politics and challenges of the post-truth era. It is also important to involve experts and industry professionals in discussing and finding ways to improve Journalism education After all, the post-truth is a complicated and complex phenomenon and we need system solutions, involving as many stakeholders as possible.

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