PR Army at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia

PR Army at the International Journalism Festival

16/04/2026 - Sala Brugnoli, Palazzo Cesaroni

Dmytro Raiskyi, Director of Strategic Communications at PR Army, took the stage at IJF26 — the International Journalism Festival in Perugia — as part of the panel "Cutting through the noise: using innovation to fight disinformation in conflicts," moderated by Meera Selva, CEO of Internews Europe. The session brought together practitioners from the DRC, Syria, and Ukraine to discuss innovation, fact-checking, human testimony, and the fight against propaganda in active war zones.

Moderator - Meera Selva, CEO Internews Europe

Speakers:
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🎙️ Dmytro Raiskyi – Director of Strategic Communications, PR Army
🎙️ Ahmad Primo – Founder and Executive Director, Verify Platform
🎙️ Ange Adihe Kasongo – Founder and Executive Director, Balobaki Check

The message from Ukraine was clear: strategic storytelling through trusted media still works. By centring real human testimony — deported children, civilian hostages, people the world needs to hear — PR Army has been able to cut through propaganda and translate journalism into concrete policy outcomes: sanctions, resolutions, legislative change.

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Across the panel, the tools differed — AI-powered verification systems, community radio, WhatsApp networks, media partnerships. But the underlying logic was the same: meet audiences where they are, speak in ways they trust, and never underestimate the power of a single human story. In an age of AI-generated content and unregulated platforms, that lesson has never been more urgent.

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PR Army thanks Meera Selva for moderating with clarity and purpose, Internews Europe for the platform, and fellow panellists Ange Kasongo of Balobaki Check and Ahmad Primo of Verify Platform for a conversation that mattered.

The information war doesn't pause. Neither do we.

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