After the conclusion of the Lviv Media Forum, a delegation from Radio Taiwan International (Rti) toured Ukraine’s national public broadcaster Suspilne alongside other media officials in Lviv, Ukraine. The visit provided firsthand insights into how Ukraine maintains nationwide news broadcasting and public information services amid missile threats and information warfare.

Suspilne was established in 2017 as the country’s first integrated TV, radio, and local media public broadcaster. After Russia’s invasion in 2022, Suspilne became a key media hub for the public, combating disinformation and connecting with the international community.

Suspilne Senior Executive Mariya Frey showed the delegation around the station. She said that, as the country fell deeper into a state of war, many media workers from other outlets, which were rendered inoperable, volunteered to join Suspilne to continue their duties. This has resulted in a station packed with workers from around the country.

To deal with the changing pace of information, the broadcasting center was rapidly upgraded to ensure uninterrupted information flow, such as in the case of television interference. 

The heart of this broadcasting system is Suspilne’s wartime broadcast control/dispatch center. Engineering teams monitor national signals and broadcast statuses 24/7 with the singular goal of maintaining uninterrupted broadcasting during the war. The biggest challenge, staff noted, is the need to instantly grasp emergency details – such as missile strike locations, signal interruptions, or frontline changes. Engineering teams often need to complete and reorganize signal switching and live broadcast scheduling in a very short period of time.

The Rti delegation noted the way in which, even in the ancient city of Lviv, public media remains a necessary piece of Ukraine’s past and present. With the revelation that Rti currently offers Ukrainian-language broadcasting, both sides exchanged ideas on future cooperation, program exchanges, and experience sharing as vital organs of a country’s public infrastructure.