In an era of hybrid threats and information warfare, strategic communication has become a fundamental pillar of national security. The Czech Republic and the European Union are pioneering responses to disinformation campaigns and foreign influence operations that threaten democratic institutions.

Eurobarometer surveys reveal the scale of the challenge: majorities across the EU express serious concern about distinguishing truth from falsehood online. When citizens cannot agree on basic facts, meaningful democratic dialogue becomes impossible.

The short but intensive September visit of Armenian journalists to Prague and Brussels was dedicated to European experience in strategic and crisis communication, the fight against ‘fake news,’ and Czech traditions in promoting European values. During the visit, they toured in a number of European institutions and had meetings with officials, partners, civil society representatives, experts, and European parliamentarians.

The Czech Model: Practical Innovation

The Czech Republic’s approach demonstrates how strategic communication can be embedded within government while maintaining public engagement. The Office of the Government’s European Affairs Communication Department operates with clear priorities: informing citizens about EU matters, articulating government positions, and conducting extensive outreach.

What distinguishes the Czech approach is creative execution. The “Masters of Evropa” national pub quiz transforms EU knowledge from abstract policy into accessible entertainment. A summer social media campaign explaining EU topics alphabetically – running daily throughout August – reached tens of thousands through collaboration between government offices and EU institutions.

The 20th anniversary of Czech EU membership in 2024 combined celebration with education. Career-focused initiatives, including a month-long campaign with billboards and targeted ads, cultivate the next generation of European professionals while strengthening Czech influence within EU institutions.

The Czech model employs integrated communication – the Tvorimevropu.cz website, social media, a dedicated hotline (Eurofon), and regional EuroCenters. This multi-platform approach recognizes that different populations access information through different channels – television and social media for the general public, roundtables for stakeholders, targeted briefings for journalists.

The European Parliament’s Battle against Disinformation

The European Parliament faces disinformation at institutional scale. When the EP passed a resolution on Russia in November 2022, it faced immediate DDoS attacks and a coordinated “Sledgehammer video” campaign featuring deceptively edited footage. Russian state media systematically misrepresented parliamentary documents.

The Parliament’s response framework uses the ABCDE analysis: Actors, Behaviour, Content, Degree, and Effect. This systematic approach identifies who creates disinformation, how it spreads, what narratives it promotes, its scale, and its impact.

Common disinformation techniques include playing on emotions, sowing division, flooding the information space, confirming existing beliefs, presenting information out of context, and silencing critical voices. Recognition of these patterns enables faster response.

The EP’s administration operates across multiple functions: monitoring, reporting, alerting, cooperation, training, awareness-raising, and crisis management. Resources are available in 24+ languages through initiatives like Together.eu, ensuring accessibility across linguistic boundaries.

EU Legislative Framework

Europe has built comprehensive legislation to counter disinformation while protecting fundamental rights:

Digital Services Act imposes transparency and accountability on online platforms, requires risk assessments and mitigation measures, mandates removal of illegal content, and demands algorithm documentation.

Political Advertising Regulation ensures campaign transparency around elections, requires labeling of political ads, bans micro-targeting based on personal data, and prohibits non-EU entities from sponsoring political actors.

Artificial Intelligence Act requires AI systems to respect fundamental rights, mandates labeling of AI-generated content, obligates testing for adversarial content, and requires cybersecurity testing.

Media Freedom Act protects editorial independence, bans spyware against media, ensures independent public service media, promotes media pluralism, requires transparent state advertising, and establishes the European Board for Media Services.

Anti-SLAPP legislation protects journalists from unfounded lawsuits through early dismissal provisions and cost recovery mechanisms.

The European Democracy Shield Committee, operating throughout 2025 with 33 members, assesses EU action against foreign interference, develops suggestions to close loopholes, and counters information campaigns from malign third countries.

Crisis Communication: The Ultimate Test

Strategic communication’s true measure comes during crises. When the European Parliament faced DDoS attacks and manipulated video campaigns, rapid response proved decisive. Crisis communication requires pre-established protocols, trained personnel, and activation within hours, not days.

The EP combines real-time monitoring, immediate fact-checking, and multi-channel responses. When manipulated images appear on Telegram or state media misrepresents documents, swift correction across multiple languages becomes essential. Yet speed must balance with accuracy –rushed responses containing errors undermine credibility more than delayed but precise corrections.

The Czech model emphasizes crisis readiness through integrated infrastructure. The Eurofon hotline and EuroCenters network provide distributed capacity to address citizen concerns during information crises. Building crisis capacity during peacetime – through regular exercises, media training, and journalist relationships – creates institutional muscle memory for effective response.

Five Priorities for the Future

First, invest in media literacy as fundamentally as traditional education. Citizens with critical thinking skills and digital literacy are the strongest defense against manipulation. Czech initiatives integrating EU knowledge into accessible formats – from pub quizzes to social media campaigns – show how education extends beyond formal schooling into public culture.

Second, ground communication in transparency and data. The Czech model’s emphasis on public opinion polling ensures messaging responds to actual citizen needs rather than bureaucratic assumptions. Citizens are rightfully skeptical of official messaging; transparency builds trust.

Third, balance agile crisis response with sustained capacity-building. Institutions must respond rapidly to evolving disinformation while maintaining long-term programs like EuroCenters and the National Convention on the EU that build relationships and capacity over time.

Fourth, articulate positive visions, not just counter falsehoods. Czech campaigns promoting EU careers, celebrating membership anniversaries, and explaining concrete benefits give citizens reasons to engage positively with European integration rather than merely defending against attacks.

Fifth, improve coordination between national and EU institutions. The collaborative social media campaign involving Czech government offices and EU representations shows how coordination amplifies reach while maintaining authenticity and local knowledge.

Conclusion

Strategic communication in the Czech Republic and European Union represents democratic resilience in action. Success requires balancing security with liberty, coordination with sovereignty, and proactive messaging with pluralism.

The Czech experience – combining institutional innovation with creative public engagement, data-driven strategy with grassroots activities, national identity with European commitment – offers a practical template. From pub quizzes to expert seminars, from social media campaigns to regional centers – the approach demonstrates that strategic communication succeeds when it respects citizens as active participants rather than passive recipients.

The European Parliament’s systematic response to disinformation – through legislative frameworks, analytical tools, and multi-lingual resources – shows how institutions can defend themselves while preserving democratic values.

As hybrid threats evolve and artificial intelligence transforms the information landscape, strategic communication will only grow in importance. The question is not whether democratic societies should engage in this domain, but how they can do so while remaining true to fundamental values. The Czech and European models suggest the answer lies in building systems sophisticated enough to pursue both security and openness simultaneously – strengthening democratic resilience rather than undermining it.

Davit Alaverdyan is Editor-in-Chief of Mediamax. 

The article was prepared within the project “Assisting independent media and CSOs in enhancing the access to reliable information on the European Union and EU enlargement on social media in Armenia”. The project is implemented by the Public Journalism Club in cooperation with EUROPEUM European Policy Institute funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic (Transformation Promotion Programme)․