Every third Russian (33%) trusts information and opinion of friends and relatives rather than mass media. There were 24% of such respondents three years ago. However, the majority (53%) still trust mass media, rather than word-of-mouth communication.
MOSCOW, January 25, 2011. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data describing what source of information is regarded to be reliable among Russians.
Russians increasingly trust the information received from the people around, rather than that provided by mass media. As before, Russians tend to trust information given by mass media rather than what people around say (53% versus 33% respectively). At the same time, the share of those who think the information received from relatives and colleagues is reliable is increasing year by year (from 24% in 2008 to 33% currently).
Rural area respondents trust mass media, unlike metropolitan residents who trust people around. Asked what source of information is reliable, metropolitan area residents and the rest of respondents split on their opinions: Muscovites and St.Petersburgians tend to trust the data received from relatives and friends (45%), at the same time, the rest of respondents believe the data provided by mass media is more reliable (52-57%).
Mass media is a reliable source of information according to women 55%), 18-24-year-old Russians (56%), those with low level of education (59%), and those who do not use Internet (56%). Information received from relatives and friends is regarded to be reliable among 45-59-year-old Russians (35%) and those who use Internet (35%).
The higher the financial self-assessment of Russians is, the more they trust what mass media say (from 43% among those with low level of income to 65% among those with high level of income). On the contrary, the lower the level of income is, the more people tend to believe what people around say (from 28 to 40% respectively).
The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted on 8-9 January, 2010. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 138 sampling points in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of errordoes not exceed 3.4%.
What source of information do you trust more? (close-ended question, one answer) | |||
| 2008 | 2009 | 2011 |
Information provided by mass media | 49 | 52 | 53 |
Information received from friends, colleagues, relatives | 24 | 26 | 33 |
Hard to tell | 27 | 21 | 14 |
What source of information do you trust more? (close-ended question, one answer) | ||||||
| Total respondents | Moscow and St.Petersburg | More than 500thousand | 100 - 500 thousand | Less than 100thousand | Rural area |
Information provided by mass media | 53 | 34 | 52 | 54 | 57 | 56 |
Information received from friends, colleagues, relatives | 33 | 45 | 35 | 30 | 31 | 32 |
Hard to tell | 14 | 21 | 13 | 16 | 12 | 12 |
What source of information do you trust more? (close-ended question, one answer) | ||||||
| Total respondents | Age | ||||
18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 and above | ||
Information provided by mass media | 53 | 56 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 50 |
Information received from friends, colleagues, relatives | 33 | 31 | 33 | 32 | 35 | 33 |
Hard to tell | 14 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 11 | 17 |
What source of information do you trust more? (close-ended question, one answer) | ||||
| Total respondents | Do you use Internet? If yes, how often? | ||
Almost every day, several times per week | Several times per month, from time to time | I do not use Internet | ||
Information provided by mass media | 53 | 50 | 51 | 56 |
Information received from friends, colleagues, relatives | 33 | 35 | 35 | 31 |
Hard to tell | 14 | 15 | 13 | 13 |
What source of information do you trust more? (close-ended question, one answer) | ||||
| Total respondents | Financial self-assessment | ||
Very good, good | Average | Very bad, bad | ||
Information provided by mass media | 53 | 65 | 54 | 43 |
Information received from friends, colleagues, relatives | 33 | 28 | 32 | 40 |
Hard to tell | 14 | 7 | 14 | 17 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!