Television is still the main and the most well-established source of information but new media (particularly Internet) are rather perspective.

MOSCOW, January 13, 2017. Russian Public Opining research Center (VCIOM) presents the results of a survey devoted to the attitudes of Russians towards mass media described in five basic trends.№ 1. “Television VS Internet: fighting for the audience”. The majority of Russians still get news from television, however its popularity is declining (62% in 2015; 57% in 2016). At the same time, the Internet (including information website, social media and blogging) is used as a source of news by 27% of all the respondents (in 2015 – 22%). Presumably, this number will keep increasing as today the World Wide Web is the main source of news for 62% of the 18-24-year-old and 47% of the 25-34-year-olds.

№ 2. “TV is an idiot’s box or a window to the world?”. Over the recent 25 years the Russian assessments of the impact that television has on the viewers has deteriorated. Whereas earlier (in 1989) 73% of people considered that the television improved morality, today (2014) the share of those who share this stance is 46%. At the same time, the number of those who notice deterioration in the public morality caused by TV viewing has increased fivefold (from 8% to 38%). Every third Russian (35%) is confident that if people fail to watch television during one month that will do good to them (from 18% in 1989), however 51% of respondents think it will be a significant loss.

№ 3. “Mass media: trust but verify”. Despite a decrease in the public interest, the central channels’ TV programs are still the most trustworthy: three quarters of Russians (75%) trust them. The percentage is lower for the regional television (65%). Other media are perceived to be trustworthy by less than half of respondents; foreign TV programs, newspapers and magazines are perceived as absolute outsiders: only 15% of respondents trust them. Interestingly, the group of those who trust traditional media has very high levels of distrust towards new media, whereas the group of those who trust new media could trust traditional media under certain conditions.

№ 4. “News: objectivity principle”. Objective coverage is shaped by the topic: if news on natural disasters (72%), activity of the head of state (62%) and Russia’s global position (53%) are considered to be unbiased by half of Russians, other topics (economic situation, activities of the opposition, et cet.)  can hardly be assessed in the same way.

№ 5. “Print and online publications: time will tell?”. About three quarters of Russians read print media (77%): including 12% of those who do it on a daily basis; 31% - two or three times a week; 26% - a couple of times a month; 8% at least several times a year. Online versions of the print media are less popular – they are used by 58% of respondents (however the share of the everyday audience is higher than the share of those who opt for the paper format – 18%). Elderly respondents tend to read print media (84% vs. 61% of those aged 18-24); youth prefer online media (80% of the 18-24-year-olds vs. 29% of those who aged 60 and over). Most of respondents (73%) recognize that they are not ready to fully abandon the print media. However, the share of those who say that they can completely switch to online media makes up 17%.  The younger generation representatives express this stance more often than the sample mean (36%); on the contrary, the retired persons rarely think so (4%).

The VCIOM surveys were conducted in 2014-2016, in 130 settlements, 46 regions and 8 federal districts of Russia. The sample size (in each survey) involved 1600 persons. The surveys were conducted with multi-stage stratified sample based on general rule of walking and quotas at the final selection stage; the sample is representative of the Russian population aged 18 and over according to sex, age, education, type of settlement.  The margin of error (taking into account the design effect) with 95% confidence interval does not exceed 3.5%. The survey method is community-based structured face-to-face interviews. Apart from the margin of error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the field work should be taken into account.

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!