Most of Russians follow the developments in Ukraine; they mainly watch Russian news and TV cannels and believe that the information provided by this media is objective.

MOSCOW, May 14, 2014. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the information concerning how Russians follow the developments in Ukraine; from what sources they get information; how objective they think Russian mass media is.

Three-quarter of Russians are interested in the situation in Ukraine (77%). Thirty percent of Russians track the situation (in March 2014:  39%); 47% track the situation occasionally. The share of those who do not pay attention to the developments in Ukraine has increased (22% in April vs 15% in March 2014). Those who are interested to know more are elderly respondents (46%), and rarer 18-24-year-old Russians (35%).

Those who follow the situation in Ukraine get information mainly from the Russian television (94%). One – third of respondents (31%) surf the Internet: basically Russians aged 18-24 (52%) and residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg  (47%). Every fifth (18%) reads printed media – Russian newspapers and magazines. Other 13% listen to radio. Certain number of Russians listen to friends and relatives who live (6%) or who do not live (8%) in Ukraine. Least popular source of information is foreign mass media (2%) and Ukrainian media (1%).

Russians appreciate the objectivity of Russian mass media. It is proved by the index of objectivity equaled to 69 points. Those who regard the information on Ukraine provided by Russian media objective are mainly Russian TV spectators; the value of index is 70 points (out of 90). Those who think that information is not very objective are those who read newspapers (67 points), use the Internet (66 points), or listen to radio (65 points). Those who get information from the Ukrainian mass media are most prejudiced against Russian mass media (57 points).

Mass Media Objectivity Index shows if Russians finds the information provided my Russian mass media objective. The higher the value of index is, the more respondents are confident that the information provided by Russian mass media is objective. The index is based on the question: “How do you assess the nature of information about the situation in Ukraine  provided by Russian mass media?”. If the answer is “generally weighted, objective”, the coefficient is 0.9; if the answer is “partly objective, partly nonobjective”, the coefficient is 0,5, if the answer is  “generally negative, biased”, the coefficient is 0.1. The index is measured in points and can fluctuate between 10 and 90.

The VCIOM opinion poll was conducted on April 26-27, 2014. 1600 respondents were interviewed in 130 communities in 42 regions of Russia. Data are weighted by gender, age, education, working status and type of settlement.  The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.

* In 2006 there was a conflict between Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and Ukrainian president; Rada gave vote of no confidence in the government

** In 2007 the president V. Yushchenko dismissed Verkhovna Rada and called new elections

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!