Russia/Media Consumption

RFE/RL: Television still main source of information for vast majority of Russians

"Nikolai Popov, the research director of the polling center ROMIR Monitoring, told RFE/RL's Moscow bureau on - - that three national networks -- Channel One, RTR, and NTV -- are the main source of information for 79 percent of Russians. According to a poll conducted by ROMIR on 22 September among 1,600 adults and published at rmh.ru, 21 percent said national radio stations are their main source of information, and 14 percent said regional television stations are their main source. Popov noted a sharp decline in interest in the print media, with only 14 percent saying they get their information from it. Similarly, national television has thehighest level of public trust, 44 percent, followed by national radio at 8 percent and the Internet at 5 percent. Only 3 percent of respondents trust the national newspapers. Popov noted that the sharp fall in confidence in the media is a real contrast to the beginning of the 1990s, when the print media had the highest level of public trust, and was perceived as the "lever of democracy." Now the top spot in public confidence belongs to the office of the president,followed by the church and the army, leaving the media in fourth place, Popov said, though he gave no specific figures."