- News of the leading channels in September: in the middle of election campaign
- The interest to politics is similar to that in the previous month: 28% of reports
- Sports, culture, road accidents and criminal situation are the dominant topics of the reports
- News standards remain critically low: 84% of reports covered 1 viewpoint
- Political news of UT1 were broadcast covering only 1 viewpoint
- Attention to political parties is 2 times less than it was on the eve of the previous elections in September 2007; the attention to political persons is 1.5 times less
- Similarly to August, law enforcement and defense agencies are the mostly frequently mentioned political institutions
- In September sync of politicians is 1.5 times longer than in August
- In September ruling power representatives dramatically pulled ahead in terms of attention and sync
- Political news. In the first week of September 28% of all news programs’ reports were on political events in Ukraine (in August - 27%, in June - 16%, in April and February – 21% each).
Every fifth report (19%) is dedicated to sports and culture, every sixth – to road accidents and crime (16%), whereas in August 20% of reports, i. e. 1 of 5, were related to elections. UDAR and CPU press conferences as well as the speech by Ukraine-Forward party leader were covered in the news of the 1st week of September.
- News standards. 16% of reports generally included several viewpoints (13%, the lowest share was monitored in August, 18% - in June, 18% - in April, 21% - in February). TVi produced the highest share of such reports, just like in the previous month – 34% (in August - 23%, in June - 25%, in April - 25%, in February - 32%). UT-1 has the smallest share – 2% (in August - 3%, in June - 9%, in April - 8%) as well as STB (9%). All reports on political news at UT-1 covered only 1 viewpoint (in August - 97%). •
- Political institutions, parties, persons. Attention to political parties, political persons and political institutions constitute 19%, 43% та 64%, respectively (in August 20%, 39%, 63%, in June 10%, 32%, 60%, in April 10%, 37%, 66%, in February 16%, 41%, 71%). This is a noticeably less than on the eve of 2007 elections in September with attention in 40%, 63% та 73%. Defense and law enforcement agencies are most frequently mentioned among political institutions: 17% (in August -18%, in June - 12%, in April - 21%, in February - 24%).
In the first week of September 11 parties were mentioned in the news, 9 of them submitted their lists for registration for the national multi-member constituency (in August 14 and 12 parties, respectively). The leaders of the attention in news programs were Party of Regions - 7% (in August 6%), Batkivshchyna – 5% (in August - 5%), CPU and “Ukraine – Forward” – 3% (in August 2% each) “Svoboda” and UDAR –1% each.
- Political persons. Attention. The attention leaders in news programs (1st week of September) were President Yanukovych - 11% (in August - 10%, in June - 11%, in April - 7%, in February - 11%), Prime-Minister M. Azarov - 10% (in August also 10%, in June - 5%, in April - 5%, in February - 7%), V. Lytvyn – 5%. Attention to Yu. Tymoshenko in September is 3% (in August 6%, in June 3%, in April 12%, in February 9%), to A. Yatsenyuk and N. Korolevska– 3%, V.Klychko – 2%. 20 politicians are mentioned on 1% and more reports (in August - 24, in June - 16, in April - 18 politicians, in February - 28). 87% of mentions about politicians are in positive and neutral context (in August the average figure is 83%, in April - 77%). Similarly to August reports about Yu. Lutsenko and Yu. Tymoshenko were put in doubtful and negative context – 38% and 39%, respectively (in August 47% and 44%).
57% of all mentions about politicians are about Party of Regions representatives (in August 43%), Batkivshchyna – 18% (in August 26%), 6% - CPU, 6% - Oleh Lyashko Radical Party (4% in August), 4% - UDAR, 3% - Ukraine – Forward! (5% in August). Attention to Batkivshchyna is the highest at Novy Channel (31%), to UDAR - at Inter (9%),to CPU at UT-1 (9%), to Ukraine- Forward! - at UT-1 (7%), to Oleh Lyshko Radical Party - at TVi (10%). The attention to the ruling coalition is 71% compared to 23% (attention to the opposition), the gap currently is larger than in August – 51% vs. 31%.
- Political personalities. Direct speech. During the 1st week of September direct speech of politicians in the news scored 4665 seconds. (in August - 3216 seconds, in June - 3003 seconds, in April - 2848 seconds, in February - 5172 seconds). Two fifths of all sync were allocated to President Yanukovych (20%) Prime Minister Azarov (20%). N. Korolevska and O. Yefremov had 6% of sync each, V. Lytvyn, A. Yatsenyuk, V. Klychko have 4% each. Party of Regions representatives’ share in direct speech is 66% (in August - 57%), 10% - Batkivshchyna (in August - 11%), 6% - Ukraine – Forward!, 5% - CPU, 4% - UDAR. The share of the direct speech of Batkivshchyna is the highest at TVi – 18% (in August - 18%) and Novy Channel – 17% (in August - 1+1 - 18%), UDAR is the highest at Inter (19%), CPU is the highest at TVi (10%) and UТ-1 (9%), Svoboda – at TVi (4%), “Ukraine – Forward!” –UТ-1 (12%, in August 3%).
Monitoring research was carried out by the Academy of Ukrainian Press (AUP) with participation of scientists of the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine using the method of content analysis of prime-time news programs of 8 leading Ukrainian TV channels – Inter, 1+1, Novy Kanal, “Ukrayna”, SТB, ICTV, UT-1, and TVi.
This analysis is part of continuous media monitoring conducted by the Academy of Ukrainian Press since 2002.
This monitoring research became possible due to the support of the American people. Monitoring results shall be the exclusive responsibility of the Academy of Ukrainian Press and not necessarily reflect the opinion of USAID and Internews Network.
The research is also funded by the International Renaissance Foundation and British Embassy in Ukraine. The opinions and conclusions in this report remain those of its authors.
Contact persons:
Valery Ivanov, AUP President
Oksana Voloshenyuk, AUP Director
Tel: +38- 067-504-9802
Email: info@aup.com.ua
|
