Monitoring of the top channels: the news are on the way to the balanced coverage, but not by all channels

11.06.2013  
  • The share of political news in May was 25% of all reports;
  • 17% - the lowest since the beginning of the year - was the share of political news with two viewpoints; this practice is the most popular at Novy Channel and Inter;
  • Compared to the situation in April the attention to political persons and political institutions decreased;
  • Enforcement agencies and judiciary system are the leaders of attention among political institutions in May; the leaders of attention among political groups are Party of Regions and Batkivshchyna;
  • In May the share of direct speech allocated for the opposition is by 3% more than that for the government (In April the direct speech for the government was 1.9 times more than that to the opposition, in March – 1.2 times more, in February – 2.1 times more);
  • Similarly to April and March Inter Channel features the most balanced attention to the political powers’ representatives and the direct speech allocated.

Political news. During the second full week of May 25% of all news reports were related to political events in Ukraine (January – 20%, February and March – 25%, in April – 26%). TVi features the biggest share – 53%, followed by Inter – 35% and Pershy Natsionalny – 30%. 1+1 channel news include 69% of non-political reports. Novy Channel broadcasts the biggest share of the international political news related to Ukraine – 12%. Pershy Natsionalny and Inter are the leaders in terms of broadcasting the international news not related to Ukraine – 33%.

Domestic policy, government bodies’ activities – 37%, social support sphere – 26% and education and culture – 23% (in April – environmental issues – 21%, in March - crime – 20%, in February - 21%, in January - 28%) constitute the key topics for news. Crime/car accidents (22%), culture and sport – 18% are the most frequently mentioned events.

Balance in the news reports. 17% of the reports included several viewpoints (in January - 18%, in February – 24%, in March – 27%, in April – 23%). Inter features 36% share, STB – 28% (in April TVi’s share was 44%, in March STB’s share was 38%). In May – two viewpoints were provided in 32% of the reports (in April – 32%, in March – 44%, in February – 43%, in January - 36%). STB featured the largest share – 67% (in April - 50%, in March - 54% in February - 55%) followed by Inter (53%, in April - 41%, in March - 52%). 97% of the reports on political events at UT-1 included only one viewpoint (in April – 95%, in March – 88%, in February – 83%, in January – 100%).

21 key events were being discussed in the news from different positions (in April – 19, in March – 19, in February – 23, in January – 17). The law on gun control, the incident with M. Melnichenko, the rally against the law on sexual minorities: these were the topics, which received the most variable interpretation.

53% of the reports (in April – 63%, in March – 56%, in February – 63%, in January - 67%) were presented in conflict and negative contexts. The biggest share belongs to TVi (72%) and 1+1 – 64%, the smallest share - UT-1 – 21%. The positive context’s median share is 13% (in April – 10%, in March – 12%, in February – 11%, in January - 12%), UT-1 had the biggest share – 30%.

Political parties, persons and institutions. The attention to political parties, political persons and institutions constitutes 22%, 34%, 64% respectively. Enforcement agencies (25%) and courts and judiciary system (15%) are the most frequently mentioned among political institutions (in April – enforcement agencies (24%) and local government bodies (20%); in March - courts and judiciary system (24%) and the enforcement agencies (21%)). The doubtful and negative evaluations were mostly related to the to the President – 33% and Ukraine – 28%(in April – the National Bank (33%) and the General Prosecutor’s Office (29%), in March – to the Administration of the President (67%), and enforcement agencies – 20%).

Attention rating. The leaders of attention in news programs are the Party of Regions and VO Batkivshchyna – 10% each. The ironic and negative evaluations in May, April, March and February are related both to the Opposition in general and the Party of Regions in equal parts.

V. Yanokvych was provided with the largest share of attention in the news programs (9%), followed by Yu. Tymoshenko (7%), A. Yatsenyuk – 5% (in April – Yanukovych – 13%, A. Yatsenyuk – 9%, M. Azarov – 7%). 19 politicians are mentioned in 1% and more reports (in April – 34, in March – 20, in February – 27, in January - 22). 82% of the mentions are provided in neutral context (in April – 83%, in March – 74%, in February – 84%, in January – 81%). The doubtful and negative context was most often added to the reports covering V. Yanukovych (39%), Yu. Tymoshenko (35%), V. Kolesnychenko (26%).

Direct speech in the news. In April the largest share of direct speech was allocated for I. Miroshnichenko and S. Sas – 8% each, M. Azarov – 7%, S. Vlasenko – 6%.

33% of all the mentions about politicians are related to the Batkivshchyna representatives (in April – 17%), 32% - the Party of Regions (in April – 40%), UDAR and Svoboda – 6%, CPU – 1%. In general terms, in May the attention to the to the ruling coalition representatives is by 3% more than that to the opposition – 48% vs. 45% (in April it was 1.7 times more – 56% vs. 33%, in March – 51% vs. 44% in favor of the opposition, in February – by 1.3 times more in favor for the ruling coalition; in January –- by 1.2 times).

The direct speech of the Party of Regions constitutes 39% (in April – 47%, in March – 34%, in February – 46%, in January – 33%), UT-1 provided 82% of its direct speech for them. 32% is allocated to Batkivshchyna party members and faction members (in April – 16%, in March – 36%, in February – 16%, in January – 38%), TVi’s share was 56%. The median share of the direct speech for Svoboda is 12%; TVi allocated 29%. Overall, the share of the direct speech allocated to the opposition exceeds by 3% that allocated to the government – 49% vs. 46% (in April the government’s direct speech was 1.9 times more than that to the opposition – 62% vs. 32%, in March – by 1.2 times, in February – 2.1 times, in January – 1.4 times).

The monitoring survey covering TV news broadcast by eight most popular Ukrainian channels in April 2013 is the part of the on-going media monitoring conducted by Academy of Ukrainian Press since 2002.

The presented survey was conducted by the AUP with engagement of the researchers of the Institute of Sociology, NANU. The content analysis methodology has been applied focusing on prime time news broadcast by eight most popular Ukrainian TV channels – Inter, 1+1, Novy Channel, Ukraine, STB, ICTV, Pershy Natsionalny and TVi.

The survey was became possible by the support of the U-Media Project.

This study is made possible by the support of the American people. The contents of the presentation are the sole responsibility of the Academy of Ukrainian Press and do not necessarily reflect the views of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Internews-Network.

International Renaissance Foundation was one of the founders for the monitoring survey.

[ 11.06.2013 ] Monitoring TV news programs, May 2013
Monitoring of the top channels: the news are on the way to the balanced coverage, but not by all channels…

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