Almost half of Ukrainians believe it’s time to end the TV marathon – survey

A majority of Ukrainians surveyed by sociologists expressed the need to shut down the unified news telethon.

This was revealed by a new survey on attitudes and trust towards Ukrainian media conducted by InMind with funding from the American agency USAID.

According to the poll, 45% of respondents favored ending unified broadcasting and allowing channels to return to their own programming, while 32% were against this move. Of the latter group, 10% would like to see this format of news presentation continue even after the war ends.

Trust in the telethon’s information was also mixed, with 43% of respondents indicating a lack of trust, while 37% expressed trust. Only 35-37% of those surveyed felt that the information provided in the telethon was comprehensive, reliable, and accurate.

Trust in the unified news broadcast has declined among its regular viewers, dropping from 81% at the beginning of the war to 67% now.

“In 2024, there has been an increase in news consumption on social media, while the use of news websites has decreased. News consumption on TV, radio, and print has remained at last year’s levels,” the authors of the study concluded.

It is worth noting that in late October, the European Commission criticized Ukraine’s unified news telethon. In its progress report on Ukraine’s EU accession efforts, the EC questioned whether the state-funded project provides an objective view of events.

In response, Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture stated that “the European Commission’s recommendations regarding the ‘Unified News’ telethon have been taken into account,” but the telethon would only be shut down after the end of martial law.