{"id":1325506,"date":"2025-11-26T12:16:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T10:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/local-security-is-the-main-information-need-of-residents-of-frontline-territories-research-by-the-national-union-of-journalists-of-ukraine\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T12:16:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T10:16:15","slug":"local-security-is-the-main-information-need-of-residents-of-frontline-territories-research-by-the-national-union-of-journalists-of-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/local-security-is-the-main-information-need-of-residents-of-frontline-territories-research-by-the-national-union-of-journalists-of-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"Local security is the main information need of residents of frontline territories \u2013 research by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

78% of residents of frontline areas are most interested in the security situation in their city or village, rather than national news.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is evidenced by the results of the NUJU study<\/a> “Information needs of residents of frontline territories of Ukraine”, presented in Kyiv.<\/p>\n

The primary information need for people is local security\u2014news about what’s happening “within their reach.” These types of messages are considered critical to their own and collective security.<\/p>\n

The study’s co-author, NUJU Secretary Vitaly Golubev, notes: “78.6% of respondents named the situation in their region as the most important topic, and 58% want significantly more such news.”<\/p>\n

“The demand for information about the war at the national and international levels has already been largely satisfied. But people are lacking local news, and this is where local media play a critical role,” says Golubev.<\/p>\n

A 58-year-old local government worker from Chernihiv region explains: “For us, the war is not somewhere out there, but right here, within reach, and we must be prepared for any development.”<\/p>\n

Social media is the most common source of news, but trust in it is selective<\/p>\n

Over 90% of respondents get their news from social media and messaging apps (91.9% is the accessibility indicator). However, their responses demonstrate that while people consume a lot of information, they are increasingly cautious about it.<\/p>\n

Many people check news from multiple sources, checking with official channels and especially with local editorial offices.<\/p>\n

Against this backdrop, print and local media maintain high levels of trust: a third of respondents say they trust the local press the most. Respondents explain, “You can’t edit a newspaper’s text, so the responsibility is higher.”<\/p>\n

Local newspapers and websites are becoming “anchors of trust” in communities living under constant threat and with unstable communications.<\/p>\n

Internet problems create information inequality<\/p>\n

About 20% of respondents (19.5%) say that internet service in their area is poor or almost nonexistent. Due to power outages and poor infrastructure, for many, a phone with mobile internet is the only connection.<\/p>\n

The authors call this “forced digitalization”: people move online not by choice, but by necessity, and at the same time remain vulnerable to fakes.<\/p>\n

Older residents are particularly affected \u2013 they cannot quickly verify information or find alternative sources.<\/p>\n

63% have seen disinformation \u2013 a figure that requires special attention<\/p>\n

63% of respondents directly say they have encountered fakes and manipulation. Another 30.4% can’t say for sure whether they’ve seen fakes, indicating a feeling of uncertainty and confusion.<\/p>\n

The authors note that fakes spread most quickly through social networks, instant messengers, and private “trust chains” when dubious messages are forwarded by relatives or acquaintances.<\/p>\n

In regions where communications are cut off several times a day, the space for disinformation is growing.<\/p>\n

A third of residents do not understand what local authorities tell them.<\/b><\/p>\n

The study also assessed the quality of local government communication. Twenty-seven percent of respondents considered government information to be sufficiently accessible and understandable, while 32% rated it as insufficiently accessible, inaccessible, or unclear.<\/p>\n

Among the expected formats for improvement, people name open meetings and reports (36.8%), publication of reports on traditional media (28.2%), as well as texts and videos on social networks about the work of local leaders (26.3%).<\/p>\n

Local media are part of the vital infrastructure of society<\/p>\n

NUJU head Serhiy Tomilenko emphasizes: “When the power goes out and the connection is lost, the local newspaper or website often remains the only source of verified information. But editorial offices are working on the edge, under fire, without resources, in constant exhaustion.”<\/p>\n

In his opinion, support for local media should become an integral part of programs to rebuild frontline communities: “People can’t be left alone with rumors or Russian propaganda. Information infrastructure\u2014editorial offices, printing presses, communication channels\u2014must be restored just like housing and roads.”<\/p>\n

About the study<\/b><\/p>\n

The survey “Information Needs of Residents of Frontline Territories of Ukraine” was conducted as part of the NUJU project “Strengthening the Resilience of Frontline Media as a Tool to Combat Disinformation,” funded by the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in Ukraine under the Development Cooperation and Democracy Assistance Program. The study was authored by NUJU experts Vitaliy Golubev, Lina Kushch, and Iryna Khromenko.<\/p>\n

The study is based on a survey of 400 respondents from frontline and de-occupied communities in the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Chernihiv regions. The survey was conducted by journalists from 21 local media outlets through offline and online interviews. Participation was anonymous, and responses were used only in an anonymized form.<\/p>\n

The authors conclude: local security, trust in local media, overcoming information inequality, and countering disinformation should become key guidelines for public policy, donor programs, and strategies for rebuilding frontline regions.<\/p>\n

Also follow “Pryamy”<\/strong> on Facebook<\/a> , Twitter<\/a> , Telegram<\/a> and Instagram.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

78% of residents of frontline areas are most interested in the security situation in their city or village, rather than national news. This is evidenced by the results of the NUJU study “Information needs of residents of frontline territories of Ukraine”, presented in Kyiv. The primary information need for people is local security\u2014news about what’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":1325501,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76871,76872,76874,76875,76878],"class_list":["post-1325506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2","category-news-feed","category-war","category-other-news","category-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1325506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1325501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1325506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1325506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}