Russian opinion of broadcast media rises p.

By: Debra Gersh

Favorable public opinion of broadcast media has risen in Russia and Ukraine over the past year-and-a-half, but in Lithuania it has shown a sharp decline, according to a new survey from the Times Mirror Center for the People & the Press.
The latest study, conducted late last year, is a follow-up to a similar survey conducted in Russia, Lithuania and Ukraine in May 1991.
"In the interim, the Russians have lived through an aborted coup, and all three peoples have been undergoing economic chaos, political turmoil, and national rebirth as independent countries," the report explained.
In both Russia and Ukraine, slight majorities (53% and 51%, respectively) believe that radio and television have a very or mostly good influence.
Those figures show an increase from the 1992 study, when only 40% of Russians and 41% of Ukrainians said tv and radio had a very or mostly good influence.
Residents of Lithuania, however, were found to have a lower approval rating of the press than in the earlier study (82% versus 70%). The report speculated that this was a result of "the nasty election campaign just ended in which the media were attacked for biased coverage."
The number of citizens in Russia and Ukraine who said they approve of "placing greater constraints and controls on what newspapers print and tv and radio broadcast" increased during the time between the two surveys, while in Lithuania it fell slightly, showing almost no change.
In the May 1991 study, 24% of Russians said they approved of more controls, while in November 1992 that figure jumped to 34%.
In Ukraine, only 19% in May 1991 said that they believed there should be greater constraints on the press, while 31% answered similarly in November 1992. In Lithuania, although the May 1991 survey found 27% calling for more press controls, the November 1992 study cited only 25% believing similarly.
Conversely, those who disapprove of press curbs fell in all three nations.
Although 66% of Russians in the spring of 1991 said there should be less press restriction, by the fall of 1992 that number fell to 49%. There was a similar decline in Ukraine, where 70% of respondents in 1991 said the press should be less controlled and 51% responded similarly in 1992. Lithuania showed a less severe drop, from 66% in the earlier survey to 61% in the latest report.
The Russia and Ukraine surveys were conducted by ROMIR LTD., a Moscow-based polling firm. The Sociological Laboratory of Vilnius University was responsible for polling citizens in Lithuania.