Jan. 21, 2025, 7:27 p.m.
News deserts: where access to the truth in Ukraine is problematic
Цей матеріал також доступний українською64
Image: Media Development Foundation
In many regions of Ukraine and the world, so-called news deserts are emerging. This is an area where there is a lack of journalists and local publications that talk about community life and cover important events. The Media Development Foundation studied 138 districts of Ukraine for access to news. It turned out that only 23% of them are informationally healthy, while the rest are partially healthy and unhealthy, i.e., they form news deserts.
Searching for deserts
Researchers define news deserts as a territorial community with limited access to reliable and complete news. The Media Development Foundation turned to this topic last year, seeing the changes that had taken place in the North, East and South of Ukraine. There, dozens of publications stopped working and disappeared from the country's map altogether. Their goal was to show those places where the development of the democratic system was threatened by the lack of local journalism. They also found areas where the situation with access to local information is better.
Criteria.
The study identified factors that influence the emergence of news deserts:
- geographical location
- socio-demographic situation;
- economic development;
- historical continuity of media work in the region.
In conclusion, the database of independent local media was mapped by experts according to a gradation:
- unhealthy area - no local media and not covered by publications from other districts, or a district with no local media and covered by only one media outlet from neighboring districts;
- partially healthy area - there is one independent media outlet or an area covered by at least two media outlets from other areas;
- healthy area - has two or more independent media outlets.
In analyzing the content of online media, the researchers focused on text products and reprints; on television, they took into account the information product of this particular TV channel - programs from other media were not included in the analysis. On radio, we also chose only our own products on the air. For print products, we selected both original content and reprints.
The independence of the media was checked in legal and content aspects. In the legal aspect, we found out about relationships with persons who could potentially influence the editorial policy. In terms of content, we focused on the extent to which the media covers the critical information needs of the community and on compliance with professional standards.
Critical information needs
The study defines the concept of critical information needs (CIN) of local communities as information that helps citizens navigate political, economic, and social processes and make informed decisions that affect their lives. Eight of these needs include reporting on the following topics:
- Emergencies and public safety: information about emergencies and risks, both immediate and long-term. For example, natural disasters, terrorism, evacuations, frontline advancement, liberation of territories during a counteroffensive, etc.
- Healthcare: information about healthcare services. For example, medical programs and services, local clinics, vaccination schedules, local health campaigns, etc.
- Education: information on all aspects of the local education system: quality and management of local school systems at the community level. information on educational opportunities, tutoring, children's development programs outside of school, etc.
- Transportation systems: information about local transportation, basic transportation services and their costs, traffic and road conditions.
- Economic development: access to a wide range of economic information. For example, employment opportunities within the region, retraining, etc.
- Environment: information on the state of the local environment, such as water and air quality, radiation pollution levels, etc.
- Civic initiativesand public services: information about key civic institutions, non-profit organizations and associations, including their services, accessibility and opportunities to participate in libraries and information services in the community.
- Politics and governance: information on changes of government, resolutions, new laws, open auctions; information on government activities at the local, regional and national levels of government.
How editions were selected for the map
The researchers analyzed the entire territory of Ukraine - 136 administrative districts, the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol. The geographical unit for the map was the administrative district. The sample included 1434 Ukrainian newsrooms across Ukraine. Media outlets were added to the map based on the following factors:
- Location - the city or district where the main part of the newsroom or head office is located.
- Information coverage - coverage of media events and issues related to the territory of a particular district or community: at least 10 publications per week about a particular district.
- Determining independence - checking the ultimate beneficiaries and people involved in the media for political and business interests. Experts checked the media through open data registries, the media outlet's or its owners' involvement in court cases and rulings.
- Professional standards - studying media content in terms of BBC professional standards, the Code of Ethics proposed by the Commission on Journalism Ethics, etc.
- Coverage of critical information needs - for 10 days, researchers tracked all media publications. To be included in the map, media publications had to meet at least 6 of the 8 critical information needs of the community.
Experts also worked on the media map of the occupied territories of Ukraine, ranking administrative districts in accordance with the order of the Ministry of Reintegration "On Approval of the List of Territories Where Military Operations Are (Were) Conducted or Temporarily Occupied by the Russian Federation."
Media from the occupied territories that have moved to the government-controlled territory are considered to be media whose main audience is located in the TOT. At the same time, they are not considered to be geographically based in the temporarily occupied territory, but rather those that provide information coverage of specific occupied areas.
The researchers also interviewed regional media professionals and conducted a total of 12 semi-structured interviews with top managers-two media executives from each macro-region, and three media managers from the Western region.
What made the research difficult
The research faced limitations at the stage of searching for editorial offices - it was impossible to fully analyze all types of media due to limited access to archival content or lack of digital presence. Verifying the legal independence of newsrooms was complicated by the limited publicity of some legal data. This could have led to the exclusion of some media outlets that could actually provide quality local coverage.
The study focused on the critical information needs of communities - media specializing in narrow topics were not included in the final sample. The monitoring covered a fairly short period of time. Therefore, publications that did not cover a sufficient number of information needs during this period were not included in the sample.
The researchers found evidence that the development of local journalism in Ukraine depends on geographical, demographic, socioeconomic and historical factors. However, due to the limited access to information due to the full-scale war, it is difficult to analyze each of these aspects in detail. Therefore, the conclusions of the analysis are based on data obtained from free access and in-depth interviews with media professionals from the regions.
Where the deserts are hiding
The further away from the regional center, the higher the risk of news deserts. In general, regional centers can be called oases, and small communities can be called deserts.
Unhealthy districts are located between different regional centers. For example, the Zolochiv district is located between the healthy districts of Lviv, Ternopil, and Volyn. Researchers explain this disparity by saying that more and more media professionals want to work in big cities and a minority remains in communities. Editorial staff from the North complained that Kyiv was sucking up the best talent because it offered more competitive salaries and better career prospects. Students who go to other regions to study often do not return to their communities.
The migration of residents of small towns to big cities also affects the composition of the audience. In search of better living conditions and professional opportunities, young people move to big cities, while the older generation remains in the regions that are less active in using modern digital media. As a result, the demand for new content formats and online resources is lower.
Areas with small populations have much less chance of developing regional media. The decentralization of 2014 and the liquidation of local governments led to a lack of news and information in these localities. An editorial from Odesa region says that they have only two district centers in the entire north of the region, so district newspapers have lost their main donor, the local government.
Image: Media Development Foundation
Separately, the interviewed editors noted logistical accessibility: the further away from the regional center a small town is located, the fewer media outlets there are. According to them, the network of regional media is likely to be denser in places where transportation hubs are located, which makes it easier for employees to get from home (in communities) to work (in large cities).
The analysis showed that more media outlets are based in regional centers. On average, each central region has about 3.27 independent newsrooms, while in non-central regions there are only 0.38 media outlets. For example, in the South of Ukraine, editorial offices are primarily focused on the audience of cities with a population of more than 50,000 residents. Media professionals say that it is unprofitable to cover events on a daily basis and to keep journalists in small towns.
Image: Media Development Foundation
As for the economic component, financially developed regions have better conditions for independent media due to the presence of local businesses. In less developed regions, where businesses have limited budgets, journalism does not receive funding from entrepreneurs. In small towns, where local businesses do not face significant competition, they do not feel a critical need for media advertising. After the full-scale invasion, some local businesses lost their assets and ability to support the media. This is also confirmed by the editorial board from the West: "In the first days, weeks and months of the full-scale war, I thought it would be a desert. And it was not media paralysis, but business paralysis. We, as well as some of our colleagues who mostly lived on advertising, thought it was the end. In fact, almost all advertising agreements were postponed and terminated." In 2023, the media returned to earning money from commerce, although the economic situation is still unstable. According to the MDF study, only 12% of regional newsrooms have secured funding from advertising.
Local media in small communities may be heavily dependent on political advertising or government funding due to a lack of other sources of income, and may also feel pressure due to close ties. An editor from the South says that in a community, it is difficult for a media outlet to make critical stories against the mayor: "For example, if your mom works at a school, the mayor will tell you to fire her."
After interviewing the editorial offices, MDF researchers identified an interesting phenomenon: the war has influenced the closure of politicized media. Due to unclear political prospects, many media outlets see no point in investing in their media image. That is why editorial offices that used to earn money from political PR are now unemployed.
In addition, the border regions were characterized by a multinational population and different cultural influences. For example, different languages of national minorities require content adaptation. Moreover, national minorities prefer their national media to Ukrainian ones. Also, the border affects the financial development of the editorial offices operating there and their content. An example of the economic impact is the case of Zhytomyr region, which shares a border with Belarus. Representatives of the editorial office from the North say that Belarusians used to come to Ovruch, 35 kilometers from the border, to buy food at the market, but now the border is closed.
Deserts and oases
The analysis of the media landscape in Ukraine showed that only 11% of all local newsrooms analyzed - 157 out of 1434 media outlets - meet the criteria of independence and cover the critical information needs of local communities. Of Ukraine's 138 districts, only 23% are informationally healthy, 38% are partially healthy, and 39% are unhealthy.
Healthy districts
Kyiv, Cherkasy, and Kropyvnytskyi are united in a large Dnipro cluster. Healthy administrative regional centers pull up smaller rayons from the healthy or partially healthy category. These include almost all of southern Kyiv, all of Cherkasy, and Kirovohrad.
On the left bank of Ukraine, Kharkiv, Poltava, Sumy, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhia districts form a large green zone. The oasis extends to the neighboring non-central districts of Chuhuiv, Berestyn, and Nikopol.
In the South, Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Kherson districts form a green belt.
In the West, the healthy Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Ternopil districts are located nearby. Lutsk and Rivne districts in the so-called Volyn cluster are pulling Kovel district to them.
Chernihiv, Nizhyn, and Koryukiv districts are an example of a healthy cluster that cannot be explained by the simple geographical location of regional centers. The network of independent media provides high-quality local information and covers almost the entire Chernihiv region.
Unhealthy districts
Unhealthy districts tend to cluster together. Some are located between different regional centers. For example, between Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, and Poltava, there are districts with almost no news about life in these areas: Pavlohrad, Synelnykove, Samar. Or in the West, these are Zolochiv, Dubno, and Kremenets districts.
There are only four cases where an unhealthy district does not border another unhealthy district - Bashtanka district in Mykolaiv region, Vasyliv district in Zaporizhzhia, Romny district in Sumy region, and Lubny district in Poltava region.
The researchers note two large border clusters:
- Zhytomyr region
- southern Vinnytsia region and northern Odesa region.
Both are also united by a large territory and a considerable distance of small communities from regional centers.
Image: Media Development Foundation
The impact of the occupation on desertification
One of the main factors behind the emergence of news deserts is the temporary occupation of Ukraine. Under occupation, independent media face repression and many other dangers, so journalists are forced to evacuate or work underground. The audience in the TOT is left without access to objective news and is vulnerable to disinformation. It is clear that the media landscape in the occupied areas is unhealthy.
Editorial offices that have moved to government-controlled territory are trying to provide information to the Ukrainian audience that remains under occupation. On average, each of these districts is covered by about two newsrooms. The least healthy areas are located in Luhansk region and Crimea. At the same time, the occupied territory of Kherson region has the highest rate of media coverage. Therefore, experts have concluded that prolonged occupation leads to total media desertification.
Compared to the occupied and government-controlled territories, the de-occupied areas have the highest health indicators. They are 20% more than the number of controlled areas and 46% more than the occupied areas with the same level of health. Only Romny, Bashtanka, and Korosten districts can be considered unhealthy. On average, one de-occupied district has 1.65 editorial offices based there.
Image: Media Development Foundation
The information coverage is 3.1 editions per district. At the same time, the occupied districts have an average coverage of 2.14 editions per district, and the government-controlled districts - 2.22 editions per district. It can be assumed that this is due to the attention of the Ukrainian and international community to the liberated territories. The media are beginning to actively cover military operations and the consequences of the occupation. And the liberated territories are becoming a platform for collecting direct evidence of Russian war crimes. Stakeholders are also interested in the development of local media in the de-occupied territories. For example, one newsroom in southern Ukraine translates news into English, targeting international donors who are investing in the development of the region after its de-occupation.
The government-controlled areas are the territories far from the frontline that were not occupied during the entire period of the war from 2014 to 2024. There are approximately 1.04 media outlets per district and the coverage is not much higher, with an average of 2.22 outlets per district.
Can deserts be revived?
MDF researchers note certain risks to news deserts. First, the lack of a complete and true picture of local affairs. Secondly, the lack of journalistic oversight gives rise to corruption, abuse and violations of citizens' rights. The third negative factor is the risk of spreading false information, manipulation, and sometimes propaganda.
Independent newsrooms in communities can prevent these negative phenomena by
- prompt coverage of current events on the ground;
- investigative journalism and oversight of the transparency of local authorities;
- developing unique and high-quality materials about the local area instead of publishing press releases of local authorities;
- adherence to high standards of journalism;
- healthy competition that ensures the development of local media.
Regional media professionals foresee a deterioration in the state of local journalism, so more news deserts may appear in the future. The editors are also concerned about the possible intensification of the offensive and the movement of the front line. Most media professionals consider the risks associated with funding to be urgent and point to the lack of development of the advertising market due to the full-scale war. The media anticipate that donor support will continue to decline. Lack of adequate funding may lead to the fact that no one will write about the temporarily occupied territories or those where hostilities are actively taking place. Media professionals from the frontline areas are increasingly moving to safer communities, and deserts are also possible there.
The interviewed media managers shared their thoughts on creating oases and preventing the formation of news deserts. They lack institutional support for sustainable development. Further, quality education and training of qualified journalists is important. Training young journalists is especially important for communities and the development of local media.
Media professionals are also thinking about forming communities among media organizations and between media and their audiences. Even chatting in messengers, in their opinion, can ensure effective communication between media and readers.
Editorial offices that cover news for the audience in the occupied territories emphasize that it is important to continue this work to reintegrate the territories and prevent the spread of Russian media there.