ONLY 10% CITIZENS BELIEVE MASS MEDIA ACTS IN PEOPLE'S INTERESTS - POLL

Only 10% of Moldovan people are sure that mass media outlets are acting in their interests, say the data of opinion poll, conducted by the Institute of Marketing and Surveys (IMAS).

Institute Director Doru Petruti said at the Monday's press conference that over 50% of respondents maintain that the media outlets are mostly acting in interests of politicians.

"76% maintains that the press is being controlled by politicians, 66% think that the Moldovan press is mostly used as an instrument on creating image of one or another politician, while 58% suppose that the media are corrupt", the sociologist said.

According to him, 62% respondents are sure that the press is providing information in the form desired by the outlet or by the client and is misleading the audience. 53% maintain that the media are using expert opinion for manipulating public opinion.

"52% of respondents said that the media is using sensational headlines to attract audience, while 44% people said the media outlets are using in interest of foreign countries or companies. However, almost one-half of respondents pointed at high level of journalists' professionalism and only 35% said that the mass media is engaged in disinformation", the expert said.

According to him, news programs, first of all about public life and internal policy of Moldova are in demand among the Moldovan people, moreover 47% respondents prefer to watch news in both the state language and in Russian.

"Domestic news are arousing interest among citizens - 73% of respondents watch Moldovan programs and only 22% - foreign. At the same time, the situation is inverse in what concerns entertainment programs - 50% respondents watch foreign shows and only 35% - Moldovan", Petruti said.

According to him, the most popular TV channels are Prime TV, Jurnal TV, M1, RTR-Moldova, ProTV, NTV-Moldova, Canal 2, Canal 3 и CTC; among printed press Jurnal de Chisinau, "Argumenty I Fakty Moldova", Saptamina, Komsomolskaya Pravda Moldova and Timpul are leading.

"Television remains the basic source of information in Moldova, citizens show great interest in news, respectively they want to know what is happening in the republic, maintain that the media is fulfilling its work professionally, but still they are acting in interest of politicians but not citizens", the sociologist concluded.

The opinion poll was carried out among 1,513 residents of various-level populated areas across Moldova on February 9 through March 4, 2018. The pollsters are saying that error should not exceed В±2.5%. Before, the IMAS conducted several polls at the demand Democratic Party.