The War in Ukraine: News Consumption Pattern of Serbian Citizens

Abstract

News about the war in Ukraine is still present on the daily agenda in Serbia and the world, more than a year after the Russian invasion commenced. In times of crisis, such as this, citizens increasingly rely on the media for truthful and relevant information. However, the media have experienced a decline in trust in the last decade, and the circulation of disinformation and fake news has become part of everyday life. This is particularly the case in Serbia, where the political polarization has spread to editorial policies, media reporting and the selection of the news. This paper focuses on citizens’ media habits and perceptions of journalistic reporting regarding the war in Ukraine. It is a part of a broader research, which aimed at providing a comprehensive understanding of citizens' relationship with news, especially in the digital environment. It was modeled according to the questionnaire for Digital News Report developed by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. The basic questionnaire for 2022 was utilized, along with some questions from the previous years and a supplementary questionnaire on the conflict in Ukraine. A quota sample was used, consisting of a total of 2,027 adult citizens of Serbia. The results show that people in Serbia rate the media's work much worse than citizens of other countries when it comes to the war in Ukraine. However, respondents who are closer to the Russian side in the conflict evaluate media reporting more positively. Unlike other countries, where people turn to television as the main news source, the results indicate a significant use of apps and websites of mainstream media in Serbia in this regard. The importance of this research is that it provides insight into how citizens assess reporting on the war, a perspective often missing when discussing the media and conflict.