TV si Internet are the most important sources of news in Romania, according to a study carried out in 36 countries on the planet by no less than 70.000 people. TV has been a main source of news for Romanians since the fall of communism, but online publications have grown in popularity with the increase in internet penetration in Romania and the decrease in mobile internet costs.
Although TV is preferred by many as a reliable source, online is starting to attract more and more people eager to find out the latest information from Romania. In the online part, we also include social networks, where almost all the news from Romania circulates, but along with them there is also a lot of fake news.
Despite the popularity of television and the Internet, Romanians' trust in TV stations and online publications is low, and there are many reasons for this. From political affiliations, to blackmailed journalists and to the personal affinities of the owners, many TV stations and online publications began to favor one or another part of the political circus, so Romanians began to filter the content consumed more carefully.
TV and Internet - main sources of news in Romania
Added to the above problems is the fact that TV stations and online publications have insufficient budgets and personnel to carry out their activities in the best conditions. The crisis in Romania seriously affected the activity of TV stations and online publications, the advertising budgets of the big companies for TV and online being 40% lower than before the economic crisis of the past years.
Looking now at the news channels preferred by Romanians, ProTV News, Antena 1 and Realitatea TV are the main sources of information preferred by Romanians who watch TV. Regarding the online environment, ProTV News, Digi24 and Yahoo! News are the main sources of news for Romanians, but over a third do not trust that they are not influenced politically or by businessmen.
Practically, in 2016, Romanians began to particularly avoid some TV stations and online publications that present news and information in a biased way. This was to be expected, considering that most of the news televisions are "on the side" of one party, or another, in the political circle, and the only situations in which people follow them with interest are when tragedies of national interest happen.
This has pushed many to choose online publications and social media primarily to find out the latest news, Facebook being the absolute leader in this segment. What do you think about this Reuters study?
