INSTÄLLT!- Reading News in Times of War: Consumption and Trust in Independent Media among Audiences in Russia

Following the start of the war in Ukraine and the imposition of so-called “war censorship” in Russia, Roskomnadzor, the federal executive agency responsible for media supervision, blocked the websites of prominent independent media. Many journalists fled the country, fearing criminal prosecution. Continuing to work from exile, independent media aim to provide uncensored and socially relevant information to their audiences in Russia. However, their connection with audiences can be hampered by legal and technical restrictions that the Kremlin has gradually tightened since the beginning of the war. These restrictions limit their access to sources in the country and make access to their content from Russia more difficult. At the same time, in autocracies, crises such as war typically stimulate interest in news and the search for trustworthy sources.

Our understanding of the potential of independent media to maintain a connection with the audience in Russia during wartime, despite restrictions, remains limited. To address this gap, the presentation first examines how patterns of news consumption from independent media in Russia changed after 2022. Secondly, it explores how perceptions of independent media trustworthiness evolved after 2022. The analysis is based on an open-ended survey conducted via Telegram channels in 2024 and employs a mixed-methods approach for data analysis.

Ekaterina Grishaeva, Forshungsstelle Osteuropa, Bremen University. Her research interests are centred on digital media use and its social and political consequences. After obtaining her PhD from Ural Federal University, she studied digital media use in the Russian Orthodox Church and Orthodoxy in the mediatised public sphere. Her current work focuses on media trust and the impact of digital media on political views and behaviour. She was a visiting researcher at the IWM in Vienna, Jagiellonian University, Uppsala University, and Södertörn University. Her research has been published in Russian and English in journals such as Social Compass, Sotsiologicheskoe obozrenie, State, Religion and Church in Russia and Worldwide, and Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies.