Media Development Foundation have analyzed 138 district and two cities: Kyiv and Sevastopol. We found 1434 media. Only 157 from them are independent and cover critical information needs of hromadas, by methodology of research. Here are the key findings.
Oblast centers are oases, small hromadas are deserts. Districts around oblast (regional) centers demonstrate a considerably higher level of “informational health”. Small hromadas have a relatively smaller number of media outlets and comparatively lower information coverage. Distance from large cities and poor logistical accessibility also negatively impact the development of local media. The farther away from the regional center, the higher the risk of “news deserts”.
The liberated territories demonstrate the highest level of “health” – the number of “healthy” and “partially healthy” liberated districts is 20% higher than in the districts controlled by Ukraine (which have not been subject to occupation) with the same level of “health”. We assume that this situation is related to the increased attention of the Ukrainian and international community to the liberated territories.
The collected data highlighted the striking differences between the levels of “media station” and “information coverage” in various districts. On average, each district has fewer than one media outlet with its station there (0.93 outlets per district), while information coverage averages 2.5 media outlets per district. This dynamic carries risks for democratic development.
MDF began researching “news deserts” in Ukraine in 2024. In the first iteration of the study, 11 frontline regions of Ukraine were analyzed. The fewest “healthy regions” were found in Luhansk and Dnipropetrovsk. Given these findings, MDF helped launch two media in Dnipro under the Local Media Relaunch Initiative.
MDF is researching “news deserts” to identify areas where the situation with local media may lead to the emergence of news deserts. Which, in turn, can harm the democratic development of the country.
This research was created and maintained with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Media Development Foundation and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
